There is a lot of sprucing up being done at the Whispering Pines Golf Course in Annandale. That’s because it’s under new ownership and they are already digging in to revitalize the facility and the grounds.
Mark Dvorak, a 1987 Annandale High School graduate, along with a family of partners that include his wife Amy, his dad Joseph Dvorak and Joseph’s wife Kathleen, bought the golf course under the name Whispering Pines LLC.
The deal was finalized Friday, June 1. Dvorak owns a wholesale travel company, VP Vacations, that keeps him busy from October through April. With his summer months less busy booking wholesale vacation packages, Dvorak thought owning a golf course would be a good fit.
"We specialize in trips during the winter months so we’re involved in the travel industry October through April," Mark said.
"So golf seems like a perfect fit. It’s a course I golfed growing up and I also think it’s a course with the best layout. It just needs some TLC."
Whispering Pines has been operational since March and longtime members as well as the course’s groundskeeper Greg Simon say it’s in the best shape it’s been in years.
"I’ve never seen the greens look better and the whole course is looking great," said Rick Oxenford, who has been a Whispering Pines member since it opened as a nine-hole course in 1985. In 1998, nine more holes were added to make it an 18-hole course.
Improvements planned
While the greens are looking good and the fairways "back," Mark and Joe said there are more projects in the works. Mark said he would like to eventually improve the clubhouse by expanding it and adding a sundeck. For now, though, they are hitting the high points first like getting a new fleet of golf carts and fixing up the cart paths. Mark said while the carts are new to Whispering Pines, they are still used carts so next year he is bringing in all new carts.
"My goal is to get this course into better shape than its ever been," Mark said. "I would like it to be the best in-shape golf course in the area and in my mind, it already is. It has the No. 1 greens in the area and we are making fast progress on the rest."
Mark said the golf cart paths are the biggest complaint he has heard from long-time members and the groundskeeper. That too is going to be improved this week when 350 tons of granite are hauled in to improve the cart paths. Joe, who formerly owned Ellis Steakhouse in Annandale, said he is mostly a silent partner but has been spending a lot of time at the course to help get it into better shape.
"We’re just coming in so we’re getting things done but you can’t get it all done at one time," Joe said.
The Dvoraks have weekly sunset and Monday specials for golfing and Mark is committed to putting his marketing and sales skills to work to get people more familiar with what Whispering Pines has to offer. To him, it’s a hobby and a labor of love and he dispels rumors that the course – with its recent economic woes – will ever be developed into housing.
"I love to golf and it’s about seeing how good I can get this place," Mark said. "As long as we’re the owners, this place will never be turned into a housing development."