Pine Valley and Calusa Pines-inspired Union League project takes shape

Below are excerpts from an article that originally appeared in Golf Course Architecture.

Golf architecture firm Fry/Straka has completed 12 holes of a huge renovation project on the newly-named Union League National Golf Club in Swainton, New Jersey, and is now working on the club’s ‘Sherman’ nine.

The Sand Barrens Golf Club, originally designed by Hurdzan & Fry, was purchased by The Union League of Philadelphia – a city club founded in 1862 that now has over 4,000 members – in October 2017 and renamed Union League National Golf Club. The club contracted Fry/Straka to create a master plan, and construction work began in February 2018.

“The project is a 27-hole renovation that began as somewhat of a facelift on the property,” said Jacob Hoffer, general manager at the club. “As the project began to take shape, we felt it necessary to go deeper into a renovation. Even prior to opening in the spring of 2018, the initial membership push — based just on the concept — proved that we were about to embark on something pretty special.”

“The League wanted to make a splash early on, so all six starting and finishing holes were completed first,” said Jason Straka. “We are now working to complete the South nine, which has been renamed the Sherman nine. There is some work being done on adjacent holes of the other nines to accommodate the shifting and rerouting of the Sherman holes.

“The next nine to be tackled later this year is the Grant nine. However, there may be some mixing and matching by region.”

Eighteen holes are being kept open for play while work proceeds, with an expected completion date sometime between autumn 2021 and spring 2022.

Originally, the renovation was to clean up bunkers, remove overgrown vegetation and revamp some of the green complexes. “As the initial impact of these renovations began to be seen, it was clear we had the opportunity to do something spectacular and fortunately our membership supported us in the decision to push forward with more impactful renovations,” said Hoffer.

Straka said: “The freedom to do something quite unique essentially from scratch in the United States is the most exciting thing about the project. That is quite rare these days. Once Dana and I were given the freedom to really push the envelope we developed a concept that is a cross between Calusa Pines and Pine Valley. The old Sand Barrens did not have very much topographic relief to it, so given the budget we decided to create one massive, meandering fill that impacts over nine holes — spread over all three nines.”

Fry said: “I have been designing courses for over 30 years and to me the single most unique thing about this project is that it combines two dramatically different styles that I have never seen on any other course in the world. It has massive earthmoving that, in time, will appear to look natural, much like we did at Calusa Pines.”

Click here to read the full article on golfcoursearchitecture.net.