By MICHAEL RADANO
Courier-Post Staff
EGG HARBOR TWP. -- Prudence Vipiani doesn't see herself as a visionary.
Vipiani instead saw a challenge, an opportunity to branch out into a new field. She saw a chance to do something different in an area she had come to enjoy.
Vipiani is CEO and president of Ballamor Golf Club, which is slated to open here in June. Vipiani is the only woman in the United States to hold such a position.
``I didn't even know that until I was told,'' she said.
The private club has created a buzz along the Shore that has made Vipiani's job easier. But make no mistake, Vipiani is in for the long haul and has been a major component in the course's growth from scratch.
``With the closing of the Atlantic City Country Club, there was definitely a need to fill in the area,'' said Vipiani, who graduated from Bowling Green University in Ohio in 1979 and has three grown children. ``I was selling dirt at first. The course was just under construction when our first members signed on.
``But (owner) Pat Delaney has had a great vision for this course and for the entire project. We've been involved in almost every decision. Pat has never owned a course, and I've never been in this position. We've made some decisions that are different from the norm, but those decisions have worked here.''
What Delaney and Vipiani have built is a spectacular 18-
hole, par-72 course that will be the focus of the private facility. The course will range from 5,200 yards, from the forward tees, to 7,100, from the back. It is a design that made the most of the property's terrain and has a natural beauty that will be hard for other area courses to challenge.
One thing you notice as you tour the course is the lack of modern-day staples, such as waste bunkers and island greens. The course will use multiple tees, but its generous fairways will allow every level of golfer to excel. And that's what makes Vipiani proudest.
During the search for an architect, Vipiani sought some of the top names in the industry. With the boom in golf-course construction, the one common tie has been the difficulty of the layouts. Golf-course architecture has put a premium on top players and challenging them. That's what led Vipiani and Delaney to select Brian T. Ault as the architect.
``We wanted a course that our members could enjoy,'' said Vipiani, who has become an avid golfer in the past decade. ``Once we met Brian Ault, he seemed to understand what we wanted best. And you can see that from the course we've built.''
Vipiani loves the Ballamor layout. Her enthusiasm was unbridled during a tour, and it's hard not to see why.
More importantly, she's been able to give her employees the same type of enthusiasm.
``To tell you the truth, I really would not want to be working for anyone else right now,'' said head pro Scott Bullock, who has worked at such high-profile courses as the Pittsburgh Field Club and at DuPont Country Club.
sk,2 ``She has worked her whole career in the service industry, and it's easy to see that working with people is her specialty. She works well with the membership and with the employees. She brings an element to this business that in too many cases is missing.''
That, of course, is what Vipiani has been working at for more than 20 years.
Upon graduation from Bowling Green, Vipiani, along with a partner, founded the copyrighting firm Comunique. The business was a success. But eventually her partner left, and it was Vipiani's opinion that without the right partner the business wouldn't be as efficient.
From there, she moved on to the local chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It was Vipiani's first encounter with a nonprofit organization, but it wouldn't be her last.
``It was a wonderful experience and I learned about nonprofits,'' Vipiani said. ``And I loved it.''
From there Vipiani spent time as the development director for the state of New Jersey for Diabetes. She was also with the YWCA before working with the National Kidney Foundation the last nine years.
As for Ballamor, Vipiani knows her work has just begun.
``I look at this as a seven-‚to eight-year project,'' she said. ``I've been told I need to take some time off, and I'm sure I'll be able to do that in October or November.
``There is so much to do that you never realize until it happens. Every day, it's something else. But that's what keeps this job exciting.''
``I've never been at a course that's been in the start-up phase,'' Bullock said. ``I've always worked at courses that have had a lot of history. You had a trophy case full of championships. You can see all the pictures on the wall of the people who had established the club.
``In a hundred years, people will be able to see who built this club.''
On that wall also will be a picture of Vipiani. Not as the first woman to be a CEO and president of a private golf course, but just an integral part of one of South Jersey's top private clubs.
