A rchitect aims to create‘ one of the best public courses in Pennsylvania’.
GOLF COURSES
Toftrees golf course to get major upgrade from Nagle
A rchitect aims to create‘ one of the best public courses in Pennsylvania’.
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA, FEBRUARY 20, 2025 – The Toftrees Golf Resort is to undergo a major renovation project at the hands of Jim Nagle of Nagle Design Works – and the architect believes the property has the potential to become one of the best public courses in Pennsylvania.
The Toftrees course dates from 1969 and was originally designed by prolific architect Ed Ault. The resort was acquired some years ago by local investment group and is managed by the hospitality company Shaner Hotel Group, and the golf course project is part of a substantial upgrading project for the whole resort.
“ Shaner senior vice president George Wolfe – who I have known for twenty years, since he was greens chair at the Sunnehana club – called me a few months ago to talk about a bunker problem they were having on the course,” says Nagle.“ I visited the course, and from a quick fix the converasation soon moved to potentially developing a comprehensive renovation plan for Toftrees.”
“ Towards the end of the original owner’ s life, capital investment was in short supply, and the golf course suffered,” says George Wolfe.“ Since we came in, we have slowly been fixing that – we brought
Marriott Golf in to manage the golf operation, and now we’ re taking the next steps. Although we have owned the resort for a number of years, it is only recently that we have started redeveloping it – our vision is to create a first class hotel with excellent banqueting and convention facilities – and with that, it was obvious that upgrading the golf course would be important.
“ Toftrees was originally a semiprivate club with a hotel attached – it had a resort feature, but it always felt like a private club. There has always been a tie between the golf course and Penn State University, which is local. Ault did a lot of work in the region in the Sixties, but I think this must have been quite a big project for
32 GroundskeepingJournal. co. uk | May / June 2025