By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
BENTON HARBOR – With only a couple of weeks remaining until the first nine holes of The Golf Club of Harbor Shores slated to open, its designer, Jack Nicklaus was in town on Monday to take a look at the course and go over its final four holes.
Preview play is slated to begin on July 15 for the first nine holes of the course and the entire 18 holes of the championship course is scheduled to open in the summer of 2010.
Nicklaus came to Benton Harbor to review the final four holes of the course, which are still under construction.
The Golf Club at Harbor Shores is the centerpiece of a 530-acre resort, which will include 800 residential units, 12 miles of walking and biking trails and marinas.
The course is built around dunes and wetlands and three of its holes are part of the nearby Jean Klock Park.
"The golf course is 85 percent finished," Nicklaus said at a press conference, which started nearly two hours after its scheduled time due to the fact that the golf legend was out on the course making some changes. "Seven of the nine holes that will open are in as good a shape as they can be. A couple didn't get planted until last fall so they're still a little rough."
Monday is the final scheduled visit for Nicklaus to the course before it opens for play.
Despite the success of the course and the project, it has not come without some problems.
Most of those issues involved lawsuits over the use of some of the property in Jean Klock Park, some of which are still pending.
But the project marched forward and has cleared every hurdle placed in front of it to date.
The issues with Klock Park not withstanding, the project has taken some pretty undesirable property and turned it into something Benton Harbor and the surrounding communities can be proud of.
"The first time I saw this site, I said, 'Where are you going to put a golf course?' " Nicklaus said. "But this course has a lot of natural features like the Paw Paw River and the wetlands that we're trying to enhance. This was a very fun project.
"To be honest, it's going to be a heck of a golf course. It's not only a good golf course, but it's beautiful. It will play nicely and flow nicely. You have another nice course around here in Point O'Woods (where the Western Amateur was played for more than three decades). I don't want to tell you which one is better, but I have my opinion," Nicklaus said.
The cost of preview play when the course opens on July 15 is $75, which includes a cart. Golfers can play the nine holes again for an additional $25.
Four community days will be held July 29, Aug. 27, Sept. 24 and Oct. 4 in which residents of Berrien County can play for $40.
Tee times will be taken two weeks in advance.