2026 Golf Course Openings We're Excited About

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six is here, So in this episode we are looking ahead. First, I'm going to address the question where are all the new ideas in golf architecture. Then I'll bring on my colleague Matt Ruschius to discuss the twenty twenty six course openings we're excited about. I'm Garrett Morrison, and this is designing Golf all right. Since it's a new year, I figure it's a good time to kind of refresh the format of Designing Golf a little bit. We're not going to change much about the podcast. I'm just going to add a couple of segments to the mix. Now. Usually the core of Designing Golf is an interview, and that's not going to change. We're still going to have conversations and interviews at the middle portion of the podcast, but I'd like to start each episode with a segment where I address some big questions about golf architecture. You have a big question about golf course design. I'm talking about one oh one level questions, right, questions that you might have been afraid to ask because you think they're too basic. Send those questions to me, and my topic choices for designing golf will in part be determined by the questions I get from all of you. So that's what I'm thinking for the first segment of each episode, the Big Question, and then for the closing segment, I'm thinking we'll do some takeaways, right, just reflections on the conversation or interview that you've just heard. So that's the basic idea. Three segments, Big Question, interview takeaways. Pretty simple, but I think it'll give the podcast a kind of structure that you can rely on. So today, the big question is where are all the new ideas in golf architecture. I think there's a sense out there right now among a lot of golfers is that modern golf course design is kind of stuck, that new courses look pretty similar to each other, and there's just not much innovation happening or artistic risk taking. And specifically, many people feel that today's golf architects are just rehashing ideas that were established in the early nineteen hundreds during the so called golden age of golf architecture. That's the basic argument that I've seen, and what I want to get into in this segment is whether I think it's correct, right? Is it true that today's golf architects don't have any new ideas. I don't really think so, or at least I don't think that characterization is completely fair. So you know, just look at Tom Doak's recent projects, for example. And Doak is a good example here because he is an industry leader. I think Doak is one of the architects that people are taught about when they expressed frustration about the lack of innovation in golf architecture. So consider what Doak has done in the past fifteen years or so. First, you have Old McDonald. This is a collection of CB McDonald templates done in the style of the old course at Saint Andrews. This is something that you really hadn't seen before. Yes, it's based on old sources, but it's executed in a fresh way. Doak also built the Loop, which is a fully reversible course. He built Saint Patrick's Lynx, an Irish Lynks course. He built the Lido, which is a recreation of a CB McDonald design using lid ar technology and GPS bulldozers, basically a completely novel workflow for golf architecture. He built Sedge Valley, which is a PAR sixty eight kind of sporting golf course, the type of course that you just don't see that often anymore. Very recently he built sand Glass, which is another lightar assistant golf course where the machines, as far as I understand it, were used to kind of create replicas of certain greens and features from other courses, and then Doak's shapers went in and kind of adapted those designs to the ground that they were on, remixed them so that they became something new again. This is not really something that I've seen done before, So I don't think you can look at that roster of designs by Tom Doak and say that he is resting on his laurels or hasn't innovated in recent years. And then you know, when you step outside of the usual architects that everybody talks about Doak, Corn Crenshaw, Gil Hans, David Kidd, there's a whole world of golf architecture that I think is a lot more varied than people give it credit for. So you've got firms like Jackson Kahn and King ko Alan's Dormer to derive influences from just different sources than the usual ones, and they are actually trying to do something new. They are earnestly attempting to move golf architecture forward. So I just don't think it's accurate to say that today's golf architects in general are complacent. However, all of that said, I do see where people are coming from when they say that a lot of high profile new courses look roughly similar to each other. There's a lot of courses set on rolling sandy land, a lot of freight edge bunkers, a lot of intricate, undulating greens, and so on and so forth. I think, you know the type of course that I'm talking about. It's a really cool type of course, but we've seen quite a few of them in recent years, and more broadly, I don't think there's really a sense that the current crop of up and coming golf architects even wants to break decisively from the past. You know, it's hard to find a young architect right now who doesn't genuinely look up to Bill Core and Tom Doak. So I do get where the critics of modern golf course design are coming from. I see what they are seeing. So why is it that innovation seems to be slow in golf architecture right now. And notice that I'm saying innovation is slow and not non existent, because I really don't think that there is no innovation, but the process is deliberate. Let me address this question by just running through a few theories. So theory number one is that maybe innovation has never been particularly fast in golf architecture. The business of golf course development is pretty risk averse overall, and that's because it's very expensive to build and maintain a golf course. So naturally, clients are going to want to stick with what they know will work. They're going to want to stick with what's been proven, and that is I think, you know, the main reason that we've never seen a full fledged avant garde or postmodern movement in golf course design. It's because there aren't many clients who want to support that kind of experimentation. All right. Theory number two, and this is related not that many golf courses get built period, Compared to how many albums get released, or how many novels get written, or how many movies get made, there just isn't that much room for true experimentation. And maybe there's not much appetite for novelty when the supply of golf courses is relatively speaking so small. Okay, theory number three, and this is speaking to the current period specifically, the dominant golf architects of the past thirty to forty years have had a great deal of longevity and they're still getting the best jobs, right. I'm talking about obviously Corn Crunchhaw Dough Hanson, Kid, but also Tom Fazio, Jack Nicholas. Internationally, you know, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman. These guys have been around for a long time and they're still here. They're still driving the status quo of the industry. And that brings me to my fourth and final point about the slowness of innovation in modern golf architecture, and that