PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (June 27, 2016) – Bobby Weed Golf Design (www.bobbyweed.com), an award-winning golf-course design firm, is renovating the Championship Course at Pleasant Valley Country Club, a private member-owned club in Little Rock, Ark. The project is part of a long-range master plan developed by the design firm in 2011. The 27-hole layout, which opened in 1968, was designed by Joe Finger, with Jimmy Demaret and Byron Nelson as consultants. The course has undergone no other significant redesign work over the years.
“The renovation will enhance this distinctive course with changes that will entice players as they employ thoughtful strategy on each hole,” said Bobby Weed, president & CEO of Bobby Weed Golf Design. “The renovation also will amplify the course’s exceptional aesthetic appeal.”
All three sets of nine holes on this challenging 7,100-yard layout converge at the clubhouse. Weed and Chris Monti, his design partner, and their team concluded renovation of the front nine during 2014-2015. Only modest infrastructural improvements were needed.
Significant components of the overall renovation include drainage improvement, tree removal and re-grassing of perimeter rough. In addition, Weed and his design team have rehabilitated a number of open water channels, adding river rock lining and producing greater aesthetic value while enhancing the practical value for conveying storm water.
Bobby Weed Golf Design recently completed renovation of the second nine. Bunkers were rebuilt with necessary repositioning and size adjustments, resulting in better aesthetics and strategy. Work on the third nine will begin in late fall of this year. Plans also call for some redesign of the practice facility, likely to include tee expansion and improvements to target definition down range.
Projected completion date of the course renovation is spring 2017. In addition, in conjunction with the renovation project, this fall the club will begin an overhaul of the irrigation system for all 27 holes.
About Bobby Weed Golf Design
Acclaimed golf course designer Bobby Weed specializes in design, renovation and repurposing. His work features a balance of visual appeal, sustainability and playability, all informed by an environmentally-sensitive aesthetic and an exceptional hands-on, holistic approach. Bobby Weed Golf Design is a leader in golf course repurposing – a means to update layouts through redesign and reallocation of partial acreage for higher value land uses. Repurposing helps clubs and communities preserve golf while surmounting economic and other challenges. Weed’s skill, vision and business acumen coalesce to result in successful, refined and durable golf course design.
Weed began his professional career with an extended apprenticeship with Pete Dye, launching a collaboration of over 35 years’ duration and a lifelong friendship. Hired in 1983 by the PGA Tour, Weed was the Tour’s in-house designer from 1987-1996. He was responsible for the design of many of today’s best-known TPC venues, which continue as host sites for prominent Tour events.
Weed also was able to collaborate with many of golf’s most familiar names, including Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, Jerry Pate and Chi Chi Rodriguez – a rare cross section of experience.
In 1994, Weed’s career reached an apex with the formation of his own design firm, where he continues to “handcraft” golf courses. Today, Bobby Weed Golf Design has amassed an impressive list of new and renovated courses that consistently are ranked at the top of their respective categories, including The Olde Farm Golf Club, Spanish Oaks Golf Club, The Golf Course at Glen Mills, Medalist Golf Club and Timuquana Country Club.
Bobby Weed is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the Historical Committee of the Donald Ross Society, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the Florida Turfgrass Association.
For more information on Bobby Weed Golf Design, see www.bobbyweed.com.
Contact:
Sally J. Sportsman
407-248-1144
sjsport@earthlink.net