Course Updates
February 6, 2025
It might be snowy now, but beneath that winter blanket lies a brand-new golfing experience waiting to be unveiled. Significant renovations were made to the course including an entirely new irrigation system, fully rebuilt greens and bunkers, enhanced green surrounds, and more.
With these adjustments, we anticipate a slightly delayed opening. Once the snow melts, we’re letting nature take its course—allowing the grass ample time to establish strong roots before we officially kick off the season. Although we won’t have a finalized schedule until the ground is fully thawed, our current target is to welcome players with push carts during the first week of June, with full cart traffic planned for July. Over the course of the summer, our greens will be progressively dialed in as we regularly roll them and fine-tune their contours for an optimal playing experience. Thank you for your support and patience!
In the meantime, Season Passes are on sale now! Secure yours today and be ready to hit the links as soon as they’re ready. Reach out to Elyse at golf@bigwoodsv.com or 301.821.5213 for more information.
November 12, 2024
We have completed almost all of the significant renovation work to Bigwood Golf!
The remaining components for Spring ‘25 include pump upgrades, adding sand to bunkers, and reseeding some lawn areas, but we expect Bigwood Golf to open with only minor opening delays.
Our winter focus is on the restaurant - we are working through structural engineering now before we get our building permit. Construction is expected to take ~9 months once we start the renovation.
September 4th, 2024
We kept the course open for as long as possible, but we will need to close down fully by the end of day on September 9th. Tee times will remain open 9am-5pm through the 9th. Take advantage of the sale on Pro Shop Merchandise through closing!
The Bigwood Bar will close on September 12th to embark on a full remodel in order to open a year-round restaurant and bar in Summer 2025.
Post course closure, the driving range will remain open until snow accumulates. We will add driving range privileges for passholders and additional programming. Try a lesson with Tom (949-226-3773) or Elyse (301-821-5213) and/or stop by at Happy Hour when the Beverage Cart is out there!
August 20, 2024
Bigwood Golf Course is getting a massive upgrade! We are redoing our greens, surrounds, and bunkers, and introducing native grasses for a modern touch. We're also completely overhauling the irrigation system, which has effectively failed after 53 years. This will enable much more consistent turf irrigation, a vast reduction in wasted water, and consistent pond fill. We're excited about these changes, and we're sure you will be too!
In order to finish before the ground freezes, the irrigation and course renovation teams need to get going, but we are trying very hard to keep the course open for as long as possible. As part of this, rather than closing the course, we will drop to a 6-hole course around August 26, and we are hopeful that we can maintain this for several weeks as construction ramps. Bigwood may be missed during renovation, but the end result will be a game-changer!
We have heard some concerns about price hikes and want to assure you that our plan is to keep Bigwood accessible to our community and the best value golf in the Valley. In fact, we will introduce a new, lower-priced pass for Blaine County residents in 2025. Current passholders will also receive a discount on all 2025 pass rates.
Throughout construction, we will continue to offer access to our brand new driving range. We're planning to add new driving range programming, and we’ll get the beverage cart out there regularly until snow accumulates on the turf. We also plan to add extra discounts for current passholders.
The Bigwood Bar isn't closing just yet and will remain open Weds - Fri 3pm-7pm and Sat - Sun 12pm-6pm. We'll keep serving until the final putt is sunk on the golf course. Then, we're rolling up our sleeves for a top-to-bottom remodel, ready to welcome you to our new, year-round restaurant and bar in Summer 2025.
Your support means the world to us during these times of change. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to drop us a line at golf@bigwoodsv.com
July 20, 2024
Hi Bigwood Community! It’s been an incredibly busy but productive month at Bigwood with many updates.
We’ll start with golf. First of all, a huge thank you to the incredible team! We have an amazing group already, and we recently welcomed a new Superintendent, Chris Gray, to the team.
We have been also working with some leading golf course experts to take Bigwood into the future. David Druzisky is Bigwood’s course architect, and Greg Baer is our irrigation designer. After deep review of the infrastructure, we have decided to do some major upgrades to the course. In the coming months, we will do a complete overhaul of the irrigation system. We expect some major benefits: 1) vastly improved course conditions with more reliable and controlled watering; 2) vast water savings and environmental benefit – our irrigation consultant estimates we may be able to save up to 50% of our water usage through our updated irrigation; and 3) more reliable ability to fill ponds throughout the property.
We are also updating the course itself in significant ways. The driving range and putting green are now open for use! In next few months, expect to see:
Replacing and reshaping our current greens. We’ve gotten 53 great years out of these greens, but 2025 will welcome in some significantly upgraded play
New green surrounds with more character and better turf conditions
Replacing bunkers and lining so our bunkers aren’t full of quite so many rocks!
Transitioning underused portions of the course to native grasses. This will create a fun new character and look for the course, as well as help reduce irrigation needs.
We’ll also renumber the holes, so #7 will become #1, and you will finish your 9 holes at the newly remodeled restaurant. We are also going to reorient the future #9 to open up some room for gathering, putting, and spending time before or after a round. Check out the latest plans HERE, and let us know your thoughts at golf@bigwoodsv.com!
Our restaurant plans have also progressed rapidly! We did a very soft open for Men’s League last Wednesday, and we’re planning to open the bar this week and will keep everyone posted on hours on the website.
We are also finalizing plans for a major remodel over the winter. We’ll be enclosing the outdoor kitchen and tying the two buildings together into a fantastic year-round space. We’re very excited to share more as the plans progress!
June 24, 2024
Water has been tricky over the last month, and we have worked hard to solve these challenges and get the water flowing. The two primary challenges have been: 1) a large number of clogs at the head gate that inhibited flow to the system, and 2) two broken valves that kept water from flowing through the course as designed. We are in a much better position today than even a week ago, but we are still pushing hard to catch up. We know the ponds are a priority of players and nearby homeowners, and we’re committed to getting these filled as soon as possible.
In addition to short-term fixes, we are also exploring longer-term solutions for water on the course. We are working with industry-leading consultants to solve the persistent issues at the head gate, and we have a highly esteemed irrigation consultant helping prepare meaningful irrigation upgrades to the course. These will take some time, but we think they will be significant improvements for the course.
We are also aiming to make the course more accessible, starting with frequent updates on this site. We launched online tee times today to make booking easier than ever before.
The driving range is officially under construction! We are working with Idaho Greens & Lawn to install best-in-class Celebrity Greens turf for the range and a putting green. We’ll keep the site updated on a firm opening date, but we’re working to have the range open by mid-July.
We are also pushing hard on the restaurant, and plans are firming up! We are hoping to open bar service in the next few weeks so that our community can enjoy drinks on the patio. We are working with a fantastic team – architects, designers, builders, and landscape architects – to develop plans for a winter remodel. We will update the community on the site as these plans are ready to share. We are looking to build out the restaurant team in the coming months, so please reach out (jobs@bigwoodsv.com) if you are or know exceptional people who would be interested in building the Bigwood restaurant with us.
We have many more projects underway that we think will continue to take the course in a great direction, and we can’t wait to roll them out.
Lastly, our long-time Superintendent Shawn Aicher has moved on from Bigwood for personal reasons. Shawn had a massive impact on Bigwood Golf, and we are deeply grateful for the dedication and expertise he brought to Bigwood for almost a decade. Shawn will continue to help consult on course matters, and we will see him at Men’s League regularly! Thank you Shawn for everything you’ve done!