is that I'm not sure that the primary job of the golf architect is to be completely original. And that's because golf architecture is not a pure art, right. It's not like poetry or music. The intention is not just to create something beautiful. It's also to prepare a piece of land for playing golf. And preparing a piece of land for playing golf doesn't have to be an act of extreme stylistic originality, and maybe in most cases golfers prefer it not to be right. You know, preparing a piece of ground for a game may often rely on a lot of conventions that are determined by that game. There's not complete freedom to create whatever in golf architecture, and so really talking about golf architecture as an art form might be missing part of the point, part of the true purpose of what a golf architect is trying to achieve. All right, So all that is just food for thought, some theories as to why, you know, innovative golf er chitecture might seem pretty rare right now, and why that might not be totally disastrous. But I do absolutely think there are ways for golf architects to think outside the box and do things that feel fresh and exciting. So what are some new ideas that we're currently seeing or that I would like to see in golf architecture. This is going to be a very incomplete list, but first off, I'd love to see an architect or two or three actually take the idea of minimalism seriously. Minimalism meaning the notion of altering the land just as much as you need to in order to create compelling golf. So Minimalism has been a buzzword in golf course design for a long time. I do think there are some architects who earnestly practiced it in the nineties and early two thousands, But these days it's just really hard to find anyone who is actually devoted to anything resembling minimalism. You know, wall to wall reshaping of a site has become the standard and the expectation. So I would love to see someone, maybe a young architect, actually explore how little they can do to a site. You know, I love golf holes that just have one bunker or one green contour and that feature does everything that is necessary to create interesting golf and you know, so what, you know, what I think we're seeing today is a lot of overcrowding of bunkers and contours in an effort to grab the player's interest. So there might be some room for an architect to stand out by just doing less. And sometimes that might involve embracing aspects of a property that some would consider not ideal or even ugly, right, I think, you know, genuine originality can come from that sort of non judgmental approach to a piece of land and to you know, a lot of originality can come from embracing parts of a site that other architects might reject. That's probably the best way to put it, Okay, Another idea, can we rethink the notion of a bunker? Does a bunker need to be filled with sand? I don't think so, right, And one thing that I find really interesting about pre Golden Age golf architecture is that hazards were often just whatever the site offered. Maybe they were gravel pits, maybe they were, you know, an old fence or a wall or a carriage path. Right, I'd love to see more site specific hazards and less reliance on you know, conventionally sized and presented sand bunkers. All Right. A third area of innovation that I'm interested in, and this is actually something that we're seeing a fair amount of right now, is experimentation with routing a golf course. So this can mean a non regulation number of holes or non regulation types of holes. You could have a twelve hole golf course, you could have courses with a few par fours and a bunch of par threes. So for projects opening in twenty twenty six, look at Old Dane in Nebraska and the Commons at Sand Valley for examples of this kind of work. Then you can have courses that contain alternate routings, right courses within a course, reversible options. We've seen a pretty good amount of these projects in recent years as well. So we have Sylvie's Valley in Oregon, we have the Loop in Michigan. King Colin's Dormer is very interested in alternate routings, So there are definitely some architects who are pursuing this vein a little bit now. The difficulty with experimental routings is that they're hard to make a business case for. If you're competing against, you know, regulation nine and eighteen hole golf courses in a certain region, a lot of golfers are going to choose the regulation course so that they can maintain a handicap and feel like they're playing a quote unquote real golf course. So there is some work to do in convincing the general public that you know, courses with weird routings are actually a lot of fun. But I think it's worth pursuing because it could have great benefits for the game. So finally, I think a good way to approach innovation in golf architecture is to actually address the common frustrations that golfers have, and two of the biggest frustrations right now are the cost of playing golf and the amount of time it takes. So why haven't we seen more innovation from golf architects in first of all, economy of construction making courses cheaper to build, maintain, and ultimately play. I don't think no effort has been expended on that problem in the modern period of golf course development. And then second, are there architectural characteristics that can actually help pace of play? Are there ways of designing courses that allow groups to get around fast? I don't really know. I haven't investigated this problem very thoroughly myself, but I would like to find out because it would stand to reason that if golfers don't like how long it takes to play nine or eighteen holes, that we would figure out ways to get them around faster. So those are my basic initial thoughts about new ways forward for golf architecture. But I would really like to hear from all of you. Do you think modern golf course design is lacking in originality? If so, why and what kinds of experiments would you like to see golf architects take on all. Right, now, before we get to my conversation with Matt ruschis about up in course openings that we're looking at. A word from our sponsor, Goodwalk Coffee. Goodwalk is a big part of my daily routine. My preferred blend is the fried Egg Golf Blend, which is a medium light roast, absolutely delicious. My wife and I have kind of come to rely on it, and whenever we have to use a different set of beans, we kind of revolt against it. It's no fun at all. So you two can have Goodwalk Coffee in your life. You can get special blends delivered to you either every week, two weeks, or monthly. I personally love not having to think about reordering my favorite blends and just knowing that the house is filled with beans for my next cup. So head to Goodwokcoffee dot com, forward slash fried Egg to subscribe and make sure to use the code fried Egg at checkout to save twenty percent on your entire order. If you order a subscription, you'll say thirty percent off your first order, then ten percent on all future shipments. So that's code Frida Egg All one word at Goodwockcoffee dot com forward slash Friday Egg check it out all right, I am joined by my Frida Egg golf colleague Matt Ruschius, to talk about some golf course openings that we're excited about in twenty twenty six. Matt, I'll start with you, what's the first golf course opening that you're excited about for this year.

