BATON ROUGE — The LSU Athletics Department, University Club officials and former LSU All-American and longtime PGA star David Toms officially announced plans for a major renovation of the home course of the LSU men’s and women’s golf team.
The University Club will undergo approximately a 10-month renovation that will necessitate the closing of the course around Dec. 1 with the hoped to re-opening of the course that was built in 1998, set for early September 2010.
“This is a wonderful project,” said University Club General Manager Jared LeBoeuf. “We were approached by LSU Athletics to do this golf course right around a year ago. We are knocking on the door of a golf course that will be second to none in the south. We are definitely excited about this project. Thank you to the donors who provided this opportunity to us and to the LS golf team. This golf course is going to take a new identity.”
In speaking of the renovation, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva said, “A good golfer needs a good golf course. We have to make this golf course a top-notch competitive golf course if we’re going to attract the best players in the country, so that’s what we’ve embarked on doing. With the help of Jim Lipe (the original designer of the U-Club) and David Toms, we’ve been able to redesign the golf course so that it’s spectacular. With the help of some tremendous donors, we are going to make it happen. To me, it’s the perfect project. We are going to have a great product when it is done. We are not going to have any debt. We are not going to have any state debt. All the money that has been raised was through private funds. It’s a perfect project. The people who are members out here will benefit from it and our teams will benefit from it tremendously.”
The course will see its corridor reduced as far as its hitting areas with new bunkers, additional lakes and trees including areas that have sand dunes and native grasses to offer more challenges. With a new set of championship tees, the course will be stretched to some 7,500 yards at its par of 72.
“There’s a lot of things we’re trying to accomplish,” said Toms, who will attend Saturday’s LSU football game before the final event of the FedEx playoffs in Atlanta next week. “I think you not only want to recruit the best players, but when you get here you want them to improve. You want them to able to play a golf course that’s going to challenge their game off the tee. Not just into the greens and second shots, but also around the greens. You want them to be able to show up at other golf courses and be prepared to play at that level. I think what happens now is we have corridors so wide here, your penalty is that when they show up at a golf course with a lot of water hazards and a lot of trees, they’re not sure what to think about it and they’re not comfortable. The first thing you want to do is shrink down the driving areas to make them more narrow so that you might not necessarily hit driver every hole. You learn to throttle back and play conservatively at times and play golf like I play.”
“This is the next step to get us where we want to be,” said Lady Tigers Coach Karen Bahnsen, whose team is presently ranked ninth in the country after winning their opening event. “We look forward to the future what the University Club is going to be and what the future of our program is going to be.”
Fifth year men’s coach Chuck Winstead, whose 11th-ranked Tigers open the 2009-10 season next weekend, understands what his program needs as, like Bahnsen, he is an LSU alum. “In my mind, LSU should be the best at everything we do, bar none … Relative to this project, it’s the right step and the logical step for the golf programs. This golf course, when it is complete, will allow us to recruit the elite, but it will also give those elite players a place where they can play on a daily basis that will test all aspects of their game.”
“I spent some time with Jim Lipe the other day, and that’s really been a pleasure for me,” said Toms. “If you’ve ever seen me try to draw on a piece of paper, you’d know that somebody’s going to have to have to put this on paper for sure. You see what this looks like now, but I had the vision of what I think this golf course should be, what the shot values are, where the hazards should be, and to me it’s a great opportunity to give back to LSU and give back to the golf program. I’m part of the ownership group at the club and to see this reach its potential is great. It’s going to be a great tool for the golf teams, for the university, and something we can all be proud of. We all thank the donors. It is a big deal. To have this paid for before we’re even moving dirt is great, and it just shows you the support for the purple and gold.”
The 300-acre course was built in 1998 on land donated to the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF) and subsequently leased to University Club. A group of local investors, led by Louisiana Golf, of which Toms is a part of, acquired University Club in April 2002.
A video look at the renovation designs and a special interview with Toms is available above.
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University Club Press Conference
September 18, 2009
UNIVERSITY CLUB GENERAL MANAGER JARED LEBOUEF
“First of all, welcome. We are very excited. We were approached by LSU Athletics to do this golf course right about a year ago and like I said to our members the other day as we rolled it out to them, it was a ball that kind of started small, as an idea. With an organization like TAF and wonderful donors, we were able to complete this project, and here we are, knocking on the door of a golf course that’s going to be second to none in the South. We’re definitely excited to have everyone here. We’re excited about this project. On behalf of the members, thank you. Thank you to everyone who participated in this. We are excited beyond words. Thank you to the donors who provided this opportunity to us and to the LSU golf team. This golf course is going to take a new identity. Our golf teams are already good, but they’re going to be elite.”
