Dye-designed course tees off in June

As the ground thaws and the April showers begin, the newest destination golf course in the tri-state area, Pound Ridge Golf Club, is preparing to open in June.

The course was designed by the so-called mad scientist of golf architecture Pete Dye and is on High Ridge Road near the New York-Connecticut border. It carpets 172 acres and runs 7,154 yards from the back tees. The holes, untouched since the fall, have recently begun to have their final contours cut and the course”™s final shape has begun to form for the June 23 opening.

The course, owned by Ken Wang, brother of designer Vera Wang, is Dye”™s first design project in New York. Wang has said that the region is rich in world-class country clubs, but that high-end public courses are lacking.

“My family has always loved golf,” Wang said in a prepared statement. “We bought the Pound Ridge property around 1980, with no more noble motive than preserving it so we would have a place to play. My father had a house in the town. It had been an 18-hole course, but tennis was the hot sport at the time and the course had fallen into a state of disrepair. It had already been reduced to nine holes, and we feared seeing the land used for other purposes and the course closed entirely.”

Dye, who has collaborated with his son, Perry, on the project, is known for utilizing island greens and multitiered sand trap outcrops to confound golfers. At Pound Ridge, he has taken advantage of the natural outcroppings of rocks, leaving boulders mid-fairway.

According to Todd Leavenworth, club manager, feedback through the Web page has shown that that people are doing the math and are finding it would be preferable to play at a high-end daily fee course rather than at the traditional membership-based clubs.

“So many people watch Pete Dye, want to play his courses, and like his ideas,” Leavenworth said. “A lot of people are excited to come out and experience what he did here, which is something spectacular.”

Leavenworth said that drawing from clubs that typically have membership dues, and Pound Ridge”™s location between two counties with deep-rooted golf demographics, will make for a successful venture.

Leavenworth said the anticipation and appeal of the course has already caused Pound Ridge to be put on par with that of Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, which hosted the 2004 PGA Championship, and Kiawah Island in South Carolina, also Dye-designed courses.

Though an exact fee has yet to be determined, it is anticipated to be just over $200 for a round of golf.