00:17:35
Speaker 2: Well, there's certainly a lot of cool courses coming online this upcoming year, but the one that has kind of had my attention for quite some time now is Yale Golf Club's restoration slash renovation. I'm not sure what they're exactly calling it. I would assume restoration.

00:17:56
Speaker 1: I would assume that Gil Hans would call it a historical renovation. But looking at the plans, it does seem like there is a lot of faithfulness to the original design. I think it can probably be called a restoration, but it's always somewhere in the middle with Gil.

00:18:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know they're probably planning on it in a lot of back teas and trying to lengthen it for college events and stuff like that, but I think, without a doubt their golf course will be better once it reopens. It's just I kind of have that lingering fear that it's going to kind of lose some of that patina and that kind of special sots that I experienced my first time visiting it. I mean, when I was there, I walked thirty six holes and it was an absolute brute of a walk, but it was so worth it, and it was so enchanting and exciting just to walk those fairways and know that people a hundred years ago were making that walk and playing this golf course with likely Hickory golf clubs, and it just kind of had this certain aura to it, and I just don't want that to fade away because it's such a unique and cool property. So I'm really looking forward to it, but also slightly apprehensive.

00:19:10
Speaker 1: Apprehensive there is a danger when you do a modern renovation to a course like that that you lose a little bit of that magic. But I'm hopeful that the work will turn out well as long as the as long as the support that is necessary is provided for it. So we'll see. Cautiously optimistic, I guess probably we both are about that about that project at Yale. All Right, So the next project I'd like to talk about here Matt is wild Spring Dunes. So the first golf course at wild Spring Dunes is going to fully open in twenty twenty six. Grand opening is expected, I believe in October twenty twenty six. This is a new Dream golf resort in East Texas, near the town of Nagadosius, about two and a half hours from both Dallas and Houston. So this first course is a Tom Doake golf course, and the lead associate for the project I believe is Brian Slanik.

00:20:17
Speaker 2: Do I have that right, Matt, I can't remember exactly. I know he was there a lot in Eric Iverson. Eric Iverson's heavily influenced.

00:20:26
Speaker 3: I don't know. I can't remember exactly which one it was.

00:20:29
Speaker 1: Though I know Iverson did a lot of work at at Childer's Hall Upper Course, which just opened late twenty twenty four. In any case, an eight hole loop at the new course at wild Spring Dunes opened on November twelfth. You have been to that eight whole loop, so we'll talk about that in a second. There's a second course designed by Corn Crenshaw where clearing is currently underway. That's expected to open in twenty twenty seven, pending all the all the usual potential delays that happened in the golf course construction, The construction of the clubhouse and the lodge, and and maybe some of the real estate that's that's involved in this development will begin this year in twenty twenty six. There are plans for a short course, a hunting course, a practice facility, all the all the usual stuff that you get with a resort like this. So that's wild Spring Dunes new Dream Golf resort course coming online very soon. So you've been to this place, you played that they hold loop, what's the land like, what? What? What do you think makes it different from other dream golf resorts? Just any any general impressions from from your visit.

00:21:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we actually got to see all eighteen holes. Everything's been grassed, they sotted it. So the course came alive pretty fairly quickly since they sotted everything. But I'd say, like initially, right when we got there, it felt very kind of pinehursty I think. I mean, it's hard not to compare him to other dope courses, but it's almost like a mixture of Sedge Valley and Pinehurst Number ten. If you wanted to put together two of his kind of most recent designs, but at the same time, it feels very different because he's done such a good job. Him and his team have done a really good job of just utilizing the natural kind of Texas terrain. It really is like a product of that region, kind of this scrubby like open prairie areas, these tall pine trees, and it really has a nice routing where you're moving through the trees and then you kind of come up out open to these open areas, and then once you get to the back nine, there's these pretty dramatic ravines and kind of spring fed creeks that the routing interacts with, So then you start to kind of get a little bit more adventurous on the back nine where you're going up and over these hills and ravines and you almost kind of get lost in the forest. But overall, it's a spectacular golf course. One thing that I'm really keen to see develop and mature is the grass. They went with a zoiza type grass in the fairways, and I just know that once that grass goes dormant and in kind of the shoulder seasons in winter, that this golf course is going to play extremely firm and fast, and I think that's really going to make the design shine and also make it really stand out from all the other kind of Michael Kaiser dream golf resort properties. It certainly has a different feel, but also kind of the similarities as a lot of the others, where.

00:23:44
Speaker 3: It just feels really complete. They've done this.

00:23:47
Speaker 2: I mean, this is like their fourth resort that they've opened, so they've really nailed down kind of the processes and know how to get everything right. So I think that's kind of the similar feeling. But then just the architect's ability to really adapt the golf course to the natural site makes it shine kind of its its own individuality. And when we were there, we got to get a little bit of peak of the corn crunchaw side, which is really cool. The first tee for Bill and Ben's course kind of plays off the same hill that they call Mount Baldy that Tom's course te's off from, and the land over there supposedly a lot more dramatic with more of those ravines that I kind of talked about. So it'll be a really good complimenting course, I think, and it'll be really exciting to see this This whole resort kind of come online and fully realize itself.