LSU VICE CHANCELLOR AND DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS JOE ALLEVA
“Thank you for being here. I’ve been here about 16 months, and one of the things you have to do when you come to a new place is evaluate the staff and your coaches. You have to evaluate what sports you think you can be good in. I did a quick evaluation of the two coaches we have coaching our golf teams. That’s the first step. You have to have good coaches, and we have excellent coaches. Next, you have to give the coaches the tools they need to succeed. One of the first things we did is fix up their practice facility down there and made it the way it should look. The next thing we did is decide that you need to recruit the best players you can get. You can have the best coaches in the world, but you have to be able to recruit good athletes and good golfers. What does a good golfer want? A good golfer needs a good golf course. We have to make this golf course a top-notch competitive golf course if we’re going to attract the best players in the country, so that’s what we embarked on doing.
“With the help of Jim Lipe and David Toms, we’ve been able to redesign the golf course so that it’s spectacular. We’re going to have a tremendous product, we’re not going to have any debt, and we’re not going to use any state money. All the funds that have been raised to do this project have been private funds. It’s a perfect project. The people who are members out here will benefit from it and our teams will benefit from it tremendously. I thank you all, and we’ll be moving forward here real soon.”
LSU WOMEN’S GOLF HEAD COACH KAREN BAHNSEN
“I just want to express how excited we are to be having this project. I’ve been here for 25 years and it’s been a struggle, but to have the support we’ve had, and for us to be making these changes, it truly is going to put us in a position where we can recruit the top players in the country and get them to come to LSU. We’re close right now, but this is the next step to get us to where we want to be. The kids we have right now are really close (to winning championships), and this is going to be great. It has been our dream to win national championships and with the redesign of the University Club, it’s going to really help us do that. I feel like this is going to be one of the top golf courses in the South. We’ve done a lot of research on it and I think it’s going to be tremendous. On behalf of the women’s golf program I’d like to thank the athletic director Joe Alleva for all the support on this project as well as just the general support he’s given our program. I’d also like to thank the generous people who are donating to this. We thank y’all so much, because it was a vision, but y’all are making it a reality. That’s huge for us, and the team, and the girls are just as excited as we are. I’d also like to thank our good friend David Toms and Jim Lipe for putting the design together. We look forward to the future of what the University Club is going to be and what the future of our program is going to be. National Championships hopefully will be right there and I think this is the next step.”
LSU MEN’S GOLF HEAD COACH CHUCK WINSTEAD
“From my perspective, I’m a fan of LSU. I went to school here, I played golf here, and I’m a fan of all the programs. Jennifer, my wife, knows every morning the first thing I do is go read the sports page. I couldn’t do that in Florida where I lived before I moved back here. My vision would be no different from everyone else’s vision, because I’m a fan. In my mind, LSU should be the best at everything we do, bar none. We should work our tails off to be the best across the board at everything we do. I think that begins with the fans. I honestly think it begins with the people who care about LSU, whether it’s golf, football, baseball, or anything else. I think the fans at LSU and the passion behind the university and the people of Louisiana are what make LSU what LSU is.
“Relative to this project, it’s the right step and the logical step for the golf programs. Karen has a great team. They’ve got a top-10 team in the country and they’ll be a top-10 team all the way to the end of the season. She’s done a fantastic job. This golf course, when it is complete, will allow us to recruit the elite, but it will also give those elite players a place where they can play on a daily basis that will test all aspects of their game. Jim Lipe has done an enormous amount of work on this project, and we’re grateful. Like I’ve said many times, you won’t go to any university and find the level of player of David Toms give as much back to his university as David has with his. When you have people who care about the university, from the fans to the donors to Jim Lipe and David Toms and our new athletic director, that blend is why we are who we are and why we’re going to be the best. The intent is to be the best. Like I said to the membership group here the other night, why can’t LSU have a golf course where we can host national championships at home? Golf is different from other sports. If you told Karen’s team right now that they were going to play for the national championship on their home golf course, in golf, that’s a reality. You bid for it, and you can play at home. Look at the baseball team. They play the super regional at Alex Box Stadium ? do they get beat there? No way. If LSU football played the national championship game in Tiger Stadium, who’s going to win? It’s done… nobody else is even going to show up. That’s what we want. We want the best, and you all have provided that. Honestly, it’s because you care. It’s because LSU is special to each of us. It’s special to Karen, it’s special to me, and we thank you for your support. We’re going to do our part and try to make you proud in what we produce.”
