Virginia Golfer September / October 2022 | Page 14

at c ( )

Member Clubs Brand New Bayville

Virginia Beach club set for late fall re-opening after $ 5.2 million renovation by CHRIS LANG
The view from one of the new back teeing grounds , this one on No . 6 .
EVERY YEAR , MEMBERS OF THE USGA ’ S AGRONOMY TEAM VISIT BAYVILLE GOLF CLUB IN VIRGINIA BEACH to play the golf course , a result of a tight relationship between former Bayville director of golf course operations Cutler Robinson and Darin Brevard , the USGA ’ s director of championship agronomy .
Bayville first caught the eye of the USGA team in 2011 , when it hosted the U . S . Women ’ s Mid-Amateur Championship . As the visits continued thereafter , the USGA agronomy team had a suggestion for Robinson and his team at Bayville in 2017 .
“ The USGA had a recommendation and suggestion that after 20 years , we ’ d want to start monitoring the greens and entertain the idea of reconstruction ,” said Bayville President Stephen Whitfield , who is also a member of the VSGA ’ s Board of Directors . “ When we hosted the ladies here in 2011 , we had a deluge of rain one afternoon , and of course that brought on all hands on deck on the golf course , and we noticed a couple of greens that became problematic . So that kind of raised our eye a little bit .”
Bayville ’ s decision to close its golf course at the end of 2021 for a year-long renovation did not come quickly . Designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1995 , Bayville has since been one of Virginia Beach ’ s elite private clubs , one that focuses solely on golf and has a small membership . When the opportunity arose to consider a major renovation , the club ’ s board met and the club ’ s membership quickly came on board , noting that the future
The green on No . 2 , which has been moved much closer to Pleasure House Creek .
health of the club ’ s signature championship course was worth a significant closure .
“ The majority of ( members ) are fine with it ,” said T . J . Young , Bayville ’ s Director of Operations . He started at the club in late 2020 , just as renovation discussions were coming to a head . “ Initially , I think it was a bit of a task for the board members and committee members to convince them that it ’ s going to be worth 10 or 11 months of not playing your own course .”
The next step was finding the right architect to execute the renovation . Bayville quickly settled on Andrew Green , considered one of the rising stars in business whose recent work includes the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club in Maryland and Wannamoisett Country Club in Rhode Island . Green , who grew up near Roanoke and attended Virginia Tech , jumped at the opportunity , calling Bayville a “ shining star ” among courses in Virginia .
Choosing Green — who had an opening to work in 2022 — escalated the timeline of the renovation , which began with front-nine work in January . Back-nine work commenced in March and both
CHRIS LANG ( 2 )
12 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2022 vsga . org