Courtesy of BallenIsles Country Club
BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, has unveiled its newly renovated East Course. Led by Nicklaus Design, the nine-month, multimillion-dollar renovation project has modernized the East Course as well as the practice grounds.
The renovation commenced in April 2022, and it focused on updating the design, including bunkering, greens complexes and strategy, a re-grassing of the course, and improvements to playing options for members and tournament players.
The reimaged practice facility features a new 65-bay, two-sided, 12-acre long game area with Toptracer technology and Flagd Golf digital yardage boards, an abundance of aiming targets for all types of shots, a practice putting green, rough, uneven lie and fairway bunker practice areas, and wedge range with targets from 30 to 105 yards. The four-acre short game area features the 25,000-square-foot Snead Green putting course, five pitching and chipping greens, warm-up green and the world’s flattest putting green. The area is complimented by the newly built ’71 Learning Center, scheduled to be completed by April 2023.
The Nicklaus Design team, led by senior designers Chris Cochran and Chad Goetz, also added length to the par-72 layout, increasing the back tees from 7,189 to 7,474 yards. Mike Stevens is BallenIsles’s director of agronomy.
“We first spoke about a possible East Course renovation in 2020,” Nicklaus Design President Paul Stringer said during a grand opening ceremony on Jan. 30. “To see it completed already with a very nice, expanded practice facility is just terrific. On behalf of all of us at Nicklaus Design, we are so pleased to be part of this grand opening and renovation. Chris, Chad and our team at Nicklaus Design are very proud of what has been accomplished at BallenIsles.”
The renovation of the East Course follows the construction of a $1.3 million pickleball complex in 2021; the 2020 redesign of BallenIsles’ South Course by Rees Jones; and a $35 million clubhouse renovation in 2018. The club also recently announced a $19 million renovation and expansion project of its sports complex. Construction is expected to begin on the phased project in late 2023, with project completion slated by the end of 2024.
“We continue making BallenIsles Country Club better and better,” BallenIsles President David Frank said. “The work Nicklaus Design did on the East Course and practice grounds is simply spectacular.”
