PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (January 20, 2018) – Bobby Weed Golf Design (www.bobbyweed.com) has been selected to design the golf course at GROVE XXIII, an exclusive, members-only private club under construction in Hobe Sound, Fla. NBA legend and avid golfer Michael Jordan is the majority partner in GROVE XXIII. The golf course is scheduled to be ready for play in 2019.
“Knowing the caliber of the membership and Michael’s passion for golf, we are designing a forward-thinking, progressive layout,” said Weed. “Golf course architects are in the best position to address how technology has changed strategic design.
“This project is an opportunity to update how architects provide all players with a fun and interesting challenge. It will be a course for tomorrow, a course with a refined edge.”
Weed is living on site throughout the duration of construction in order to personally shape features and supervise the work.
About Grove XXIII
Set on the site of a former citrus grove, the golf course is routed with the south Florida trade winds in mind. The two nines wrap around each other while traversing the site in opposing directions. This dynamic layout ensures that golfers will feel the breeze from every quarter.
The routing also features a unique crossover at the 5th and 14th tees, where golfers can switch from one nine to the other and still finish out a nine-hole loop. This singular feature offers the membership four nine-hole permutations, significantly enhancing both daily set-up and member tournament format possibilities.
Weed continued, “We are using proprietary player performance data to help establish the dimensions of features and rethinking the tenets of risk and reward that have long guided strategic golf design, but are stagnant today, especially in the face of equipment technology.”
The Weed design team has been provided with these player performance data by Darren May, co-founder of “Every Ball Counts” and appointed golf coach and ambassador to GROVE XXIII.
“The team environment encouraged by Bobby Weed allows a free flow of very valuable information,” May said. “To see this information integrated in the course design, and be part of the process, is extremely exciting.”
An intimate, contemporary clubhouse will be elevated above the open and expansive 225-acre property, offering long vistas to every golf hole.
Gentle contours will distinguish the site, while a continuous sward of turf will flow from tee to green, allowing golfers to traverse the property naturally from one hole to the next. Copious tight-cut grass will surround the low-profile greens, providing players with a multitude of short game options. A palette of native rough grasses, scrub/shrub plantings and the occasional specimen oak will provide a distinctive texture to the landscape.
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.
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 as the Golf Course Superintendent at TPC Sawgrass, Weed went on to become 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.
Chris Monti, senior design associate at Bobby Weed Golf Design, has been with the firm for over 20 years, working seamlessly with Weed in total involvement in every aspect of the design and execution process. Monti holds a B.S. in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University, and spent a year studying the design of historic courses in the British Isles.
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 Golf Design also 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.
Bobby Weed is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He also is a 39-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, was a former Certified Golf Course Superintendent and is a member of the Florida Turfgrass Association.
Bobby Weed Golf Design won The BoardRoom Magazine 2017 “Excellence in Achievement Award in Course Architecture – Renovation.”
For more information on Bobby Weed Golf Design, see www.bobbyweed.com.
Contact:
Sally J. Sportsman
407-248-1144
sjsport@earthlink.net
