DATE: Wednesday, July 2, 1997               TAG: 9707020732

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  195 lines

AREA CITIES PUT THE GREEN IN THEIR GREENS THE AREA'S REPUTATION AS GOLF-POOR IS ABOUT TO CHANGE, RADICALLY. THE REGION IS INVESTING MILLIONS TO BUILD NINE COURSES - ALL PUBLIC - AND TO RENOVATE NINE OTHERS.

South Hampton Roads has been hit by a golf-course explosion.

New courses, like TPC-Virginia Beach, Cahoon Plantation in Chesapeake, Cypress Creek in Smithfield, Harbor View in Suffolk and Lamberts Point in Norfolk. They're either under construction or close to the start of construction. And they're going to be open to everyone.

Then there's the renovated and revitalized layouts. Plans are on the table for Red Wing in Virginia Beach and City Park and Bide-A-Wee in Portsmouth. Chesapeake Golf Club, formerly Seven Springs, is open after receiving a major face lift a couple of years ago.

``This is the first time since the mid-1980s that there has been this much course construction activity,'' says newly hired Portsmouth city pro Andy Giles, for 27 years a golf professional at clubs and courses throughout the southside. ``Of course, golf is popular, `the thing' now, and as Hampton Roads grows and the quality of life becomes better, we're going to see even more golf.''

It's been nine years since Honey Bee in Virginia Beach and what is now the Chesapeake Golf Club debuted and South Hampton Roads residents and tourists were treated to new public courses. It's the primary reason the National Golf Foundation ranked the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News region 220th out of the 308 U.S. cities on its ``playability'' list. In its September 1996 report to the city, the Virginia Beach Golf Committee estimated that, by itself, demand in the tourist city was large enough to support five additional public courses.

The fact Giles was hired as Portsmouth's first ``city pro'' speaks loudly about golf's new-found favor with local politicians.

``I know our city council is very interested in golf as a leisure activity for our citizens as well as a driving economic force,'' Suffolk assistant city manager Steve Herbert said. ``As our projects grow towards completion, we may well add a golf professional to our staff as well.''

Well-known designers are involved, like Ault and Clark, designers of TPC-Avenel; Arthur Hills, who designed TPC-Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla.; Tom Doak of Michigan's Renaissance Golf Development. Pete Dye is said to be the odds-on favorite to land the TPC-Virginia Beach project.

Ault and Clark, who also designed the new nine-hole layouts at Ft. Eustis and Oceana, are handling at least six other local projects. Among them is Cypress Creek in Smithfield, an 18-hole championship tract on which they've collaborated with Kingsmill touring pro Curtis Strange. Strange is expected to consult with Dye on the TPC-Virginia Beach project.

Ault and Clark also advised Norfolk on its projected 18-hole golf park at Lamberts Point and are handling the restoration of Bide-A-Wee.

Hills will do the redesign and expansion of Red Wing. That includes design of a new nine, plus mounding and reshaping greens and tees on the existing 18. Although Virginia Beach has yet to find a way to fund the project, it is vital to the city's hopes of restoring its other municipal courses - Bow Creek and Kempsville Greens.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department would like to use additional revenue generated by the refurbished Red Wing to pay for proposed improvements at Bow Creek ($2 million) and Kempsville Greens ($900,000).

``The bottom line is that we would not initially propose a rates increase for Virginia Beach citizens,'' said J. Barry Frankenfield of the Beach's Parks and Recreation Department. ``There would be a higher fee for visitor play and, it stands to reason, a higher number of rounds played there. Eventually, that would pay for the renovations at Bow Creek and Kempsville Greens.

``If you don't reinvest, other courses come on line. Your revenues decrease. Your rounds played decrease. The end result is obvious.''

Golf in South Hampton Roads is even promoting attempts at regional cooperation. Suffolk and Portsmouth are talking about a joint venture for a course. Suffolk has asked Portsmouth to submit site possibilities, and there could be an agreement within the next couple of months. Suffolk also is seeking a joint-management agreement with Portsmouth for Suffolk Golf Course, which sits on Portsmouth watershed property.

When Virginia Beach went looking for a centerpiece for its Lake Ridge project, as well as an opportunity to bring a professional sports event to the area, it looked to golf. The city placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal and Golf Digest magazine inviting proposals. From among several strong proposals the city selected PGA Tour and its famed Tournament Players Club division.

The PGA is investing $6.5 million, the city $3.5 million in an upscale project that, given TPC's reputation, could bring players here from around the world.

In addition, it's all but certain that the Tour will place a Nike Tour event at TPC-Virginia Beach. Many of those events are telecast on cable by The Golf Channel, further exposing the city and its new golf facility to potential visitors.

And it's almost certain that when visitors come to play TPC-Virginia Beach, they'll want to sample what the rest of the area has to offer as well.

