Bernardsville, NJ | Excerpt from Golf Course Architecture Digital, October 2025
A major project to ensure the sustainability of the storied Seminole layout will also recapture Donald Ross’s original design intent. Brad Klein reports.
Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach,Florida, home to Donald Ross’s legendary design from 1929, is halfway through a massive reconstruction intended to bring back its original architectural character. When the dust settles and the turfgrass knits completely, the golf course will be sustainable for decades to come.
Given the scale of the project – work includes a complete overhaul of greens, bunkers, fairways, tees and drainage – and the need to not unduly disturb play during the main golf season, Seminole opted for an intensive assault on nine holes at a time, with the bulk of the work done during the summer – the front nine in 2025 and the back in 2026. This gives consulting architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, their Caveman Construction shaping team, and construction contractor LaBar Golf Renovations, maximum daylight to mobilize their efforts.
It is unlikely they could have finished all 18 holes in one stretch. That drove the decision to break up the work into two separate phases and gave the in-house maintenance crew, led by director of golf course operations Nelson Caron, time to grow in the new turfgrass for the 2025-26 golf season. Three converging factors contributed to what has amounted to the largest renovation project in the club’s 96-year history.
It is unlikely they could have finished all 18 holes in one stretch. That drove the decision to break up the work into two separate phases and gave the in-house maintenance crew, led by director of golf course operations Nelson Caron, time to grow in the new turfgrass for the 2025-26 golf season. Three converging factors contributed to what has amounted to the largest renovation project in the club’s 96-year history.
To read the full article, please turn to page 66 of the October 2025 issue of Golf Course Architecture or click here.