00:24:43
Speaker 1: Cool. Yeah, I mean you kind of see the Kaiser Brothers strategy coming into focus at this resort. Michael and Chris Kaiser, the sons of Mike Kaiser, who was the developer behind Bandon Dune's. Bandon Dune's established a model of a really remote golf resort where the priority was to find the most spectacular land possible. You can't get more spectacular land than what you found at Bandon Dunes, and it almost didn't matter that it was five hours from Portland and just like really not within reach of any large population centers, that that wasn't part of the strategy of the resort. Certainly, Michael and Chris Kaiser have started to move in the direction of finding great pieces of land that are remote and are in rural areas, but are also within striking distance of major metropolitan areas. So wild Spring Dunes is just two and a half hours from both Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. I mean, that's a lot of people who can use this resort as kind of a weekend retreat. And as part of that model, there is definitely more real estate involved, but the houses are not going to be on the golf course. So this is something different from Bandon Dunes, and we've known this since Sand Valley. Sand Valley had some elements of this model as well. But these new dream golf resorts that are going to be opening within the next few years, Wildspring Dunes in East Texas, Old Shores in the Florida Panhandle, Rodeo Dunes outside of Denver, there has been an emphasis placed on finding locations that are close ish to major metropolitan areas, and that's something different and it kind of makes the model replicable. Right, Bandon Dunes is almost like a national asset in a way. Right, People come from all over the world to go to Bandon Dunes, and it's not necessarily drawing from Oregon. Right, That's that's not the uh that that's that's not the concept of the resort. It's drawing people from all over the place. These these new dream golf resorts, Yes, they're going to draw people from all over because the golf courses are going to be spectacular. But a big part of the model is bringing in people in the region who will go to the resort not just once, not just twice, but but maybe regularly repeatedly and that's that's a new iteration of this of this destination golf idea for sure.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's really cool about Wildspring Dunes is, yeah, you have bandoned dunes, which is kind of like this once in a lifetime pilgrimage type place. But I got the sense from a lot of the locals that we talked about there is like, hey, people in Texas, like do not mind driving three four hours in a day or a weekend. The state's so big, They're used to driving a lot, and you can easily make a weekend trip from any of the major cities in Texas, Austin, Dallas, Houston. People are going to make weekend trips to go see this golf course, especially because it's one of the only truly great public golf courses that's easily accessible to a very.

00:28:23
Speaker 3: Large population center.

00:28:25
Speaker 2: There's like I don't know if you could count up all of them, but it's probably around fifteen or twenty million people that are within driving distance of this new golf resort. So I think it's going to have a huge impact on the golf in Texas, and it'll be here. It'll be interesting to see if if more courses in this specific region because I know there's a lot of other sandy sort of sites in this area, so it'll be it'll be interesting to see if more public golf comes online in Texas during kind of this this construction.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: Boom we're in, Yeah for sure. All right, Next course you want to talk about?

00:29:03
Speaker 2: I think one that I'm really really excited to see as the Commons at Sand Valley. Another dream golf resort project, but I got to walk it earlier this year during one of our events that we had there. We had a four day event with some Friday Golf Club members who got to play all the different golf courses, and me and Will Knights got a little tour around the new twelve hole Commons course, which was really interesting to see. If you're familiar with Sand Valley, this used to be kind of the old driving range area maybe two or three years ago before the resort really started to boom and to grow in size.

00:29:50
Speaker 1: So it's kind of between if people have been to Sand Valley, there's the main resort hub, which is kind of where the resort was for a long time with Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes and the Sandbox, and then there's Sedge Valley relatively new course. The Commons course is kind of between those two.

00:30:09
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, pretty much like when you're driving in the.

00:30:12
Speaker 2: Main entrance, you'll drive past the majority of it kind of on your right hand side. You'll see the Sandbox through the trees on the left of that main entrance road, and then the Commons there right on the right side, and then the yeah, Sedge Valley is right in that area too, and so it's kind of like sand Valley, Sedge Valley, Commons kind of lined up all with borders touching each other.

00:30:36
Speaker 3: But that's the thing.

00:30:38
Speaker 2: The reason why I pointed out kind of this flat driving range land that was used is that it's kind of this big different differentiator for this golf course. Is a lot of it was built. And this is Jim Craig's first solo design. I know he did a lot of work on the Sandbox, has been with Corn crunch Off for a very long time, very experienced shaper and now designer. But it'll be really cool to see his first solo design kind of shown out to the world. I bet he's had tons of ideas and been wanting to do this for a very long time, and there's a lot of radical looking stuff out there. The second hole specifically, is this really cool Part three that is kind of sunk in in like almost like an exploded volcano, where it's like the greens placed down in kind of this elevated hollow, so it's really unique looking. There's a lot of cool built ground features, so the ground game will be really interesting and exciting for beginner golfers, elderly players, any type of players going to really enjoy all of the ground options that Sand Valley's come kind of known for. Is this amazing fescue playing surface, which I have no doubt that it will be just as good at the Commons course. But then you kind of towards the end of the twelve hole loop, you come out to this peninsula that's surrounded by water that this kind of man made lake that that looks very natural, and there's some really cool holes on the finishing stretch. So it's definitely going to be very different from kind of that look and feel for most of the other courses at Sand Valley. There's not as many enormous expansive like sandy waste areas that you see on Mammoth Dunes and Sand Valley, and then just the style of golf that that that Craig kind of built into the ground has a slightly different feel. It's almost kind of like Lido where it's these kind of manufactured mounds and and and different looks than kind of that that traditional like minimalist, naturalist style that that has come pretty prominent at Sand Valley. So I'm really excited to watch that course kind of mature and see how it takes off at the resort.