FORMER LSU GOLFER DAVID TOMS
“The first thing I thought when I walked in the room and I saw all these pretty pictures of what the holes are going to be like, my first thought was back to LSU National that I got to play back when I was in college. Our driving range had targets that were big purple and gold barrels that you hit on the golf course. I’ll never forget a funny story. One of my roommates, Michael Finney, we were freshman at the same time and it wasn’t like it is at the University Club. We had the public and the golf team hitting balls next to each other, basically. We had our end, and Michael had a new set of clubs and wanted to see how far he hit his new clubs. He hit some eight irons, and he was walking along the fence line down the right side. He finished walking off his yardage and he’s walking back and I saw him grab his chin, and the closer he got to me, I could see there was just blood pouring off his face. One of the public golfers had sliced one over and hit Michael in the chin. That’s kind of what we dealt with as LSU golfers back then.
“I think Chuck said it perfectly. They have two coaches who are passionate about LSU. Last weekend, I was in Chicago and I didn’t have ESPNU in my hotel room, so I went out to the golf course and I was actually laying on one of the therapy beds watching it in the fitness van in the parking lot of the golf course. I got a text from Chuck that said ?This is the greatest place in the world,’ and I said ?Yeah, I know, I just saw one of your players on television acting like I did when I was in the student section.’ It’s just fun to see that. You pull for these kids when they’re playing golf and you watch their results and then you turn on the television and they’ve got their faces painted and they’re acting crazy in the student section like I did. You know, that’s fun.
“To the golf course, some of the guys are here from the Fore! Kids Foundation. They run the tournament in New Orleans, the Zurich Classic. When they go out to recruit players, similar to what Chuck is doing, it’s not about the purse setup. You would think if you win $200,000 more for one tournament than you do the next week, that would be a big deal. It’s really not. It’s all about the golf course. That’s the first thing they want to know. It’s all about the golf course. That’s what attracts the players at my level to an event. That’s the same thing we’re trying to do here. We want them to come to school here. I think once they come here and see what everything is about, see the schedule they play, the environment they’re playing with, the school, the athletics… this golf course is going to be an incredible recruiting tool to get them to come here.
“What are we trying to accomplish? There’s a lot of things we’re trying to accomplish. I think, like Chuck said, when you get people here, you not only want to recruit the best players, but when you get here you want them to improve. You want them to able to play a golf course that’s going to challenge their game off the tee. Not just into the greens and second shots, but also around the greens. You want them to be able to show up at other golf courses and be prepared to play at that level. I think what happens now is we have corridors so wide here, your penalty is that when they show up at a golf course with a lot of water hazards and a lot of trees, they’re not sure what to think about it and they’re not comfortable. The first thing you want to do is shrink down the driving areas to make them more narrow so that you might not necessarily hit driver every hole. You learn to throttle back and play conservatively at times and play golf like I play. There are guys on the team now who will hit it 50 yards past me, but I promise you I’ll beat them every time. It’s one of those things. You have to learn how to play golf and how to manage your game. Obviously, being able to host big events, that’s a huge thing. For me, the golf courses I play, even if it’s a country club in golf tournament where you have members who play all the time, they can transform that golf course into being able to challenge Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh and still be able to protect par and protect the golf course so you don’t have guys shooting low numbers every single day. You have to be able to protect par in a way, but give some scoring opportunities, and that’s what we’ve done.
“I spent some time with Jim Lipe the other day, and that’s really been a pleasure for me. If you’ve ever seen me try to draw on a piece of paper, you’d know that somebody’s going to have to have to put this on paper for sure. You see what this looks like now, but I had the vision of what I think this golf course should be, what the shot values are, where the hazards should be, and to me it’s a great opportunity to give back to LSU and give back to the golf program. I’m part of the ownership group at the club and to see this reach its potential is great. It’s going to be a great tool for the golf teams, for the university, and something we can all be proud of. We all thank the donors. It is a big deal. To have this paid for before we’re even moving dirt is great, and it just shows you the support for the purple and gold.”