23's Latest Comeback: Hobe Sound Course Project Back On, To Be Designed By Weed
/Bobby Weed! He's a fine architect, even finer family man and great friend of the game.
And now he's the architect of record for Michael Jordan's Grove XXIII, the on-again, off-again, very much on-again exclusive answer to the Bear's Club. Originally thought to be Tom Doak's project to lose, Jordan has turned to Weed for what sounds very much like a course aimed at lure a few tour pros from Bear's Club.
The par-72 layout includes plans for tees ranging from 5,445 yards up to 7,470. Weed is excited about finding a way to challenge players, with bunkers planned deep into the fairway landing areas, some 330-340 yards off the back tees. Plus he’s got some special angles worked up.
“I’m going to be in their head,” he told the Man Out Front.
The full press release announcing the project that is scheduled to open next year:
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (January 20, 2018) – Bobby Weed Golf Design (www.bobbyweed.com) has been selected to design the golf course at GROVE XXIII, an exclusive, members-only private club under construction in Hobe Sound, Fla. NBA legend and avid golfer Michael Jordan is the majority partner in GROVE XXIII. The golf course is scheduled to be ready for play in 2019.
“Knowing the caliber of the membership and Michael’s passion for golf, we are designing a forward-thinking, progressive layout,” said Weed. “Golf course architects are in the best position to address how technology has changed strategic design.
“This project is an opportunity to update how architects provide all players with a fun and interesting challenge. It will be a course for tomorrow, a course with a refined edge.”
Weed is living on site throughout the duration of construction in order to personally shape features and supervise the work.
About Grove XXIII
Set on the site of a former citrus grove, the golf course is routed with the south Florida trade winds in mind. The two nines wrap around each other while traversing the site in opposing directions. This dynamic layout ensures that golfers will feel the breeze from every quarter.
The routing also features a unique crossover at the 5th and 14th tees, where golfers can switch from one nine to the other and still finish out a nine-hole loop. This singular feature offers the membership four nine-hole permutations, significantly enhancing both daily set-up and member tournament format possibilities.
Weed continued, “We are using proprietary player performance data to help establish the dimensions of features and rethinking the tenets of risk and reward that have long guided strategic golf design, but are stagnant today, especially in the face of equipment technology.”
The Weed design team has been provided with these player performance data by Darren May, co-founder of “Every Ball Counts” and appointed golf coach and ambassador to GROVE XXIII.
“The team environment encouraged by Bobby Weed allows a free flow of very valuable information,” May said. “To see this information integrated in the course design, and be part of the process, is extremely exciting.”
An intimate, contemporary clubhouse will be elevated above the open and expansive 225-acre property, offering long vistas to every golf hole.