00:32:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, you think about where the really good land is at the Sand Valley Resort, it's occupied by Mammoth Dunes, the first Sand Valley course and Sedge Valley. All the other courses, the Sandbox, the New Commons course, and the Lido are built on land that was just sort of conveniently located near the other courses, and so a lot of manufacturing has been done to build these additional courses and it gives Sand Valley a very interesting mixture of architecture. Again, if you compare it to Bandon Dunes. At Bandon Dunes, you just have this almost limitless amount of great land for golf. And the point of the development was to find this land and to use it for golf. At Sand Valley, You've had more experimentation with different kinds of sites, different approaches to sites that maybe aren't ideal. Even if the soil is pretty good across the entire resort, the undulation of the land is not as consistent. You know, somewhere some places of the resort that the terrain is fantastic, other places more work needs to be done to generate something interesting, and that is part of what makes Sand Valley architecturally maybe more interesting than Bandon Dune's, but of course what makes Bandon Dunes great is the quality of the land itself. The Commons is a good example of something that Michael Kaiser has been very interested in, and that's this idea of an afternoon course, the course that can be played in the afternoon after you've tackled a regulation course like Sand Valley or Mammoth Dunes or Sedge or the Lido, right, something that is a little bit of a lower impact afternoon round. And the inspiration here is the kid's course or the lady's course or the Gulf Park as you might find it in Scotland. Michael Kaiser's really to those places, loves the kind of village greens in North Barrack and Edinburgh and wants very much to create something like that for the American golfing population. But I guess the question is, can a course like this exist outside the context of a multi course destination resort. Can a course like the Commons stand on its own as its own golf offering. I think that's a that's a harder nut to crack because of the just realities of what the American golfer wants, because of the handicap system and the you know, the the USGA rating systems that give kind of priority to certain regulation courses. Those are the courses you have to play to to maintain your handicap. A twelve hole course with you know, one par five and some short par fours and a few par threes is just, you know, it's not going to have the same status in the minds of a lot of American golfers as nine hole or eighteen hole regulation courses. And so that's it's a problem that I would really like to see solved because once we solve it, once we figure out how to make a course like the Commons stand on its own, be near a city, be really accessible to a lot of people, Once we figure that out, then we can do a lot of architectural innovation. It unlocks some things for architects. It allows architects to kind of push to the next era of golf course design. But as long as we're so wedded to the nine hole or eighteen hole regulation course, that innovation just isn't going to happen. Architects are going to be limited to working with the forms that are already established. And so that's the thing that I find most interesting about San Valley Commons. It's a great example of this type of alternative golf course that I think a lot of people would really love, you know, like, less capable golfers are really going to like this kind of course. But can you make it work outside of a destination resort model. I don't know yet.

00:37:18
Speaker 2: I like that you bring that up, and I may have to jump the gun on you here because another course that I'm going excited is this exact thing that you're talking about, The Old Dane in Nebraska, very close to Landman, which has gained a lot of following over the years. At King Collins Design. The Old Dane is getting redesigned by Trevor Dormer and something cool about this golf course is when I worked in Nebraska, I was living roughly a half mile from the Old Dane maybe, and every single day after work, me and my coworkers would would have it over to the Old Dane and we'd play nine or twelve or eighteen holes after work and just zoom around that golf course and it was a lot of fun. It's kind of just I think it's around ninety five acres and it was just nine holes at the time. But the Anderson family bought it, I think in kind of the middle two thousands and just kind of wanted a place to hang out. And then after the success of land Man, they were looking to redesign the Old Dane and kind of create a.

00:38:30
Speaker 3: Really cool golf experience out of it.

00:38:32
Speaker 2: And with Trevor Dhmer's plans right now is to have twelve holes there, change it from it was originally an eighteen hole golf course on this very small plot of land, and I think there's a lot of par threes and short par fours, and then they kind of converted it to a regulation nine hole golf course with two part threes, two par vivees. And now he's really utilizing some of kind of the unused land that was there, completely changing the entire golf course. I was just looking at the overhead on Google Earth and it's just ninety acres of exposed soil and they've kind of thrown out everything that had to do with the previous golf course and the build. Yeah, there's like a two acre lake that they dug kind of on.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, just for a material to build their build.

00:39:26
Speaker 3: The style.

