Henrico is spending millions to redo this golf course. Will it be enough to catch a tiger?

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- When Tiger Woods turns 50 in 2025, Henrico County wants to be ready with a new golf course prepared to host a Champions Tour event should the world's most famous golfer join.

As the only remaining professional golf tournament still played annually in Virginia, the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, which is part of the tour, puts a unique spotlight on the game in the Commonwealth.

For the past eight years, the tour has come to Henrico in front of sold-out crowds and a national TV audience. The folks from Henrico County would like to keep it that way.

The Country Club of Virginia's James River course is the only home the Dominion Energy Charity Classic has ever known, but the sponsor and the club have decided that 10 years will be long enough for this partnership and the event will need a new home in 2026.

That gave Henrico Sports and Entertainment Authority executive director Dennis Bickmeier an idea.

"We had to tell a story and the story was this Tour Champions event has been in our county coming up on year nine. And the economic impact of that event is really strong," he said.

Bickmeier said the event generated more than $30 million every year for Henrico and around $12 million for local charities.

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Keeping all of that at home has required thinking outside the tee box.

Enter the only public full-length 18-hole course remaining in Henrico — The Crossings.

The course, built back in the late 1950s near what is now the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 295, has seen better days. But the county has partnered with legendary course architects Lester George and Vinny Giles, plus the team that has overseen the resurgence of Independence Golf Club, to come up with a plan to turn The Crossings into a possible future home for the event.

"We're working on the golf course and solving that piece of the puzzle for them. They're working on the sponsorship piece that would be able to keep the tournament here," Bickmeier said.

Phil Owenby has worked at courses around Virginia since college and has been tabbed to oversee the redevelopment of The Crossings.

"The layout of the golf course is fun to play. It has a lot of challenges but at the same time, it's very agreeable to most players," Owenby said.

Henrico paid $3 million for the property and will spend around $11 million bringing it up to PGA standards.

"So it's going to be all new grass for the tees, the fairways, the rough, and certainly for the greens," Owenby said.

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The course needs to be lengthened by as much as 800 yards total to accommodate professional and college tournaments.

The group has gotten creative with how to do that.

For instance:

• The 14th green will move back to where the 17th tee now sits
• The 17th tee will move back to where these trees currently stands
• This small lake will be bigger
• Several other points on the course will have new homes

"It's a big project," Owenby said. "It's basically redoing the golf course."
But it's also part of what Henrico is calling its sports tourism corridor.

The course sits right between the new Sports and Events Center and the proposed Green City arena and could enhance a much bigger economic impact for the County.

And there's an even bigger draw to bringing the Champions Tour here in 2026, with one particular player becoming eligible that year.

"Tiger Wood turns 50 in 2026, I think it's actually in December of 2025. We could have Tiger Woods playing here," Bickmeier said.

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