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BHI Golf Course Reopens After $3.9 Million In
Renovations
* Bald Head Island, NC (PRWEB) January 19,
2011, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/01/prweb4981064.htm
View a Video of the Golf Course, courtesy of the BHI
Club
The
Bald Head Island Club is ready to show off its golf course to more golfers,
as well as golf course raters, now that its $3.9 million course
renovation is completed.
Award-winning
golf course architect Tim N. Cate went to work in 2010 rebuilding the
Bald Head course, which originally opened for play in 1974. Cate used the
drawings of the original course architect, George Cobb, as his blueprint
for preserving the routing of the course, as well as Cobb's style of “low
grounds and high surrounds.” Cate widened ten fairways so that players
could better see water hazards from their tees and eliminate most blind
tee shots over water. Greens with insufficient depth or too much slope
were modified, while more undulations were added to some greens to create
more pin placement opportunities. After reviewing Cobb’s course drawings,
Cate even built double-tier greens on #12 and #14 that had been planned
by Cobb — but never built.
“After
more than 35 years of strong ocean winds, intense summer suns, and
thousands of rounds of play, The Bald Head Island Club course was getting
a bit tired,” said Robert Norton, general manager of the Bald Head Island
Club. “Our greens had outlived their useful life and, as time passed,
some elements of the course had begun to present unfair challenges. Tim
not only addressed those issues, he brought an aesthetic sense to the
reconstruction, elevating tees to create stunning views of the Atlantic
and placing new grasses and palm trees inside massive waste bunkers that
line the fairways. He made a wonderful design into a spectacular golf
experience.”
The course
now presents golfers with sweeping vistas of dunes and the ocean beyond.
Lagoons come into play on 14 holes. Elevations change as much as 35 feet
throughout the course, and some holes have 20 foot high dunes as
backdrops to their greens. The pristine layout includes new,
laser-leveled tees re-grassed with Celebration™ Bermuda grass, and large
and undulating greens re-grassed with MiniVerde™ Ultradwarf Bermuda
grass. Many holes have been so artfully constructed that they are just as
picturesque when viewed from the green back to the tee as they are when
viewed from tee to green.
“It's
so gratifying to have golfers tell us that they think our course could
earn a spot on Top 100 lists,” says Norton. “But it's easy to see why it
has that kind of impact. Few courses on the Carolina coast can boast
views of the Atlantic Ocean from seven tees. From the back tees, with the
ocean winds swirling, it's more than enough challenge for even the best
players. From all the other tee boxes, it's both enjoyable and challenging.
It tests golfers, yet gives them a chance to shoot a good score. Cate has
pulled off a true collaboration with Cobb and melded the classic and
modern into a seamless layout that is at once breathtakingly beautiful,
challenging and fair.”
Cate's
vision also resulted in a course that is more in tune with the island's
natural environment. The addition of natural and native sand areas
reduced the number of areas that need to be mowed and simplified routine
maintenance. Installation of a state-of-the-art irrigation system
resulted in a course that requires substantially less irrigation water
and fertilizers.
“Now
the course is an even better natural habitat for all kinds of wildlife —
and that adds to the enjoyment of golfers out there playing,” says
Norton. “During a round, you'll see fox, deer and alligators, and a
wonderful assortment of birds including osprey, eagles, red tail hawks,
ibis, great blue heron, and white heron. We're hoping that all this
re-naturalization effort will help with our efforts to be designated an
Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course.”
The
Bald Head Island Club is the only golf course and golf club on Bald Head
Island, a barrier island located two nautical miles off the coast of
southeastern North Carolina. The 12,000-acre resort island is only
accessible by ferry from Southport, N.C. or by private boat. Once on the
island, transportation is limited to golf carts, bicycles and pedestrian
traffic. The island has 14 miles of beaches, tidal creeks and an ancient
maritime forest.
Equity
memberships in the Bald Head Island Club are available with the purchase
of real estate or boat slip. Golf packages are available and limited
playing privileges are extended to those leasing properties through Bald
Head Island.
In
addition to the golf course, the Club offers a 10-acre practice facility.
More
information about The Bald Head Island Club is available by calling
910-457-7300.
Visit
our calendar for details and more
Island events!
Please
click here to update your contact
information.
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