00:39:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's on the far west side, I believe, towards kind of the cornfields. But I think it's honestly going to be almost very similar to the Commons with like these kind of built features. I know, one of the greens he built like fifteen or twenty feet up in the air, kind of like a volcano styled green site. And I think he's gonna get really creative with building really fun and unique, quirky styled golf. It's not going to be a traditional golf course by any means, I don't think. I think once again, like like Jim Craig, it's his first go at a solo designer, one of his first I know he's had that project up in Canada that he's been working on. But I think He's gonna throw a lot on the table and get really wild with the stuff at Old Dane, and I think it's gonna be really really interesting to see it come online.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, Trevor Dormer is a talented prospect. It's funny to talk about a guy with kids as a prospect, obviously, but he's he is in in golf architect years young. He has worked for Corn Crenshaw and Gil Hans. As you mentioned, he's done a couple of projects, you know, as a as a lead designer in Canada, but these have been small projects and collaborative and so this is really his big first solo statement and it is very exciting. It will, I think, kind of function as an afternoon course to Landman, owned by the same family. Yeah, close to close to the yeah, and so I think part of the concept here is that people who come and play land Man can then go play Old Dane in the afternoon. But it also seems like it will function as a community course as well. There will be loops of holes that people can play. I believe the initial plan I think they're still sticking to this is that there can be loops of six, nine and twelve holes it's a twelve hole course, but the routing will allow players to return to the clubhouse at six' nine as well as, twelve WHICH i obviously a very very cool. Idea again experimenting with alternative kinds of golf, courses different numbers of, holes different. Routings you, know in one golf course you can have a number of different. Experiences and, yes this is where this is where golf architecture needs to go in the. Future we just need to find the business models to support. It and massive credit to The anderson family for not only making this swing With Trevor dormer giving a chance to a talented guy who worked on the crew at The landman course and they recognized that he's very smart and if given an, opportunity would do a great. Job but also credit to them for committing to keeping this place public and, affordable just as they've done With landman Right. Landman of all the kind of destination courses that have been built in the past twenty, Years landman is probably the most affordable to. Play is that an? Exaggeration, YEAH i don't think.

00:42:34
Speaker 2: So, yeah it's such one of the most prominent and affordable built in the LAST i guess recent years of golf. Development so, YEAH i think they're going to compliment each other really. Well and as someone who kind of had a personal connection to The Old dane and would spend many of my afternoons, There i'm really excited to see What trevor is able to transform that place.

00:42:58
Speaker 1: Into flexing your your golf course knowledge, Here, matt so far we've talked about four courses that you've had experiences, at and pretty extensive experiences at for the most. Part so you've seen all these, Places Wild, Spring, dames The, commons The Yale Golf course and And Old. DANE i want to talk about one that neither of us have been, too BUT i think will be very very. Interesting this is one that a lot of people in our audience will will not have heard, of partly because of its. Location you, know we have we have a you, know not only A us, audience but maybe predominantly A us. Audience this project is happening In australia in The melbourne. Area depending on how you define the sand, belt it's either in the sand belt or just outside of the sand. Belt this is what used to be known As Long Island Golf. Club it was recently purchased by The National Golf, club which owns a complex on The Mornington peninsula that includes A Tom doak course called The Gunna. Matta apologies IF i mispronounced THAT i may have the Gun O. Matta The Mouna course By Greg norman is also there and what they call The Old course By Robert Trent Jones. Junior that's a well, known well, regarded high membership golf club on The Mornington. Peninsula that club Purchased Long Island Golf, club which is right next door To Peninsula, kingswood a well known and extremely well regarded thirty six hole facility that was in the past within the past several years completely redesigned BY ocm ogil, V coking And, mead a very exciting golf course design. FIRM ocm is now working On Long, island The National Golf Club Long island as it's now, known and what they're doing is a course within a course, concept so kind of inspired By George. Thomas George thomas theorized this in his writings in the nineteen, twenties the idea that you could build one golf course that could be played in a number of different, ways you could change tea, locations you could change pin, positions and if you design things in a certain, way you could even look for alternative routings within the golf. Course but if you are clever about how you design the golf, course then you could create multiple, different very distinct experiences within one golf. Course that is WHAT ocm is trying to do At Long island right. Now they're building twenty greens that will accommodate three different eighteen whole. Routings so you'll have greens that will accept shots from multiple. Directions you'll have different pin positions that will be suited to different. Routings so lots of interesting stuff happening. HERE ocm broke ground on the project in twenty three AND i think it's taken a bit longer than, expected but it should reopen to members this. Year they've members have walked portions of the golf, COURSE i, know and SO i think this will be a very very interesting golf, course a great addition to what's already a tremendous golf region right next To Peninsula. Kingswood so if you're At Peninsula, Kingswood Peninsula kingswood has been developing accommodations for international. Visitors SO i think going forward a lot of people will actually be staying At. Peninsula. Kingswood Long island is right, there SO i think it'll become part of the rota of courses that people commonly play when they go to The melbourne Sand belt to play. Golf So i'll be very curious to see how this works. OUT ocm is an extremely capable. Firm i'm sure they've worked out, everything but as always with concepts like, this there's the question as to whether it's going to be, sustainable whether whether golfers are going to want to keep with the three different courses or settle on one that they think is the best and just want to play. That that's always the danger that if one eighteen whole routing comes to be thought of as the, best golfers want to play. That and so the task FOR ocm is to make all three so compelling that they'll be maintained on an ongoing. Basis and so that's the big question for me of this. Project have you heard of this?

00:47:44
Speaker 2: BEFORE i ACTUALLY i haven't really heard of, this BUT i think it's really exciting because The melbourne Sand belt is sort of known for this one style of, golf and, WELL i know a lot of these courses are probably very different from each. Other there's nothing quite like this concept where it's this big.

00:48:03
Speaker 3: Outlier from the.

00:48:04
Speaker 2: Rest and the thing we know about building reversible golf is you can't really do it on severe, land and from WHAT i know not having been, there is that The melbourne area is kind of this perfect middle ground.

00:48:18
Speaker 3: Between being too severe and not interesting.

