This 27-hole private club reopened after an extraordinary redevelopment process that stretched from 2018 to 2023. The facility never closed to member play, however: Fry/Straka phased the work so as to always leave 18 holes playable. In completely revegetating the site, F/S specified 13 different species of native grasses, ground covers and shrubs, plus dozens of wetland plant varieties, to create a rugged Pine Valley look — and to control erosion. Yet any discussion of Union League National should begin with The Big Fill, a large-scale earthmoving effort — more than 1.6 million cubic yards in scope — that Fry/Straka created at the center of this 268-acre parcel. It rises fully 78 feet above sea level, 56 feet above the original grade. However, its tendrils spread out hundreds of yards in half a dozen directions. These man-made ridgelines slowly but elegantly taper down, only to rise again and form new, smaller plateaus, from which other distinct ridge networks and corridors splinter off into the landscape.

“We deployed The Big Fill at Calusa Pines in Florida, and Yas Acres in Abu Dhabi, among other properties, but never on this scale,” Dana Fry says. “This is honestly the only course project I know of, anywhere, that combines the two crucial elements: this massive earth-moving style and a Pine Valley-style palette — the soil and vegetation that we associate with great golf. That’s frankly why Jason or myself, and many times the both of us, were there on site pretty much every week for going on 5 years. It was a massive job and a massive opportunity, to create something truly special. We’ve never undertaken a project that better underlines the strengths of our firm.”

Traditionally, a project of such an extended duration drives a membership crazy. “But we phased our work very carefully,” Fry says. “Psychologically, that approach was more clever than we knew: Because the membership here watched The Big Fill slowly emerge, then completely transform their golf course property. They grew to love and admire the new incarnation before they ever played it.”