Source: Newsday (New York)
As a golf-course designer, Bob Cupp is used to sculpting soil into challenging layouts for the sport's greatest players.
Until now, he had never worked under the watchful gaze of the Statue of Liberty.
Cupp's latest project, Liberty National Golf Club, is being bulldozed onto the banks of New York Bay in Jersey City, N.J., the $130-million brainchild of Paul Fireman, chief executive of Reebok International Ltd. From the private club's fairways, New York executives and Wall Street bankers will hit drives in the shadows of the Lower Manhattan skyline and Ellis and Liberty islands. Cupp says the course will serve as his legacy.
"When I'm dead and gone, I'll be remembered for this golf course," says Cupp, 65, who spent 16 years planning courses for the design company run by golf Hall-of-Famer Jack Nicklaus. "This isn't something that just walks in the door every week. This will likely never happen again." Fireman, 62, has visions of golf's best players one day competing for a U.S. Open title over what used to be a toxic-waste dump. His club, with a $30-million clubhouse and $5-million sprinkler system, will be one of the most expensive courses ever built.
Liberty National, which will feature a concierge-staffed ferry to shuttle members and guests directly from Manhattan's financial district 12 minutes away, is scheduled to open on July 4, 2006.
Today, it is about 40 percent complete; grass seed will be spread late this month.
The course is being developed through Fireman's Mashpee, Mass.-based Willowbend Development Co. and built by Heritage Links, a Houston golf course construction firm.
Like Augusta National Golf Club, site of this week's Masters Tournament, Liberty's membership list will be exclusive.
The dozen or so founding members, who will serve as the club's board of directors, will pay a onetime fee of $1 million, plus periodic dues. The corporate membership fee is $750,000 plus dues, and individuals will pay $500,000 plus dues.
Unlike many private clubs, including the male-only Augusta National, Liberty National will aim for a diverse group of members, including women and racial minorities, Fireman says. He says he's especially interested in forming a club where young members aren't overshadowed by rules set by a previous generation.
"I don't like that," says Fireman, a Boston University dropout whose salary and bonus last year totaled $2.96 million, according to Reebok's latest proxy statement. "There will be no blackballing. As long as they are of good character and pay their bills, they'll be allowed to join."