The Indiana University Golf Course in Bloomington, Ind., will receive a $12 million renovation that will reconfigure the layout, add a new driving range, and build a new clubhouse by September 2018. In Charlottesville, Va., Birdwood Golf Course, home of the University of Virginia golf teams, will close for a year and reopen in fall 2019 with a redesign by Davis Love III.
The Indiana University Golf Course in Bloomington, Ind., is getting a makeover, the Batesville, Ind., Herald-Tribune reported.
Exactly what the course will look like hasn’t been determined, but the IU Board of Trustees gave the go-ahead for this and several other plans, including the design for a new volleyball and wrestling arena, at its June 16 meeting on the South Bend campus, the Herald-Tribune reported.
The golf course renovation was necessitated by plans to build a new hospital and regional academic health center where the course’s driving range is now located. But Tom Morrison, IU’s vice president for capital planning and facilities, made it clear during a presentation to the board that upgrades have been needed for quite some time, the Herald-Tribune reported.
When the course was built, trees were clear cut without consideration for drainage. Over time, depressions have formed and erosion has created areas of exposed limestone. Disease and invasive species have killed hundreds of trees throughout the course, Morrison said.
The $12 million renovation plan will use the area’s natural drainage features to minimize the need for manmade irrigation as much as possible. Grass that can survive with limited water will be planted, as well as new trees, the Herald-Tribune reported.
The 18-hole championship course will be reconfigured and a new driving range will be built to replace the old one, but the existing nine-hole par-three course will be eliminated. The course will remain open to the public, with discount pricing for IU students, faculty and staff, the Herald-Tribune reported.
A new clubhouse will also be built, but it will not be the large “country club” type where people have weddings and other events, Morrison said. It will include a pro shop, locker rooms, a place to eat and a large patio area. Morrison said he hopes to have the course closed to begin renovations in September or October and re-opened in September 2018, the Herald-Tribune reported.
Specific design plans will come before the board at a later meeting, but IU athletic director Fred Glass assured the trustees they’ll be happy with the results. “It will be one of the finest courses in the Big Ten,” he said.
In Charlottesville, Va., Birdwood Golf Course, home of the University of Virginia men’s and women’s golf teams, is being rebuilt, the Charlottesville-based Daily Progress reported.
Kim Lewellen and Bowen Sargent, coaches of those two teams, have been dreaming about this for years as collegiate golf has outgrown Birdwood, which was built in 1984. Davis Love III will complete the redesign, the Daily Progress reported.
“It’s exciting to take a great golf course and make it better,” Love said. “As a former college player, and watching the college process with my son the last five years, and watching him play for Alabama, and watching so many other college teams play, I know what [UVa] needs to get these high schoolers to come to the University of Virginia.”
After fundraising, more design work, and permitting is finished, hopefully by this time next year, Pat Hogan, executive vice president and COO of UVa, will turn the course over to the Love design team, the Daily Progress reported.
“We will likely close [Birdwood] down for a year, and the goal will be to re-open the new golf course in the fall of 2019,” Hogan said.
Meanwhile, Love and the University of Virginia Foundation unveiled some early renderings of a new course. Virtually every hole on the course will be changed, with several holes being eliminated, and replaced by new ones on some of the expansive land on the property. Meanwhile, Birdwood will add a short course and a new, large practice area for all golfers, and a facility that will serve as the home of UVa’s two golf teams, the Daily Progress reported.
“I’m really excited about both of these projects,” said Sargent. “Fifteen years ago, we kind of started this project, so for me, it is an exciting time to see the building come to fruition along with the golf course. I’m really excited to see what Davis is going to do.”
Lewellen is also thrilled with the plans, the Daily Progress reported.
“Recruiting-wise, the up and coming are used to seeing state-of-the-art training facilities and practice facilities,” Lewellen said. “We are behind in these areas. We have a phenomenal university and athletic department but we don’t have those golf facilities that recruits are accustomed to seeing.
“They come here and they’re not sure if they can get better,” Lewellen said. “We’ve got to have that. That’s what they want.”
Philanthropy plays a key role in any such project at Virginia, Hogan said, and that fundraising will be a key component over the next year, the Daily Progress reported.
“The good news is that we already have a significant commitment for an elite gift, so we’re well on our way,” Hogan said.
Love used John Paul Jones Arena as an example of what a top-shelf facility can do, the Daily Progress reported.
“You want the top facilities for the basketball team so it can prepare and play well, and then to also get more good basketball players,” Love said. “They want to go to the University of Virginia for the school, and they also want to go because UVa has great facilities, and great coaches, and they think, ‘I can become a better basketball player and have a better chance of winning ACC championships, or playing in the NCAAs, or making it to the pros.’
“If we can build that for the golf team, then everybody in the university benefits from it,” Love said. “You have a great golf course, great facilities, a great reputation. It’s a win-win for everybody. First comes who is going to use it, and that’s not only the golf team, but the supporters of the golf team, and supporters of the university that stay at the [Boar’s Head] resort. It trickles down to everybody.”
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