00:48:20
Speaker 2: Enough SO i think it's going to lend itself really well to this kind of reversible concept where you can play in multiple. Directions it's obviously going to have exceptional turf, conditions play very, firm very, fast and hopefully give the members and visitors this great variety from what's already in the. Region and it's also really exciting THAT ocm just continues to get jobs like this and they're able to kind of stretch their legs, out take a little bit of a chance here with a new, concept a new, idea and really run with, it which will be exciting to see what them and their firm can come up. With since they're kind of growing in popularity so much as of recent.

00:49:05
Speaker 1: They've done a lot of different interesting stuff in their career so, far you, know they've done kind of A. C. B McDonald Seth rayner inspired course In Lonsdale, Links they've done a complete redesign of a Major american championship course And madina. Three so this is not a firm that is that is, shy right they. Are they are willing to take big, risks AND i think that's kind of what we what we want to see out of this next generation of architecture. Firms and certainly because of their association With Jeff, ogilvie whom a lot of people know already and like a, lot they're going to keep getting attractive, jobs, Right they're going to be a formidable force on the golf architecture job market just because of Who Jeff ogilvie. Is and then obviously we know you AND i Know Mike coking And Ashley mead know that they're also very impressive individuals as. Well so we're going to see a lot FROM. OCM i THINK i think this project is one that people should keep more of an eye on THAN i than they have they have so, far just because of what the concept. Is you, know this is a concept that a lot of people have tried and not really been able to find a client for and so it's great that The National Golf club has has been willing to pursue this WITH. Ocm all, right what's the uh we're gonna we're gonna finish with one last course? Here is that there is there one more that that you want to bring?

00:50:36
Speaker 2: Up, yeah this course technically opened this, year kind of right at the end of the. Year But Miami lakes outside Of, Miami, florida is A Bruce heppner redesign of an existing golf. Course it was kind of this really cool hangout spot back in the in the fifties and. Sixties The Miami dolphins, specifically we're known to come hang out here in their free time and play golf and it's kind of a part of this community that was built by the ownership's. Family Danny martinez's grandfather helped to kind of construct the golf course and come up with the concept for this living community and the course just kind of fell.

00:51:21
Speaker 3: By the wayside over the.

00:51:22
Speaker 2: Years it's In, florida very low lying, land lots of lakes and a lot of.

00:51:29
Speaker 1: Water, yeah a lot of water for a public course where you, know a lot of the golfers were not super.

00:51:36
Speaker 2: Experienced, yeah but the land and the golf course would basically become completely inundated with a small rainstorm and they wouldn't be able to. Golf so they wanted to redesign it and kind of fix these issues related to the drainage and maintenance of the golf, course and then kind of out of, serendipity the project fell Into Bruce heppner's, lap who's a very experienced golf course architect work For Tom doak for many years and just sort OF i think is the perfect guy for this. Project he's been doing a lot of public redesign work recently In nashville and now here In, miami and we got to tour around it when it was under, construction and it was just really compelling to see how simple he was kind of dumbing down the, processes where, hey we don't need to blow an enormous. Budget we just need to build cool greens and thoughtful bunkers make it accessible for, everyone and that's a huge part of kind of the mission of this. Course it's the home for the First tea Of South florida and they hold Special olympics gatherings and it's really a golf course that's focused around the youth and kind of the.

00:52:52
Speaker 3: Future of the.

00:52:52
Speaker 2: Game there's going to be a really cool learning center and driving, range AND i Know danny's kind of mission for this is just to make it a fun place for people to go hang. Out maybe you don't play, golf maybe you just go there to hang out and be with your friends and run around and play on the, practice putting green or whatever it may. Be but the whole goal is to be this kind of welcoming golf environment and community. Atmosphere AND i think that's almost the most compelling part of the, project is just that he's just trying to build something where people can go hang out and have. Fun and they're not spending millions and millions and millions of dollars to overhaul the golf. Course they're spending what they have to, spend and they're doing a really thoughtful and creative job with. It So i'm really excited to watch this course kind of grow and mature and see if it catches on with other kind of local golf courses that are in need of maybe a new irrigation system or some sort of infrastructural need where they can bring in an intelligent architect Like Bruce heppner and just do a simple redesign that instantly makes the golf course a lot better while also creating a cool atmosphere for kids to learn the.

00:54:09
Speaker 1: Game, yeah this is a project with its heart in the right. Place we've talked To Danny, martinez who is spearheading this project on behalf of his, family quite a few. Times we know that he listens to the. Podcast he got introduced To Bruce hepner by listening to our interview With bruce a couple of years ago on The Friday golf. Podcast he is a golf nut and he wants to create an accessible hub for his, community not just a cool golf, course but a place where people feel welcome and that improves the life of his town and the area around. It and, yeah that's the right, idea and THEY i hired a very good partner In Bruce. Hepner hepner is very interested in saving as much money as possible in building a golf. Course he wants to get the most results with the least input. Financially and you, Know Danny martinez couldn't have chosen a better. Person for that type of project Than Bruce. Hepner so lots of smart good things happening there At Miami.

00:55:27
Speaker 3: Lakes now.

