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New golf Venture for the Seneca Nation of Indians

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The groundbreaking of the Hickory Stick Golf Club in Lewiston is a new venture for the Seneca Nation of Indians

The Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI) is one of the six tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy who occupy aboriginal lands in New York State set aside by the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794. The Seneca Nation of Indians has a total population of over 7200 enrolled members and holds title to three territories in New York, one of which includes the City of Salamanca.

The $20 million project, which will feature a par-72 course designed by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr., marks the first time the Seneca Nation of Indians will develop a project off of sovereign territory. The Seneca Nation will pay full property taxes on the land.

“This is a first for the people of the Seneca Nation,” said Maurice John Sr., Seneca Nation president.

Hickory Stick, named for a rare Shellbark Hickory tree found on the property, covers more than 251 acres in Lewiston just off of Pletcher Road, Creek Road and the Robert Moses Parkway.

Course construction, along with building a 15,000-square-foot clubhouse, will last well into next year. The course will welcome its first duffers in 2009.

It is the first golf development that Robert Trent Jones Jr. has built in the immediate Buffalo Niagara region, although he has designed the Turning Stone Casino golf course in Verona.

Once open, Hickory Stick is expected to host more than 4,000 golfers on an annual basis.

The course is expected to create 44 new jobs and have approximate annual payroll of $1.4 million.