GOLF COURSES him, as there was a masterplan for the whole community involved. I’ ve played a number of Ed Ault’ s courses, and there’ s no doubt in my mind that this is some of his best work – he had a great piece of land to work with.”
It was the site on which Toftrees sits that made Nagle sit up and take notice.“ It was the property that made this a great opportunity for me – it has great undulation, and some really nice features such as a wash running through it that could be opened up,” he says.“ The routing is very good – the only hole that stands out as being especially challenging is the thirteenth, which has a blind tee shot with the hillside on the left and a tight corridor. The rest of the course flows nicely, with wonderful contrast and elevation change. The course needs improvement, but it doesn’ t need blowing up. Today, golfers have higher‘ design IQs’ than in decades past. With the advent of social media and the many golf design related podcasts, golfers now demand more thoughtful engaging design: Toftrees can provide just that. The greens, routing, setting, and natural topography lend themselves to creating a dynamic golf course that engages players and challenges them appropriately – something any resort or public facility needs to guarantee return play. of them are elevated above natural grade. Most are at the sides and don’ t create much interesting strategy. We will try to fix that.”
“ I have played pretty much all of the best courses in Pennsylvania, and I’ m quite convinced that Jim will give us something that matches up very well with the top public venues in the state,” says George Wolfe.“ To the right of the par three sixth is a former quarry that could be a beautiful feature, but it is inundated by foliage. I’ m certain Jim has his eye on opening this area up. The course has great rhythm to its routing and great contour to the land. The course is solid, but some past tinkering needs attention, and, with Jim’ s eye, I’ m convinced that Toftrees will emerge from this project as a world-class track.”
Design work is starting immediately, but no date has yet been set or construction to begin.
“ There is an abundance of inferior tree types on the property, but at the same time there are substantial mature stands of trees. The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth have too many undesirable evergreens that are hiding the beauty of the land. Tree work is only one part of the plan, but it really stands out. The bunkering could be more creative, which would give better aesthetics and playability. At the moment, the course features sixties / seventies bunker styling, and lots
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