After 90 years, Belleair Country Club ready for a makeover

BELLEAIR, Fla. -- It started with six holes on elevated greens, surfaced with crushed seashells. In 1915, the Belleair Country Club received quite a makeover when golf course architect Donald Ross brought 36 beautiful holes to life next to the Intracoastal Waterway in central Florida. Now, almost 90 years later, the oldest golf course in Florida is ready for a facelift.

Following up on its recent upgrade to the club's facilities, where $7 million was spent on everything from the tennis courts to the marina, the club which sits just a few miles south of Clearwater is looking to surge ahead as the premier golf course in the area.

"We want the course to live up to its name," Belleair Country Club's General Manager Ed Shaughnessy said. "Our goal is to have the best course money can buy."

After a careful selection of architects, Gene Bates Golf Design was given the unique task of restoring an old course with a touch of greatness that Ross left behind, as well as adding new elements to the course to keep up with the cutting edge.

The restoration of the West course began in March, leaving the East as the only operating course available to play this summer. The plans to construct the course in the summer come at the right time according to Shaughnessy, with at least 60 percent of the club's members headed north during the hot summer months.

Shaughnessy said he has been very happy with the work so far.

"Gene is super to work with," he said. "His design team has been professional since day one."

Senior Designer, Matt Swanson said the challenges have been met with excitement.

"Not too many designers get a chance to restore such an old course by a famous designer like Donald Ross." Swanson said, "Renovating the course has been fun, but it does come with unique challenges."

One of those challenges has been bringing out the best in an already established course, Swanson said. On the par-4 6th on the West course, the hole runs parallel with the Clearwater Bay giving it a gorgeous view.

Even so, the hole never maxed out its potential according to Swanson. The hole will have a new look when the restoration is complete. Swanson said the hole was extended 50 yards and where trees stood tall before, is the new fairway.

"The views of the water were previously hidden," he said, "So we tried to capitalize on the amenities that surrounded it."

As the construction wraps up in the next couple weeks, the grow-in period will ensue from July to October. The weather will play a vital role in how the West course looks and feels this fall. The plan for the East course mirrors the West as construction will begin in March 2004, Shaughnessy said.

So after all these years, why now?

Shaughnessy said the course's illustrious past has seen enough damage and abuse over the years, and he isn't just talking about divots.

"The course has always been beautiful and unique, but there were times it was not well managed," he said.

Although the course has been open for 105 years, it was not always in the hands of the right people to care for it Shaughnessy said.

National and world events affected the course. In 1943, the property was leased to the U.S. Army Air Forces and, after World War II, Bernard F. Powell and his partners ran it. The land was used to house soldiers, not to host golfers.

Even a hotel was built on the land, which still remains today. The Belleview Biltmore hotel has overlooked the beautiful landscape and scintillating waterway since the 1920s.

It wasn't until 1987, that the country club was purchased by the club members and the name of the club changed from the Belleview Biltmore Country Club to its current namesake.

Now with all 36 holes in the hands of Bates Golf Design, the members should be excited for the future. Swanson said that Bates' designs followed weeks of extensive research on the style of Ross.

"The members like the course for its Donald Ross design so the key is restoring it, not changing it," Swanson said.

Bates' active role has been essential to the whole restoration process. Swanson said that many bunkers will be added throughout the course, but holes will typically preserve the Ross strategy.

The par-4 3rd hole on the West course features two green side bunkers and one backside. Bates' plan will keep these bunkers, but the green will be slightly elevated and enlarged.

While holes like the par-4 7th and the par-3 12th on the West course will undergo an entirely new look as far as bunker placement and green side strategy Swanson said.

Shaughnessy and the club's board are currently going over Bates' master plan for the East course. With the East course presenting more of a challenge to players than the West, Swanson is confident that the improvements will be positive.

"It's not a bad course," he said, "but it has several areas that I'm sure Gene (Bates) will know exactly what to do with."

By the time this historic course is restored, it will have come a long way from greens with crushed seashells.

Fast fact

Both the East and West course are currently par-71 courses totaling with the yardages being 6,015 and 6,104 respectively.

August 4, 2003

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.