Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster – The Evolution of the Second Course

In 2002 Tommy Fazio of the golf course architecture firm, Tom Fazio II, was living with his wife and daughter in a cottage in the middle of Donald Trump’s 506-acre property in Bedminster, New Jersey. His commute to work on Trump National Golf Club was short, interrupted only by deer crossing his path. As he spent every day for almost 18 months on the property, he would often glance at the undeveloped portion of land adjacent to the site of the first golf course.

What he saw was the same rolling topography, with a similar mix of wooded and open spaces, plus slightly more elevation changes. Fazio started visualizing more and more golf holes there, eventually touring Trump through the 240 acres which had been targeted for real estate development. The pair discussed the site’s abundant natural beauty and potential to become another sensational course. Eventually Trump decided to forego real estate development plans for the land and add another remarkable chapter to his impressive golf course portfolio, giving Fazio a rare opportunity to return to a site that for him represents both a professional and personal milestone.

Ground has now been broken for The Donald J. Trump Signature Course with Tom Fazio II at the Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster. The new layout, a par 72 measuring approximately 7,400 yards, will open in the spring of 2008 and is expected to draw the same unanimous praise as its forerunner.

“I think all of the revered golf courses start with one common denominator, which is great land,” said Fazio, the son of Jim Fazio and nephew of Tom Fazio. “It’s pretty obvious when you have it, and Mr. Trump has it here in Bedminster. I think he is especially ahead of the curve when it comes to making a golf course first and figuring out the development aspect second.”

The new course will feature out and back nines (the 9th, 10th and 18th holes will come closest to the existing clubhouse), with the routing almost completely surrounding the existing course. Fazio plans on utilizing a similar style of bunkering, but expects to build slightly smaller greens.

“It’s pretty similar terrain to the first site,” said Fazio, whose second daughter was born in New Jersey during that project. “Perhaps the biggest difference in terms of philosophy will be that the first course has a sort of older, U.S. Open type-feel to it, almost trying to recreate a course built in the early 1950s or 1960s. The second course will be very traditional in many aspects, but it will integrate more water features, in the form of lakes and running creeks, to give it a little different feel.”

Fazio will draw heavily upon his initial experiences in Bedminster. “We have worked well with the town engineer and other officials in the past, so that will hopefully make environmental and permit issues easier,” he said. “We also learned about the soil here, which has both clay and shale. It’s definitely a learning curve with how it compacts and settles, and how to move and excavate it. During the three seasons of construction for the first course, we also had the highest water table in the history of records kept by the New Jersey Journal of Construction. If we hadn’t done the right job environmentally, that would have shown up quickly.”

Fazio will once again supervise the construction process, using New Jersey resident Phil Vetter as the site manager and Dean Bedwell, a 15-year colleague, as the lead shaper.

“I don’t say that one course is better than another because there are so many different elements of nature to consider,” said Fazio.

“We try to make every course we do unique based on the topography of the site. There are elements that each course has or will have that will be great I look at it hole-by-hole and shot-by-shot,” Fazio said. “What we try to do as designers is exploit Mother Nature and not force any given design or concept onto the land. Instead we sit back, study the site and take advantage of existing terrain.”

The expected result? A course that utilizes the talents of Tommy Fazio and his firm, Tom Fazio II, fulfilling the vision of Donald Trump and further enhancing the reputation of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster as one of the world’s premier golf clubs.