Magnolia Green launches Jack Nicklaus golf course

Dignitaries shovel symbolic piles of dirt during the groundbreaking for the Westham Golf Club last week.

The developer of Magnolia Green broke ground last week on the Westham Golf Club, the 18-hole Nicklaus Design golf course that will become a major focal point of the new community off Route 360. The new course by Nicklaus Design and Ault, Clark & Associates is also one of the world's first designed using virtual reality technology.

When completed in 2009, Westham will have a maximum distance of 7,500 yards and be the home course for the Cosby High School golf team. A scholarship will be awarded next spring to one of the school's seniors, Cosby's first graduating class.

Westham will also include a 14,000- square-foot clubhouse with a state-of-the-art fitness center, locker and steam rooms, pro shop, grill, lounge, terrace, courtyard, meeting room and banquet facilities. The practice areas will include a par-3 practice hole, a driving range, practice bunker and chipping and putting greens.

With General Manager Mike Bennett at the helm, Westham is touting its course designers, a topography of rolling terrain with Mother Nature "as a co-designer" and the club becoming the neighborhood's social and recreational hub. Nicklaus Design has 322 courses to its credit while Ault has completed over 1,000 golf course projects and renovations.

Westham is styling a "classic" course with virtual reality technology, a new development in golf course design. It allows planners to create the exact look and feel of a course and provides valuable information about the flow of play. Using this technology, creators can eliminate blind shots while providing for correct bunker positioning. Designers will also be able to forecast the course's landscaping when it reaches full maturity.

The course will wind throughout the community of over 2,000 acres. Over 3,500 new single and multifamily homes will be built with a main entrance just west of the Otterdale and Woolridge road intersection.