00:55:30
Speaker 1: This is my bad, here my mistake for not Mentioning Cabot, highlands The Old Petty course At Cabot, highlands that should have been one of the ones we, discussed probably should have bumped The National Golf Club Long, island But i'm just so interested in talking about The Long island concept THAT i went with. That but a major opening In Scotland Tom Doakes Old petty At Cabot. Highlands this project was partly led By Clyde johnson as. Well this is in addition to the resort formerly known As Castle stewart, right which started with A gilhant's course a number of years back Near. Inverness so in The Scottish highlands it's the new courses is set along a kind of tidal estuary near a church Called Old, petty so that's where it gets its name. From this is not natural links land and so WHAT i find interesting about the project is that it's Very the course is very. Manufactured but from What i've seen of the Work doak And Clyde johnson have made sure to keep things very low profile And scottish. Feeling so although they've manufactured a lot of contour, here they haven't gone big and bold with it Like kingsbarns or some of the other you, know manufactured some of the other artificial links courses In scotland that might come to. MIND i, mean Certainly King Colin's dormer is going to do something big with that The strewy course At Royal dornick in the next several, years very. Likely and so, yeah what's compelling to me about the work that they're doing At Old petty is that it's going to be very, subtle even though they fabricated pretty much all of. IT i think that's an interesting. Approach it's something slightly new AND i bet it's going to come out really. Well so that's the obligatory mention Of Old petty At Cabot. Highlands that's going to be one of the most notable course openings in twenty twenty six for. SURE a bunch of other stuff going, on you, know golf construction is very active right. Now you, know it's a discussion for a different day to talk about the type of construction that's. Happening, obviously a lot of the stuff we've talked About matt in this episode has been destination, golf whether that's destination resort model or destination club. Model, yes a lot of the most interesting architecture is happening. There but there's also some cool stuff happening in the public golf. Scene there's not enough of it. Happening but the hope is that people can look at projects like the ones At Miami lakes And Buffalo dunes And Old dane and say to, themselves this can be. Done we can do this if we have the right, motives if we're not looking to become billionaires just based on this one, project if we just want to contribute something great to the golf, world then, yes this can be. Done and, so you, know that's what happened With Miami. LAKES i Think Danny, martinez you, know it was not only listening to podcasts that inspired. Him it was looking At Winter park In florida and seeing that something like this was. Possible and so my big hope for the new year is that that people are going to realize that great work can be done in affordable public. Golf you just have to have your heart in the right place with it, right and so we'll see if that. Happens but thank You matt for joining. Me appreciate, it and we'll have you on the podcast again.

00:59:11
Speaker 3: Soon, Awesome Thanks.

00:59:13
Speaker 1: Garrett all, right let's do some. Takeaways first of, ALL i want to expand on a POINT i made towards the end of my conversation With matt and just underline the fact that all seven of the Courses matt AND i just talked about are going to be accessible in some form to the.

00:59:36
Speaker 3: Public.

00:59:37
Speaker 1: Now part of this is selection. Bias matt AND i want to talk about courses that everyone can. Play, obviously there are plenty of firmly private clubs with interesting architecture opening in twenty twenty six as. Well BUT i do find it notable that enough is happening in public golf this year for us to devote almost an entire episode to. It AND i think that's worth remembering and holding on to a little, bit BECAUSE i sense concern among many golfers that public golf is. Suffering and, listen there's no doubt right that on the, whole structurally public golf is. Suffering there are profound challenges that face anyone who wants to build a new public golf, course especially a new affordable public golf, course especially a new affordable public golf, course anywhere near a population. Center but it is possible to do, It it can be, done it is being, done and not all hope is. Lost and in addition To Old dane And Miami, LAKES i would suggest looking At Warmouth, sands a new build municipal course In georgia designed By Mike, young expected to open this year after some delays during. Construction and also look At Buffalo, dunes another city o, course this one In kansas has just gone through a really cool looking. Redesign So i'm hoping to bring you more stories about these courses and courses like them this. Year so a few other twenty twenty six course openings that we could have mentioned but we. Didn't the first would be Stream Song. White this is the New david McLay kid design at Stream Song resort In. Florida so Stream song is now going to feature courses by all four of the leading golf architects of this era In Corn, Crenshaw Tom, Doak Gil, hants and Now David. Kidd so a unique offering there then we have some some of these kind of new destination private. Clubs we Have tepatonka designed BY ocm In, Minnesota High grove designed By Gil. Hants that one's In. Florida we have The Lower course At Childress. Hall this is another Gil hans's effort for a private. Club this one In. Texas we Have Bounty, Club King Collin's Dormer course outside Of, Nashville. Tennessee we Have Looling, sport the second course At Louling. Sport this is AN ocm design outside Of, Austin. Texas and then Finally Anson, point which is a New Corner crenshaw design at the Development Palmetto bluff In South. Carolina so plenty of action going on in that kind of higher end sector. There on the affordable public. Side i'm definitely curious to See Todd clark And Ron witten's renovation Of Swape. Park swape is a municipal course designed by Aw tillinghast In Kansas. City and Then Gil hans's redesign Of Maggie, hathaway which is a short course In Los. Angeles, finally this is going to be the year That Punta brava. Opens this is A Tom doak design on pretty spectacular looking cliffs In Baja, California SO i think that's going to be an eye catching golf. Course So i'm probably leaving out some projects, there but that gives you a general idea of WHAT i have my eye on right. NOW a lot to look forward to in twenty twenty, Six so Happy New year to. Everybody thank you for checking back in With Designing. Golf this episode Of Designing golf was produced By Will. Balsam thank You. Will if you Enjoyed Designing golf in twenty twenty, five if you expect to enjoy it in twenty twenty, six then make sure to check Out Frida Egg Golf. Club that Is Frida Egg golf's. Membership we're having a lot of fun with, it so go to The Frida egg dot com slash membership to see everything that you get As Friday golf. Member thank you for, listening and we'll be back again soon with another. Episode