Completed Golf 

Course Projects

J.A.McDonald,Inc. partnered with Golf Legend, Jack Nicklaus, of Nicklaus Golf Course Design, to construct a new Championship-18 Hole Golf Course and 400 Unit Residential Community located in South Burlington, VT. This Project was the first Nicklaus Designed Golf Course to be constructed in the New England Region. The project consisted of massive earth and rock excavation to contour the landscape to the demanding Nicklaus Design Standards. Four large ponds were constructed, as part of the projects stormwater management design, that served a dual function, in that the ponds provided water storage capacity for the courses new double - rowed irrigation system, as well as performing stormwater runoff retention.

Continuous asphalt cart paths, extending from Tee to Green, exceeded 25,000 feet in length. Additional Recreational Paths were installed throughout the property to tie the facility into the recreational paths of the Greater Burlington VT Area. All Greens and Tees were constructed to USGS standards utilizing a pug-mill operation to blend a consistent mix of a specific sand gradation and peat moss to produce the specialized "Greens Mix". Another specialized product that was required by the Nicklaus design was the Bunker Sand. The sand required to meet this design standard had to be a special manufactured product that was capable of meeting certain gradation requirements that produced a product the would support a golf ball when dropped into the sand trap. Nicklaus referred to this test as "The Fried Egg Lie Test", which meant that the golf ball should not be submerged in the sand, but instead should lie on top of the sand material.

Jack Nicklaus had design associates present on site at all times during construction of this demanding project. Jack personally visited the site four times, first time was after the rough in phase of the work was completed, to see if he wanted to make any changes to the contours established through this phase of the project, second time was after final contours and "shaping" had been completed, prior to any seeding taking place, the third time was to view the project as it neared completion, to make sure his design standards had been achieved and maintained. At this visit he was particularly interested in the playability of the course, paying close attention to all the details from angles of approach to greens to the visibility of any hazards as viewed from the tees, to the quality of the bunker faces and bunker sand. Jack's final visit was the Grand Opening Ceremonies in which he played the course with his son Jackie, fully wired with microphones and explained why he designed each hole as he did, and what the play options and choices were from each tee, and what he expected from each green. That was an exceptional day in J.A.McDonald, Inc.'s history of Golf Course Construction.