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Investment Pays Off at Ford ’ s Colony
Membership at recently renovated Ford ’ s Colony is up as the course celebrates 30 years | by CHRIS LANG
CHRIS LANG
On a sunny August morning at Ford ’ s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg , a group of children took part in putting drills before heading inside the renovated Murdoch ’ s restaurant to catch up on Cartoon Network shows . Inside the pro shop , the line to get out on one of the club ’ s two open courses was six deep , and the first opening on the tee sheet wasn ’ t until late afternoon . Net membership is up during a time when many are struggling to fill rosters .
In short , things are looking up at Ford ’ s Colony , which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017 . And it ’ s no coincidence that the club began to see its fortunes turn around in 2015 when ClubCorp purchased the property and immediately began investing in the 54-hole facility ’ s lagging infrastructure .
ClubCorp , which manages nine facilities in Virginia , set out to revive Ford ’ s Colony , which operates in an area saturated with topnotch golf options like the Golden Horseshoe and the Kingsmill Resort . Before tackling renovations on the club ’ s first 18-hole course — Marsh Hawk — ClubCorp began a multi-million-dollar renovation to the Ford ’ s Colony clubhouse .
Upstairs , members will find an upscale dining area for nights out . Downstairs , the former Harry ’ s restaurant was renamed Murdoch ’ s , which includes a family-friendly menu , local craft beer on tap , modern seating and televisions throughout . An outdoor patio overlooking the practice area features plenty of seating , fire pits and cornhole boards .
While all of those aesthetic changes were necessary , Ford ’ s also recognized a need to update Marsh Hawk , a Dan Maples design built in 1985 , two years before the full club opened . The two biggest issues : bentgrass greens that could not thrive in the Virginia heat , and an overgrowth of trees that significantly changed the original course design and made it difficult to grow grass in certain areas .
It all came to a head last summer when , like many other courses in central and southern Virginia , Marsh Hawk lost greens to the stifling heat . “ The bentgrass just checked out on us ,” Ford ’ s Colony director of agronomy John Marshall said .
“ Last year at this time , we had five or six temporaries out there ,” Ford ’ s Colony director of golf Mike Krick said . “ A friend of mine was describing Bermudagrass greens , and this area , to me , and he kind of described it very uniquely . He said , ‘ You know what the definition of a weed is ? A weed is an undesirable grass in a wrong location .’ In our summertime , bentgrass is almost becoming a weed . It just can ’ t grow .”
Last fall , Ford ’ s Colony made the decision to shut down Marsh Hawk for much of the summer of 2017 , beginning on June 1 , to renovate all 18 greens with Champion Bermuda , the same grass the club uses on its Blue Heron Course . Over time , the bentgrass had facilitated some shrinkage of the course ’ s greens , so not only did the club change grasses , but it restored the greens to their original full size .
“ We feel like we ’ re saving 25 percent on water , fertilizer and fungicides since moving to the Bermudagrass ,” Marshall said .
When Marsh Hawk officially reopens for business — the club is targeting mid-September — members will see other notable differences , especially when it comes to sight lines . On No . 13 , for example , an oak tree had grown so large that it cut off much of the left side of the fairway from the teeing ground , leaving players a narrow landing area near a water hazard . On 14 , a string of trees down the left side of the fairway made it impossible to grow grass , and mishits would often hit dirt just left of the fairway and roll all the way into the woods . A tree on 17 nearly made the right side of the green inaccessible .
“ We ’ re going to have new greens , which will be perfect , but we get all of our hole locations back and we ’ re going to have a bigger putting surface ,” Krick said . “ To me , that helps speed up play . If people are missing a lot of greens and doing a lot of chipping , that ’ s a lot of switching between clubs . If the greens are a little bigger , the ball is going to stay on there , and pace of play will move faster .”
That ’ s exactly what Maples had in mind when the course opened three decades ago .
vsga . org S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 11