Celebration Golf Management, which owns and operates Celebration Golf Club in Celebration, Fla., has acquired the Legends Golf Club in Clermont, Fla., from home builder Lennar. The semi-private, 18-hole championship course opened in 2001.
Weibring-Wolfard Golf Design will design an 18-hole, public golf course in the village of Metamora, Ill. Illinois native D.A. Weibring and design partner Steve Wolfard have been hired to design the new championship caliber course by 18-Links, a local family-owned company. In addition to the 18-hole course, the 240-acre plot of land will offer a practice range, clubhouse and short game practice area. The course will be distinguished by a heathland style, incorporating heather and native grasses with evergreen trees and gently undulating terrain. The contractor, Turf Solutions Group, will break ground in the spring of 2009. Weibring-Wolfard estimates a completion date of summer of 2010.
Shadow Ridge Golf Club, in Palm Desert, Calif.; The Rookery at Marco in Naples, Fla.; Hawk’s Landing Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.; and Westfields Golf Club in Clifton, Va., are the most recent Marriott properties to achieve certification through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. They are Marriott Golf’s 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st properties to achieve this recognition. By the end of the year, four more of the organization’s managed golf facilities will become Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries.
Schmidt-Curley Design’s award-winning design, Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand, is set to host the Royal Trophy 2009, January 9-11. The Royal Trophy is a Ryder Cup-type competition between Europe and Asia. Approximately 45 minutes outside Bangkok, Amata Spring is distinguished by several lakeside holes, more than 100 bunkers and Asia's only floating green.
Courses designed by golf architect Roy Bechtol and Bechtol Golf Design in Austin, Texas, report good news. Black Bear Golf Course in Delhi, La., received accolades from the Shreveport (La.) Times. Black Bear also hosted the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series’ Guarantee Bank Classic Oct. 2-5. Additionally, the University of Texas Golf Club recognized Pat Weis last month, as the practice tee was dedicated in her honor. Weis was Texas' first women's golf head coach and served in that capacity from 1973-93, marking a 21-year span in the program's storied 36-year history.
The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, home of the Tucson area’s first new Jack Nicklaus golf course in 25 years, is set to open in 2009. The World Golf Championship’s Accenture Match Play Championship makes its debut at the facility February 23 through March 1. Open play is available on all three nines for a limited time starting Jan. 18. It will eventually only be accessible by resident members and resort guests.