Henrico hoping to transform golf course into future PGA tournament grounds

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Efforts to keep Central Virginia’s professional golf scene alive are in full swing after Henrico County purchased a nearly 270-acre golf course in the Glen Allen area and is preparing to transform it into a Professional Golf Association (PGA) tournament venue.

8News spoke with Dennis Bickmeier, the Henrico Sports and Entertainment Authority’s Executive Director, about the project.

“‘The bones of the place are really good,’ as the architect and the designers say,” Bickmeier said about the golf course. “It’s really going to revolve around lengthening the golf course, making it longer, trying to push it all the way up to almost 7,400 yards. So it’d be about an 800-yard increase.”

Once construction crews tend to the course, bringing the course “on par” with PGA standards, it could soon be the new home for future professional golf tournaments in the region.

Last year, the community learned that 2025 would be the last year the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond’s West End would host the PGA Tour Champions’ Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

“It provides that $34 million economic impact,” Bickmeier said about the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

County officials purchased The Crossing’s 18-hole golf course and is partnering with “Pros, Inc.” to spruce it up and turn it into a championship caliber course by 2026. However, the course won’t only serve the pros.

“The objective is to keep it a public golf course,” Bickmeier said. “The tournament is one weekend a year. [There are] 51 other weekends, you know, [for] local play. We’re going to use it for our high schools.”

Bickmeier said the county hopes to bid on all sorts of events. Whether collegiate, amateur or professional, it’s about keeping an eye toward the future — for everyone.

“Make it playable for weekend warriors like myself all the way up to the professionals,” Bickmeier said.

The transformation is set to begin later this year. Officials told 8News that — on top of making standard improvements — project coordinators aspire to make this one of “the most beautiful golf courses in Virginia.”

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