Heal the sick, raise the dead: A year or so from now, the investment group that owns Westham Golf Club hopes to resume construction on the property’s Nicklaus Design golf course. Westham’s first nine opened in 2010, as the centerpiece of Magnolia Green, a master-planned community in suburban Richmond, Virginia that became a victim of the Great Recession. iStar Financial, which assumed ownership of the community via a foreclosure, evidently believes it needs an 18-hole course to effectively market the remaining lots. Tom Clark, the Virginia-based half of Ault Clark & Associates, is collaborating with Nicklaus’ in-house designers and will oversee the construction.
• An abandoned quarry in New Bern, N.C. could soon become the home of a grow-the-game venture featuring a junior-friendly golf course. The First Tee of Eastern North Carolina is seeking the city’s permission to build a nine-hole track and a practice center, and it may enlist other assistance from the city as well.
“I think it is a win-win situation,” New Bern’s city manager told the New Bern Sun Journal. If the plans are approved, the First Tee group will embark on a fundraising campaign.