THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210711
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
A long a hallway in the Bayville Golf Club's temporary quarters is a series of poster-sized photographs documenting the emergence of what will likely be one of the region's premier courses.
What emerge from the pictures are outlines of greens and a handful of lakes in a field that was once part of a Virginia Beach dairy farm.
What the aerial photos at the Bayville Golf Club don't capture is the way several critical pieces of the $7 million project came together: getting the required building and water permits, dealing with the environmental and wetlands restrictions, finding the financing, and hiring an architect and a construction company.
Choosing an architect and then a construction company was straightforward. A committee of club organizers narrowed their list of prospective architects to three: Jack Nicklaus, Reese Jones and Tom Fazio. Then they visited courses that each had designed before settling on Fazio, a North Carolina resident who has won several awards for his designs.
Fazio provided the Bayville club with the names of a half-dozen companies specializing in building courses. From his list, the club chose Wadsworth Golf Construction Co. of Plainfield, Ill.
By then, most of the bureaucratic, time-consuming details were in place. That enabled construction to proceed without complications.
One of the details was an archaeological study of the property, located near Shore Drive west of Lynnhaven Inlet. The Burroughs and Tyler families, owners of the 250-acre site, commissioned an archaeological examination after the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach had approached them about building a course on their property. The country club eventually decided not to act on its plans.
From the archaeological study, ``there were indications that the area had been inhabited by prehistoric people and by English colonists,'' says Robert M. Stanton, an organizer of the Bayville club who lives on the property. However, the study turned up nothing that would have barred development of the site, he says.
Because of the public's heightened concern about wetlands development, water quality and endangered species, the most complicated aspects of developing a golf course usually involve environmental hurdles.
``The time it takes to get the necessary permits often takes longer than construction of the course,'' says Chad Ritterbusch, a spokesman for the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
But the Bayville club's organizers were able to navigate the environmental details without hampering the pace of development.
``We're slightly under budget and ahead of schedule. We're down the back stretch,'' says Stanton, the retired head of a Norfolk real estate leasing and development company. Barring heavy rains that might slow construction, the club's members should be playing on the course in mid-November, he says.
The club's organizers decided to forgo country-club amenities like tennis courts and swimming pools to concentrate on golf.
Stanton credits the smooth development to the club's former president, Gary L. Strickfaden. ``Gary was critical to the success. Without him, I don't think this would have materialized,'' he says.
Toy D. Savage Jr., another of the club's founders and a member of the Norfolk law firm Willcox & Savage P.C., was elected chairman of the club in June and assumed many of Strickfaden's duties.
For many golf-course developers, finding financing became difficult in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That was partly because banks and savings and loan associations ended up foreclosing on many financially ailing courses. Among the most troubled were courses linked to resorts or residential development.
An improved economy has eased lenders' wariness about golf-course financing. Some large banks in the region are more willing to provide money to course developers, says Jeff Fleishman, president of Golf Business Advisors, a Williamsburg consulting firm.
Organizers of the Bayville course say they found the necessary funds with little difficulty. More than half of the $7 million needed for the course came from membership fees. The club was able to borrow the balance from Richmond-based Central Fidelity Bank, Stanton says.
The Bayville course's status as a members-only club is more typical of an earlier era when there were fewer municipal courses and private courses open to the public for a daily fee. And fewer of these courses are being built today.
Of the courses nationwide that opened in 1989, those with restricted membership accounted for 59, or almost one-third, of 190 new courses. By 1994, the number of new member-only courses had dropped to 21, or 9 percent, of the 232 that opened.
One problem facing the sport is the lack of growth in the number of golfers and the amount of golf they play.
In its latest annual survey of participation, the National Golf Foundation said the number of rounds played in the United States last year declined 7 percent. That's the lowest level in six years.
Meanwhile, the number of players remained flat for the fourth consecutive year at slightly more than 24 million.
Since 1989, ``there has been virtually no growth in either golfers or rounds played,'' Joseph Beditz, president and chief executive officer of the golf foundation, said last month when results of the annual study were released.
Despite the nationwide decline in interest, Stanton and other organizers express confidence that the Bayville club will reach its 350-member goal within a few years.
Organizers are emphatic that they don't want Bayville's membership to be gender-or race-exclusive. The first decision that the organizers made was to bar any form of discrimination based on race, religion, gender or national origin, Stanton says. The club has been soliciting women and members of minority groups, he says.
A handful of private clubs, especially some that held national tournaments, have ended up under a harsh public spotlight in recent years for having restrictive membership policies.
To date, Bayville has signed up 109 members, including some from outside Hampton Roads.
But membership isn't cheap. The club's membership fee stands at $23,000, and the monthly fee for unlimited golf will be $275. That's partly because the organizers decided to develop a premier course and to hold down membership size.
``We wanted to be able to walk out and play golf without having to book tee times well in advance,'' says Stanton. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Research by TOM SHEAN, graphic by ROBERT D. VOROS/Staff
THE NUMBER OF GOLF CLUBS OPENING
SOURCE: National Golf Foundation
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB