Scot Sherman, ASGCA, and Love Golf Design, the golf course architecture firm founded by Davis Love III and his brother Mark, will design and build a new golf course on the site of the University of Virginia’s existing Birdwood Golf Course.
The firm’s work on the layout is part of a multiyear improvement plan for the Boar’s Head Resort, the UVA golf team’s facilities, and the historic Birdwood Mansion.
“A planned expansion of the Boar’s Head Resort’s tennis facilities will encroach on Birdwood’s third and fourth holes,” said Pat Hogan, UVA’s Executive Vice President and COO. “That eventuality, paired with millions of dollars in deferred maintenance needs on the course, prompted the Foundation to think more broadly.”
The course, which partially lies on several hundred acres of rolling countryside, is home to the UVA men’s and women’s golf teams, and is also open to Boar’s Head guests and the public. Hogan noted that the Foundation owns additional property behind the Resort, which allows more room for relocation of holes and added golf facilities.
“After exploring the property this winter, we found so many options it was hard to narrow the new course down to just 18 holes,” Sherman said. “Davis, Mark and I believe the variety of the site lends itself to building a course with a timeless character, and are pleased to be working with a routing that flows through valleys, over ridges, and across creeks. We have also been asked to study the possibly of building a short course and a putting course – so, the Resort really is looking to set a new standard.”
“We appreciate the opportunity to work on such a grand scale here at Birdwood,” said Davis Love. “The University is blessed to have plentiful land which gives us the room to create some thought provoking strategies, so we are excited to have the design process underway.”
The Love team expects the new design to be finalized by this fall.