Jonathan Landing’s Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, has reopened its Village course following a renovation by Beau Welling Design (BWD).
Welling, along with BWD vice president Scott Benson and senior design associates Amanda Barbee and Hunter Rigsby, worked with the club’s committee and members to develop a masterplan for the project.
“The layout had last been worked on some 24 years ago,” said Welling. “So, the project started with an analysis of the course’s infrastructure. Once the decision was made to really reinvest in that infrastructure, we looked at how we might achieve certain goals relating to how the Village course played. There was a real intention to make it more strategic and playable for all skill levels.”
Brad Nelson, director of agronomy, said: “The infrastructure, the grass and the overall golfing experience did not match up with other courses here in Jupiter, or our other two courses that were renovated in 2017 and 2021.”
The first renovation was The Medal, which was overseen by Kipp Schulties, and included the redesign of bunkers, regrassing fairways and greens and drainage upgrades. Four years later, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner created a new course called The Match, which replaced the original design. The club, therefore, wanted to bring Village up to standard – the course had only been renovated once, in 2000, since originally opening in 1978.
BWD’s work has included designing new greens, tees and bunkers for all 18 holes, rerouting holes three through seven, regrassing tees and fairways with Bimini bermuda from JW Turf and greens with TifEagle bermuda from Pike Creek Turf, reshaping the landscape, new irrigation, drainage and cart paths, plus renovations of the range and short-game area. Tree removal and relocation was undertaken to allow for expanded sightlines across the golf course property. Contractor Superior Golf Concepts has executed the work.
“This was a complete overhaul of the entire course,” said Nelson. “Updating the Village to improve the members golfing experience and lifting the property in certain areas for drainage were a major goal.”
“We hit a home run with the renovation at Jonathan's Landing,” said Welling. “The corridor of holes three through seven gave us a real opportunity to reimagine that section of the golf course to create something spectacular. I think the better players probably think the course is a little bit more difficult and more challenging, but the higher handicap player will think it’s more manageable for them. I also think it’s now a very pretty golf course on which to go and spend your afternoon.”
Nelson added: “We are unique when it comes to our three courses here at Jonathan’s Landing. The Match course is totally unique in design and presentation for South Florida, while the Medal course is a classic Fazio design that is loved by all our members. BWD visited those two courses early in the design process and purposely made sure to give the Village course its own identity when it came to playability and aesthetics with the finished product.”