THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9606290383
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Hampton Roads Golf Report: Living on the Links
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 146 lines
Watch out, Myrtle Beach.
Beware, Pinehurst.
A sleeping giant has awakened and decided he'd like to take a bite out of your business.
Its name is WAGA, or Williamsburg Area Golf Association. Eleven courses, including a couple of the most prestigious in America, and 17 hotels have fashioned a kitty of about $250,000 with one goal: They want to become a golf destination on par with their more famous cousins in the Carolinas.
``I've talked to people in other places and I get the impression they dread the day we got our act together to attract someone here for a three-day golf adventure,'' WAGA president Mike Tiernan said.
Actually, it wasn't as much a question of getting an act together as it was clearing land, designing fairways and finding developers who believed Williamsburg could be a player in the golf/travel industry.
And, while they admit it's far too early to dream of competing with Myrtle Beach's 90-mile, 100-course Grand Strand, or even the 20 or so courses that make up Pinehurst, there's every reason to believe the project will one day be a huge success in stopping southbound traffic from Canada and the Northeast corridor.
``We've got such a great pitch: Save two days of vacation for golf,'' Tiernan said. ``Spend the eight hours it takes to drive to Pinehurst and Myrtle Beach and have some fun here.''
For years, Ford's Colony, where Tiernan is director of golf, stood alone among public-access courses in the Colonial Capital. Colonial Williamsburg offered two beauties at Golden Horseshoe; Kingsmill had the always popular River course, on which the newly renamed Michelob Championship will be staged in a couple of weeks. But both of them were primarily ``stay-and-play'' facilities, meaning you had to have a room at either the Williamsburg Lodge or Inn or Kingsmill Resort to get a tee time.
That began to change last year with the opening of The Colonial, a public course designed by Lester George and Richmond touring pro Robert Wrenn; and Williamsburg National, a public course designed by Jim Lipe of the Jack Nicklaus Design Group.
Then came two more public courses, both from the Legends Group. Stonehouse, in Toano, had its official grand opening one week ago; Royal New Kent, a Scottish links course so meticulously re-creative that sheep graze in the fairways, officially opens Monday.
Better still, six WAGA courses were named to Golf Digest's 1996 list of Virginia's top 10 public places to play. And Stonehouse and Royal New Kent figure to make the '96 list of America's best new golf courses.
``We knew how it worked,'' Tiernan said. ``We weren't re-creating the wheel. We finally had the inventory and the product to make the whole package work. We still don't have enough, but we can start promoting the area as a golf destination. Now a golfer can come here and not just play Ford's Colony.''
Getting Williamsburg golf-course managers to agree on the association wasn't a problem. All of them were familiar with the benefits associations had delivered to Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst and even Virginia Beach. However, Tiernan feared that getting hotel operators to join in might be tough.
``We thought there'd be a lot of hesitation,'' he said. ``We thought some would say, `Let someone else be the pioneer; we'll come on after we see it go along.' ''
Tiernan had a friend who ran a hotel in Ocean City, Md. During the offseason of 1991, his friend sold 300 room nights because of golf. In 1992, that number increased to 1,000. By last offseason, Tiernan's friend was up to 15,000 golf-related nights sold, ``all because Ocean City had formed an association, got the hotels to come aboard and marketed the situation.''
At an organizational meeting last fall, Tiernan outlined his friend's success. And he invited two special guests to address the group: Mike Sanders, president of Pinehurst-based Legacy Golf Management, which owns Williamsburg National; and Brad Blair, executive vice president of the Legends Group, owners of Stonehouse and Royal New Kent and major players in Myrtle Beach.
``I didn't say anything revolutionary,'' Sanders recalls, ``just that our experience in Pinehurst and Myrtle Beach showed that you can have so much greater an impact if you work together.
``We all want the same thing, we're all singing the same message. The whole idea is to attract more golfers to this wonderful destination. There's no better place to be for history, hotels and conference centers than Williamsburg.''
Fifteen hotels joined the association that night. Two more have come on board since. Initiation fees were devised and collected, and a 36-page vacation planner was designed.
In March, the WAGA began advertising in regional and national golf magazines. Included was an 800 phone number: 1-800-FOR-GOLF. People calling that number not only can order a free planner but also can reserve their vacation on the spot. The 800 numbers the competition uses are for information requests only.
About 2,000 planners have been requested. This week, WAGA courses were to send planners to its mailing lists. When they're finished, more than 40,000 planners will have been sent.
``This is going to take some time,'' Sanders said. ``Nothing happens overnight, and we've all got to learn patience. Over time, all of us will see an impact on rooms, food and golf.''
The WAGA hopes to expand soon into Richmond and Hampton Roads. The Carolina Group, with Vinny Giles consulting, is building a new course in Croaker. It's a prime candidate to be a WAGA member.
Kiln Creek in Newport News showed interest early in the project but backed out. Tiernan would like to reinvolve them.
South Hampton Roads courses have been discussed informally by WAGA members. Though there are concerns about the negative impact tunnel traffic and Virginia Beach's water shortage might have on the golfer who wants to play high-quality courses, and quickly, no one is ruling out a marriage.
``If you look at Myrtle Beach, the Grand Strand is 90 miles in scope,'' Tiernan said. ``The Richmond-to-Virginia Beach corridor is very similar. Our future hope would be to involve both those areas.''
In the meantime, expansion will come from within. Ford's Colony has plans for an additional 18 holes. So does Williamsburg National. That would bring the number of WAGA courses to 14, not quite Pinehurst and nowhere near Myrtle Beach for sheer volume.
But Williamsburg would be squarely in the race with those two, and alone on top as Virginia's golf destination. MEMO: Sidebar to this story is on pages C4 and C5 - guide to 12 area
courses.
AT A GLANCE
Williamsburg Area Golf Association
Courses involved: 11 golf courses - The River, Plantation and Woods
courses at Kingsmill; the Gold and Green courses at Golden Horseshoe;
the White/Red and Blue/Gold courses at Ford's Colony; The Colonial in
Williamsburg; Stonehouse in Toano; Royal New Kent in New Kent County;
and Williamsburg National.
Hotels involved: Comfort Inn Historic; Courtyard by Marriott; Days Inn
Historic Area; Embassy Suites; Fort Magruder Inn; Holiday Inn 1776;
Holiday Inn Express; Holiday Inn Patriot; Hospitality House; Hotel
Colonial America; Kingsmill Resort; Quality Suites; Ramada Inn Central;
Ramada Inn Historic; The Princess Ann; Williamsburg Inn/Lodge; and
Williamsburg Marriott.
Special events: The WAGA will host complimentary summer Family Golf
Clinics July 15-Aug. 30 for golf-package guests and their families. All
clinics last one hour and begin at 9 a.m. at the following locations:
Monday, Golden Horseshoe; Tuesday, The Colonial; Wednesday, Ford's
Colony; Thursday, Stonehouse; Friday, Williamsburg National.
In addition, the association will host two tournaments, the Seniors
Invitational, Sept. 9-12, and Four-Person Scramble Invitational, Oct.
25-27. Entry forms are available for golf-package members from Ford's
Colony pro Scott Jones at 804-258-4130.
Info: Phone 1-800-FOR-GOLF. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by JAMES WALKER, The Virginian-Pilot
The Williamsburg Area Golf Association can offer six of Golf
Digest's top 10 public courses to play in Virginia. That's not
counting the week-old Stonehouse, with its par-3 third hole pictured
above, which may well make the best-of-'96 lists. by CNB