The Lincoln, Neb., property’s Resort at Firethorn will include a par-3 golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, and a housing development on the existing footprint of the West Nine golf course.
The latest rendition of the West Nine course at Firethorn Golf Club will become the Resort at Firethorn, the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star reported.
Work at the golf course in Lincoln, Neb., is already underway. John LaFoy, who’s done work for the Country Club of Lincoln and Quarry Oaks near Ashland, is the designer, the Journal Star reported.
“The idea is to attract the younger families, who don’t have the time for 18 holes on our championship course, to still play golf and introduce younger golfers to the game,” said club manager Mark Wible.
A membership drive to get 135 new members is more than halfway complete. New members are critical to starting the project, Wible said. Existing members can add the new resort as part of their membership, and newcomers can join just the resort, the Journal Star reported.
The resort will include a par-3 course, according to Jim White, sales manager for Firethorn. The rest of the complex includes a swimming pool, tennis courts, sand volleyball courts and a new housing development. It’s all in the existing footprint of the original nine holes added to the course in the late 1990s, the Journal Star reported.
Five holes on the new course could be open this summer, and the rest of the new course and the resort are set to open by 2016. Firethorn was not getting enough play on the West Nine and awarded a five-year lease to White, Greg Johannesen and Jeff Schreiner in 2010. They remodeled the nine holes into a public course with a full teaching facility, the Journal Star reported.
The teaching facility, with indoor bays, club fitting and sales, is moving to near the No. 10 tee box of Firethorn’s original 18 holes, with Johannesen in charge. White and Wible said the new project will replace some of the holes on the West Nine course. A clubhouse, swimming pool with cabanas, 34 townhouses, eight single-family homes and other amenities will be at the north end of the property, the Journal Star reported.
Firethorn is currently in the Lincoln city limits, but the planned resort is outside the city. Wible has started working with the city and county for permits, zoning changes and annexation by the city, the Journal Star reported.
“We were looking at things we could do to increase membership and build a ‘feeder’ system to the entire club,” Wible said. “When we looked at developing the club and the course, the addition of this new resort will be family-oriented, women-centric.”
The resort clubhouse will include a restaurant, workout facilities, golf shop and snack bar, along with a 25-meter swimming pool for members and a swim club, the Journal Star reported.
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