The Homestead course set to reopen May 2006
(Hot Springs, VA) Nov. 10, 2005 – Silver is for a 25th anniversary and gold for a 50th, but what do you get for a 240th anniversary?
If you’re The Homestead resort, it’s a facelift for your most famous golf course. The classic Cascades course closed Oct. 30, 2005, to begin its extreme makeover, a renovation that will restore the course to its original design, as created by William Flynn more than 80 years ago.
The makeover will focus mainly on the course bunkers, which, have deteriorated from routine edging and flooding over the history of the course.
"Our No. 1 opportunity has been the bunkers all along," said Don Ryder, director of golf. "This restoration will elevate the level of play and make the course more difficult than it was before."
The Cascades course was completed in 1923 and then redesigned by Robert Trent Jones in 1961. Renovation plans will restore the course to the original design Flynn developed, with the help of the 1923 course blueprint.
"We are restoring the course with assumptions based on today’s game. Many things the original design called for can’t be implemented today – there’s a road that runs through the course now – and today’s game is a bit more challenging," said Brett Schoenfield, president of The Homestead. "But we want to pay homage to one of the world’s most talented golf course architects and to a regular guest that loved The Homestead and its surroundings."
The Cascades is noted for grooming some of the PGA’s past and present touring professionals, such as Sam Snead, who began his professional career at The Homestead in 1934, and Richmond, Va., native Lanny Wadkins, the 1995 Ryder Cup captain.
The course, recently named as one of the Top 100 golf courses in the United States and Top 100 in the world by Golf Magazine, is scheduled to be finished and ready for play in May 2006.
About ClubCorp
Founded in 1957, Dallas-based ClubCorp is the world leader in delivering premier golf, private club, and resort experiences. Internationally, ClubCorp’s affiliates own or operate nearly 170 golf courses, country clubs, private business and sports clubs, and resorts. ClubCorp has more than $1.5 billion in assets. Among the company’s nationally recognized golf properties are Pinehurst in the Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina (North America’s largest golf resort, home to the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens); Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio (site of the 2003-2005 World Golf Championships – NEC Invitational); Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California (home of the Kraft Nabisco Championship); and The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia (America’s first resort founded in 1766). The more than 60 business clubs and business and sports clubs include the Boston College Club; City Club on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles; Citrus Club in Orlando, Florida; Columbia Tower Club in Seattle; Metropolitan Club in Chicago; Tower Club in Dallas; and the City Club of Washington, D.C. The company’s 18,000 employees serve the nearly 200,000 member households and 200,000 guests who visit ClubCorp properties each year. Visit www.clubcorp.com for additional company information.
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