``Golf courses don't compete with each other, they complement each other,'' Giles said. ``The more golf courses you have, the more people play golf. One course's clientele helps another course's clientele.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color file photos

Portsmouth - Bide-A-Wee Golf Course

Chesapeake - Chesapeake Golf Club

Virginia Beach - Red Wing Golf Course

Map

Area Golf Course Updates

An update on new golf courses planned for South Hampton Roads,

and on courses that recently have undergone upgrades:

CHESAPEAKE

Cahoon Plantation: Construction will begin in 60 days on Ault and

Clark design, 27 championship holes and an 18-hole par-3 course, all

public, to go with existing practice range and putting green.

Ultimately, there will also be a new clubhouse, indoor-outdoor

tennis courts, swimming pool, bowling alley, time-shares. Golf

course could open as early as fall 1998.

Edinburgh: Developer R.G. Moore's preliminary plan calls for Tom

Clark of Ault & Clark to design 18 championship holes, with

clubhouse and practice range. To be located near the Rt. 168 bypass.

The Cypress Point-type project may not open until fall 1999.

Chesapeake Golf Club: Formerly Seven Springs, this 18-hole public

facility on Cedar Road is now operated by American Golf. Among

$500,000 in capital improvements in the last year is a new drainage

system throughout the course.

NORFOLK

Lamberts Point: Facility will include 18-hole par-3 course,

two-tier practice range totalling 50 stations, putting green,

chipping and sand-trap practice areas and a merchandise center. Ault

and Clark have advised on the project.

Ocean View: Nothing likely to happen until after 1999, but plans

call for reforestation and installing a new irrigation system,

possible redirection and restructuring of holes, possible work on

parking lot and clubhouse.

Lake Wright: Nothing official, but there is discussion about

making improvements down the line - probably not until after 2000.

The future of the course's nearby hotel must be settled first.

PORTSMOUTH

City Park: Construction begins in mid-July, with reopening

scheduled for Oct. 1. Nine holes will be built around lighted

practice range, championship putting green, chipping area and

sand-trap area. The goal is to rework the present nine-hole course

into a ``learning'' center, with a couple of pros on staff to

provide lessons. Ault and Clark are handling the design.

Bide-A-Wee: Will receive the lion's share of what is expected to

be a $2.5-to-$3 million project that starts with conversion of City

Park. Construction will begin in either October or November, with

the reopening scheduled for June 1998. Ault & Clark are doing the

redesign of Fred Finley's original work and that includes adding

shape to the fairways, removing trees, enlarging the greens and

constructing a new clubhouse.

SMITHFIELD

Cypress Creek: Ault & Clark have designed this 18-hole, upscale

public course that will be operated by Golf South. Curtis Strange

has consulted on the project, one-third of which runs through open

fields, one-third through woods and one-third along Cypress Creek.

Grassing begins this fall; course could open fall 1998.

SUFFOLK

Lone Star Lakes: 1,063 acres of land situated between the

Nansemond River and downtown Chuckatuck is targeted for an 18-hole

championship municipal course. City officials hope to have a master

plan and design for the project in six months, with the course as

centerpiece.

Harbor View: Construction workers began clearing land six weeks

ago for the fairways to this 18-hole, upscale, public championship

course on the border of the Nansemond River, not far from the

Monitor and Merrimac Tunnel. Clearing will be done end of August,

sprigging will begin in April 1998, course should open spring 1999.

Tom Doak of Renaissance Golf in Michigan is the architect.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Stumpy Lake: City is just beginning to study which areas around

the course are wetlands and what could be done to improve

conditions. Recently completed a new greens project.

TPC Virginia Beach: The PGA is spending $6.5 million, the city

$3.5 million to build a championship course in Lake Ridge. The PGA

has a five-year option to develop a second 18 holes on the same

property. It will manage the course for 30 years and almost

certainly will bring a Nike Tour event here. Ground-breaking is in

August, with the course opening in late summer or fall 1998.

Fort Story: Environmental issues are being studied. No contracts

have been signed, no timetable established for when design and

construction could begin on what could be a spectacular ocean-side

public course.

Red Wing: Plans call for course designer Arthur Hills to build a

new nine holes and renovate the existing 18. That will include

installation of a fairway irrigation system, new cart paths, fairway

mounding and construction of elevated tees and greens. Preliminary

cost estimate: $10 million, though Hills has yet to submit more

detailed cost and maintenance estimates.

Bow Creek: This project is dependent on how much additional

revenue Red Wing produces once it reopens. Money from there would be

diverted to Bow Creek to renovate greens, build and repair cart

paths, and improve fairway drainage.

Kempsville Greens: Same scenario as Bow Creek, except that much

of the money diverted there would be used to renovate, expand or

build a new clubhouse. Parks and Rec department would like to start

sooner, but this may be a turn-of-the-century project.

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