DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010437

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   53 lines

COUPLES TO HELP DESIGN VIRGINIA BEACH COURSE CONSTRUCTION IS TO BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER AND IT COULD BE READY BY FALL 1998.

The signature on Hampton Roads' first ``signature'' golf course will belong to 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples.

Couples and partner Gene Bates will design the Heron Ridge Golf Club on Seaboard Road, near the Pungo Air Field. The ground-breaking is expected in September, and the course, which will be open to the public, could be ready for play by fall 1998.

With ``signature'' courses, well-known players actually assist in the designing of the course as opposed to simply lending their names to the project.

Bates and Couples, winner of a dozen tournaments and PGA player of the year in 1991 and '92, were selected over Rees Jones and Tom Fazio, arguably the two biggest names in the course-design industry.

``I chose them for very simple reasons,'' said Tom Broyles, spokesman for the partnership that will own the course. ``One was Bates' reputation. The other was Couples' name.''

Neither Couples nor Bates was available to discuss the project.

Couples is one of golf's most recognizable names. In addition to his American victories, the former University of Houston star has five international triumphs. He has represented the U.S. on four Ryder Cup teams and participated in both Presidents Cup competitions at the Robert Trent Jones course at Landsdowne in Leesburg. He and Davis Love III have teamed to win a record four World Cup competitions. His official career earnings total nearly $9 million.

Since being formed about two years ago, Couples/Bates Golf Design has embarked on nine projects, including Westfields in Chantilly. Other locations include sites near Salt Lake City; Wilmington, N.C.; and Atlanta.

Before the partnership, Bates already had forged a reputation in the design industry. In the early 1980s, he worked as director of construction architecture for Jack Nicklaus' Golden Bear.

In 1988, he left Nicklaus and worked with high-profile touring pros/designers such as Gary Player and Johnny Miller. About two years ago, Couples played a Bates-designed course in Florida and liked it so much he contacted Bates. They struck up a friendship that turned into a business arrangement.

Broyles, one of the owners of Hell's Point in Sandbridge, said he would leave all design details to Couples and Bates, though he characterized his idea of the project as ``very Hell's Point-like.'' That's a Rees Jones-design that generally is considered the area's best public course and certainly one of its most popular. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Map

Heron Ridge Golf Course

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