A year-end reopening is anticipated for Grand Harbor Golf and Beach Club’s 18-hole, Joe Lee-designed River Course, the second of two award-winning golf courses in the community to get extensive restoration, replanted hole-by-hole – all the bunkers, greens and fairways – and upgraded with new irrigation systems, a $6-million-plus project that began in 2020.
“It is all state of the art,” according to Michael Gibson, the club’s general manager.
Unfolding among mature oaks, pines and pristine wetlands, with views of the Indian River Lagoon, the two championship courses create an unmatched centerpiece for the highly regarded, Mediterranean-influenced mainland community, which is located mostly within an Audubon-certified, nature-friendly enclave.
The Harbor Course, designed by Pete Dye, opened in 1989, and its re-do was completed in October 2021.
Design firm CR Lutzke Golf was in charge of both golf course projects.
Dye, who was Lutzke’s mentor, typically headed such projects on courses he designed. After he died, Lutzke took over the Harbor Course restoration, honoring Dye’s original design with its rolling, oak- and palm-lined fairways and pot bunkers.
Coming from a family of golf course designers, Dye was an excellent amateur golfer who qualified for the 1957 U.S. Open. He missed the cut by two strokes – along with Arnold Palmer. Returning to the family business, he designed numerous prestigious courses throughout the country prior to his death in 2020 at the age of 94.
“Gentleman Joe” Lee, the golf course architect who designed the River Course, is a direct descendent of Robert E. Lee, says Golf Pass, whose website displays a photo of Grand Harbor’s River Course as a typical example of Lee’s artistic style. During his 40-year career, he designed more than 100 courses.
Lutzke returned to Grand Harbor to lead the River Course renovation project. “Our theory was, if Joe Lee were alive today, how would he change it and enhance it, based on today’s equipment and today’s golfer – while maintaining the integrity [of the original design]?” Gibson says.
“Lee was famous for his greens and his flashy bunkers,” Gibson continues. Because many holes on the River Course were designed in close proximity to the river, shots headed for these greens would land in the water on a regular basis, a situation the renovation tweaked.
“We have softened the green complexes,” Gibson says. “Slightly.”
Gibson sees the golf course restorations as “the cherry on top” of what he calls Grand Harbor’s renaissance, which began Dec. 1, 2020, when club members took over ownership and management to the club and its facilities from New York-based Icahn Enterprises. The change, which came after contentious negotiations, sparked a tangible resurgence of community pride, a quality that had diminished over several years due to frustration among members over what they saw as poor management and lax upkeep.
According to a story in veronews.com, the dispute between membership and the prior management started brewing as far back as 2017, with members irate about excessive staff turnover, halting golf course improvements, cancelled summer-reciprocal agreements with other local clubs and failure to follow through with promised projects.
Fed up, members began negotiations to purchase the club in 2019, inking a deal at the end of 2020.
Once the sale was finalized, Gibson came on board to right the ship.
Membership, which had taken a dive, quickly rose, with more than 200 members returning or coming on board in the first 18 months after members took over. He says the club’s “renaissance” is “more than anything,” a result of the members buying the club and becoming resident owners.
At the same time, he notes that golf memberships “are not exclusive to residents.”
They’re available to residents and non-residents alike.
To launch the rehabbed courses in style, Grand Harbor will host the Vero Beach International Open, a week-long event for female professionals ranked between 100-200 in the world, which begins Jan 16.
“The future looks very bright for Grand Harbor,” Gibson says.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
