Golf Digest has announced that Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond, Virginia is one of the Top Ten New Golf Course Remodels in the country. Golf course architect Lester George’s renovation of the private club was the execution of a plan he devised and implemented over a 4 year period.
Willow Oaks Country Club was originally designed by William Gordon and opened in 1959. Over the last thirty years, the golf course had flooded so regularly that it became necessary to totally reconstruct the lower areas of the golf course to correct drainage problems, restore strategy and provide better turf for the members. During the 18-month renovation, Lester George addressed those issues and designed an aesthetic facelift with dramatic changes to the strategy of the golf course.
“This recognition by Golf Digest is gratifying to everybody who worked on the project and to the entire membership of the Club. The renovation added remarkable interest and beauty to the course,” said Paul Sinclair, one of the clubs past presidents. “This was a remarkably complex project; our architect Lester George, our Club Manager Chris Welles, and their great staffs deserve this recognition for getting the job done so remarkably well”, he continued.
Bordering the James River in Richmond, Virginia, Willow Oaks sits in the James River floodplain, which is heavily regulated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Each time the waters of the James rose, Willow Oaks was forced to close down over half of the course due to flood waters. The new design forces water to flow towards the inside of the course through a series of channels that now improve drainage and filter the runoff before re-entering the river. Now, when the river rises the water is chambered into these channels, rather than the fairways. These channels double as strategic features as well as provide enhanced animal habitat in the James River watershed.
“The encroachment of vegetation had narrowed the fairways, significantly reducing teeing and playing options. We re-opened playing corridors with the removal of non-specimen trees and unveiled vistas of the James River from many vantage points on the golf course”, George said. Another new hazard is a series of dramatic, lacy-edged bunkers reminiscent of Golden Age designs. These bold bunkers add strength to the design and likely add apprehension to the players now trying to avoid them.
“Our greens were enlarged, enabling more traffic, and Lester designed them with more pin locations while keeping the feel of small greens that the Willow Oaks Country Club members loved”, stated Chris Welles, the general manager.
Lester George’s renovation of the James River Course at The Country Club of Virginia was among Golf Digest’s top ten list in 2005, and his restoration of The Old White Course at The Greenbrier won the top spot on this list in 2007.
Contact:
Shannon Fisher
Marketing Director
804-272-4700
Shannon@GeorgeGolfDesign.com
