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The 9th hole at Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club
in Scotch Plains designed by architect A.W. Tillinghast. |
Nearly bulldozed, Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club is undergoing an overhaul with new leadership
Published: Monday, May 28, 2012, 5:30 AM
By Brendan Prunty/The Star-Ledger
Christopher Schiavone’s proposal was simple and direct: If an A.W. Tillinghast-designed golf course was going to be plowed over for homes, it wasn’t going to be on his watch.
This was a little more than a year ago as bidders were lining up to buy the fading Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains, licking their chops at the large property and envisioning everything but a golf club. Most wanted to bulldoze the nearly 100-year-old layout and put up condos, houses and all sort of suburban sprawl. But Schiavone — the president and CEO of RDC Golf Group, which manages a number of private clubs, including Forsgate — had a different pitch:
Not only trying to save the course and the club, but make it viable again.
“It seemed like the information we got about the other bidders, we were the only bidder that had the preservation of the golf course as the main component,” Schiavone said. “The other bidders were all talking about probably putting homes where the golf course is. It looked, if it wasn’t for us, that golf course might be gone — so I think we saved the golf course.”
The long road to bringing Shackamaxon back is far from over, but given that the club was close to getting its last rites not too long ago, there’s optimism it can regain its foothold.
When Schiavone’s group officially took ownership of the club in December, it knew what it was getting into. Shackamaxon had once been one of the more sought-after country club destinations in Union County with nearly every amenity available to its members — an 18-hole Tillinghast (with the first island green he ever designed), an expansive clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts and quiet suburban setting.
But by 2010, it was in trouble. A combination of a sinking economy, a large number of older members dying or leaving the club and no influx of new members, left Shackamaxon in dire straits. An attempt to revive the club was made by the private golf club ownership group, Troon Golf — but by last year the club was in worse situation.
“The area where it was worst, was morale,” Schiavone said of the mood when his group first came aboard. “There was a complete level of uncertainty, people abandoning ship. When we came in, the staff was basically gone. They weren’t booking any events or taking deposits on events. So there was negative momentum that had to be turned around even more than we initially thought.”
Since then, a major overhaul has taken place across the board. Schiavone’s group has sought to change everything from the dining room to the golf course. New Jersey-based architect Stephen Kay re-routed parts of the golf course and did a full bunker restoration. Condos will still be built on the property — but in the middle of the golf course and none of the layout will be compromised.
“I think the turnaround, in one sense, has been quick,” he said. “I think members that have been there a really long time will say that they’ve seen a very marked and very rapid turnaround.”
The next step for Shackamaxon will be sustaining its current level. The club has seen promise before, but it’s still a long way back. But in only a short couple of months, it’s been able to see something. And not its course plowed over.
“You have a Monet in golf course architects in Tillinghast and there are only a certain number of those in existence — he ain’t building anymore,” Schiavone said. “Seeing those lost — if a Piscasso was burned or written on, it would be painful. If you’re in the golf business and you love the game and golf course architecture as I do, we feel that saving and preserving and bringing back a gem like this, it’s something we’re proud of.”
Brendan Prunty/ The Star-Ledger
: bprunty@starledger.com; twitter.com/BrendanPrunty
Originally published on nj.com -
Nearly bulldozed, Shackamaxon Country Club is undergoing and overhaul with new leadership
