In the Bronx, New Golf Course Trumps a Dump

The story of the new golf course in Ferry Point Park is beset with a complex history that includes lengthy delays and exorbitant costs—hurdles familiar to any New Yorker with a big plan. Now, 12 years, several contractors, and more than $100 million after the course was initially scheduled to open, the construction of all 18 holes is finally complete thanks to the unlikely partnership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump and Jack Nicklaus. On Wednesday morning, the trio is scheduled to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Nicklaus-designed course, located at the foot of the Whitestone Bridge—a former landfill turned 200-acre urban oasis abutted by the East River, St. Raymond's Cemetery and public parks. The ceremony was initially supposed to take place in 2001, during Rudy Giuliani's administration, but cost overruns and legal snags proved formidable.

"We had half a golf course out there before Mr. Trump got involved," said Nicklaus in an interview at the Presidents Cup earlier this month. "The problem was finishing it. They kept working at it. We spent this ridiculous amount of money for environmental issues—on a dump!" In early 2011, following the departure of the course's original developer, Trump stepped into the sputtering project and was awarded a 20-year lease and the contract to manage the course by the Bloomberg administration—in part because he agreed to spend the $10 million needed to build the 12,000-square-foot clubhouse on the treeless, 7,400-yard links-style course.

        The mayor's office did not immediately return requests for comment. "[Trump] has actually been very, very good with getting things done with the city," said Nicklaus. It's no small reason why the course is named Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. "I think he pushed it over the edge. He did a really good job of getting it to the finish line." That finish line won't officially arrive until the spring of 2015, when the course is slated to open to the public. (Ferry Point will be used for some public programming, primarily junior golf, in conjunction with the city's Parks Department starting next summer.) Only 14 months ago, the site contained little more than dirt—millions of tons of it. The history of the project stretches back to the closing of the landfill in 1963 and traces the myriad proposals for what to do with the land. "It was a combination of factors with the city actually agreeing to build the course," said Elizabeth Smith, the parks' assistant commissioner for revenue and marketing. "It was getting the concessionaire who had the expertise and financial commitment to build the clubhouse and manage the grow-in and pay us concession fees."

That turned out to be Trump, who also invested $850,000 to manage the grow-in of the course. Course overseers, headed by Trump's course superintendent, Gregory Eisner, are still managing the careful processes of growing the various native grasses and fescues. "Had they not chosen me, it would have been 15 years before it opened," Trump said. "I broke their [behinds], you have no idea. I sent the roughest guys there. I sent construction guys that eat nails." About a dozen excavators and bulldozers remain on a portion of the site, there to build the $10 million clubhouse and a practice area that will include a pitching range and a two-tier, lighted driving range with grass and turf.

           As a public facility owned by the Parks Department, membership fees will be nonexistent, unless residents take into account their city taxes. Greens fees are yet to be established. Nicklaus was initially commissioned to design Ferry Point 15 years ago by then-mayor Giuliani, and Bloomberg's vision for the course has remained largely the same: namely, to host world-class golf championships that will earn revenue for the city—which pumped some $120 million into the project—and help offset public costs. Ferry Point's central location amid the boroughs—"we made it out from Trump's office the other day in 12 minutes," said Nicklaus—presents money-generating possibilities, not just as a public golf destination, but to lure premier events like a USGA championship. Trump and Nicklaus said they hope to host a U.S. Open there in the future. "[Ferry Point] was built to house a championship and to be able to bring the outside world to New York City to see that they have golf, and for the people in the city to have it and allow people to play it that live there," Nicklaus said. USGA executive director Mike Davis has already made two visits to the site, the last one three weeks ago. Short of making any type of commitment, Davis said he believes the venue is worthy of a major tournament.

        "We want to see the golf course open," he said. "It's certainly worth [the USGA] continuing to look at it seriously, but it's so early in the process and so few people have seen it." Host sites for the U.S. Open are already scheduled through 2020, but other premier events, like a U.S. Amateur, USGA Open qualifier, or Metropolitan Golf Association Open, could be staged to test the site for larger, national championships. Almost every hole boasts views of the city skyline. On a few, like Nos. 6 and 7, golfers can use the Empire State Building or One World Trade Center—depending on ball flight and wind direction—as a target line. "When I learned about how [Ferry Point] was going to be a public golf course built on sand in the city of New York and you could literally see the skyline, it's a very intriguing concept and ultimately to the game of golf, to have [a course] within the five boroughs of that high quality," said Davis. Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 major championships in his playing career, has designed more than 100 courses in the U.S., though none have hosted a U.S. Open—something that could make Ferry Point even more intriguing to the USGA. "This will be one of Jack's greatest moments," said Trump. "He deserves it. Jack is a great architect and he's shown it here." Trump played nine holes at Ferry Point last week and said he aced the par-3 12th hole with an 8-iron. "Can you believe that?" he said. "It's a great omen to the course."