Love Golf Design has been hired to design a new golf course on the site of the existing Birdwood course, which is home to the University of Virginia’s men’s and women’s golf teams.

Located near the city of Charlottesville, the Birdwood course forms part of the Boar’s Head Resort. The resort’s tennis facilities are to be expanded, and will encroach on the current third and fourth holes of the golf course.

This factor, coupled with the need for major maintenance work to be carried out on the course itself, has led to Love Golf Design being hired to almost completely rework the golf course layout.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work on such a grand scale here at Birdwood,” said Davis Love III. “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.”

Only four existing hole corridors are likely to feature in the new design, and 14 new holes are set to be built. Plans should be finalised this autumn by Scot Sherman, the project’s lead architect. 

“After exploring the property this winter, we found so many options it was hard to narrow the new course down to just 18 holes,” said Sherman. “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.”

Sherman confirmed to GCA that some parts of the work are set to commence in early 2018 depending on the permitting process. It is hoped that the new course will open by the end of 2019.