Big plans at Ballyhack
The same team that created the highly rated Kinloch Golf Club in Virginia has reunited to produce a golf facility in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside Roanoke, in the same state.
The team consists of golf course architect Lester George, sports agent and golf amateur Vinny Giles and course developer Landscapes Unlimited, with financial backing and development expertise from Roanoke firm Balzer & Associates.
According to Landscapes Unlimited CEO Bill Kubly, the 370-acre Ballyhack Golf Club will not be a typical private club. "People are tired of having to buy a residential lot at a remote destination, with a real estate-driven golf course; but they do want to belong to a getaway club," Kubly said. "The Ballyhack model will have only 60 local and 200 national members." The course itself covers over 190 acres and will feature old-style, gouged-out, rough edged bunkers, fairways as wide as 150 yards and 50- to 70-foot elevation changes.
Five sets of tees will give players the opportunity to play the course as long as 7,250 yards, or as short as 4,900 yards.
Construction of the clubhouse and cottages will take place next summer, with the club expected to open in autumn 2008 or spring 2009.