THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607140181
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 44 lines
Everything about Bayville Golf Club, which held its official grand opening Saturday, is designed to take you back to the good old days.
Well, not everything. The membership fee of $25,000 is decidedly modern.
But the golf may be worth it. Expect this course to be a strong contender for Golf Digest's ``Best of 1997'' designation.
It's the latest work completed by architect Tom Fazio, generally considered the No. 1 course designer in the world. The founding fathers at Bayville chose Fazio over Rees Jones and the design group headed by Jack Nicklaus. Fazio's 7,086-yard layout, the 10th proposal submitted to membership, justifies the wisdom of that decision.
Close your eyes on the 18th tee and you can envision a bit of the Road Hole at St. Andrews, or visualize playing around the two barns that Fazio liked so much he kept them as part of the landscape.
But 18 is about the only place on the course you'll want to close your eyes. The vistas, all well within environmental standards and the result of moving 600,000 cubic yards of earth, are breathtaking.
The best of the bunch may be at No. 13, a 228-yard par 3. The club is going to plant azaleas behind the green, which should enable it to reach its goal of emulating the beauty of the par-3 12th at Augusta National. But there's plenty of competition.
The greens were created from a special grass seed known as A-4, one of four experimental dense grasses developed at Penn State University and tested at Augusta, Ga. It's maintained at 1/8-inch or lower, allowing for a truer putting roll. The grass is so dense that Bayville has a mandatory soft-spike policy.
But the most refreshing aspect of Bayville may be its caddies.
The members asked pro Dean Hurst if he could provide a caddie program. It wasn't long before Hurst had engaged 40 high-school age golf enthusiasts with single-digit handicaps who had passed a rigorous test. Unlike most places, Bayville insists that a caddie serve one, and only one, player.
Just like the old days. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MORT FRYMAN/THE VIRGINIAN PILOT
Bayville Golf Club designer Tom Fazio integrated the dairy barns
from the old farm into his vision of the 18th hole. by CNB