“ I don ’ t know why I have two golf courses , I ’ ll be honest , I blame it on Skeeter .”
— Dwight Schaubach
The closing hole at Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club . INSET : Skeeter Heath , Williamsburg GC superintendent Jeff Whitmire , Dwight Schaubach and Elizabeth Manor GM Dan Capozzi .
Hampton ’ s Heath , a personable entrepreneur in his own right , came on as Schaubach ’ s director of business development 15 years ago .
Running golf courses was never a thought , though . The two played golf as members at Suffolk ’ s Cedar Point Club , near where Schaubach lives with his wife Jane on an estate on the Nansemond River . Each had only ancient connections to Williamsburg and Elizabeth Manor . But their local roots run deep . So when some Williamsburg Country Club members he knew appealed to him with their pleas of S . O . S ., Heath was intrigued enough to bring it to Schaubach .
It was a huge ask . By 2009 the course , to say nothing of its pool and tennis courts , had endured years of cost cutting and neglect . The club ’ s board advised superintendent Jeff Whitmire , who at age 49 has already worked at the club for 37 years , to look for a new job . It was all but over .
“ It ’ s tough for a board to manage a club ,” Whitmire says . “ They were doing their best , but you can ’ t cut your way to prosperity , you have to invest .”
Enter Schaubach , cautiously . He bought it and soon shut it down , launching an exhaustive project that included all new , well , nearly everything .
“ We made the place a pile of dirt ,” Heath says .
Fairways , greens , bunkers , cart paths , practice areas , drainage and driveways were rebuilt under the lead of Whitmire and South Carolina golf-course architect John LaFoy . Countless trees were removed to enhance aesthetics and sight lines . No room in the 18,000-square foot
WHAT WAS UPDATED AT WILLIAMSBURG GOLF CLUB ?
GREENS BUNKERS FAIRWAYS
PRACTICE AREAS CLUBHOUSE
CART PATHS clubhouse was left untouched by updates . Then the name was changed to reflect its new golf-only mission ; where the “ country club ” pool and tennis courts once wasted away sits a gorgeous new short-game area .
“ Everything considered , it was the right thing to do ,” Heath says . Not that it was an easy thing . Various logistical delays created grass-growing issues that twice caused brief shutdowns even after the club reopened in 2010 .
“ Sometimes I ’ d get so damned disgusted , spending money , losing money ,” Schaubach says . “ There ’ s a recession and I ’ m building a golf course .”
Enthusiastic new members such as Jimmye Laycock , who retired as football coach at the College of William & Mary in 2018 after 39 seasons , helped ease Schaubach ’ s initial pain . For annual dues of $ 4,000 , membership has tripled to about 300 , Heath says , and gotten younger as well .
“ This place has been a lifesaver for me in retirement ,” says Laycock , whose charitable foundation will hold its second golf fundraiser at the club in October . “ It ’ s just a really easy place to hang out . No one here is trying to impress each other , they ’ re here to play golf and have a good time .”
Elizabeth Manor , founded in 1948 , offered fewer hurdles to clear . That board ,
NCGOA MID-ATLANTIC
24 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2021
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