Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six is here, So in this episode we
Speaker 1: are looking ahead. First, I'm going to address the question
Speaker 1: where are all the new ideas in golf architecture. Then
Speaker 1: I'll bring on my colleague Matt Ruschius to discuss the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six course openings we're excited about. I'm Garrett Morrison,
Speaker 1: and this is designing Golf all right. Since it's a
Speaker 1: new year, I figure it's a good time to kind
Speaker 1: of refresh the format of Designing Golf a little bit.
Speaker 1: We're not going to change much about the podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: just going to add a couple of segments to the mix. Now.
Speaker 1: Usually the core of Designing Golf is an interview, and
Speaker 1: that's not going to change. We're still going to have
Speaker 1: conversations and interviews at the middle portion of the podcast,
Speaker 1: but I'd like to start each episode with a segment
Speaker 1: where I address some big questions about golf architecture. You
Speaker 1: have a big question about golf course design. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about one oh one level questions, right, questions that you
Speaker 1: might have been afraid to ask because you think they're
Speaker 1: too basic. Send those questions to me, and my topic
Speaker 1: choices for designing golf will in part be determined by
Speaker 1: the questions I get from all of you. So that's
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking for the first segment of each episode,
Speaker 1: the Big Question, and then for the closing segment, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking we'll do some takeaways, right, just reflections on the
Speaker 1: conversation or interview that you've just heard. So that's the
Speaker 1: basic idea. Three segments, Big Question, interview takeaways. Pretty simple,
Speaker 1: but I think it'll give the podcast a kind of
Speaker 1: structure that you can rely on. So today, the big
Speaker 1: question is where are all the new ideas in golf architecture.
Speaker 1: I think there's a sense out there right now among
Speaker 1: a lot of golfers is that modern golf course design
Speaker 1: is kind of stuck, that new courses look pretty similar
Speaker 1: to each other, and there's just not much innovation happening
Speaker 1: or artistic risk taking. And specifically, many people feel that
Speaker 1: today's golf architects are just rehashing ideas that were established
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen hundreds during the so called golden
Speaker 1: age of golf architecture. That's the basic argument that I've seen,
Speaker 1: and what I want to get into in this segment
Speaker 1: is whether I think it's correct, right? Is it true
Speaker 1: that today's golf architects don't have any new ideas. I
Speaker 1: don't really think so, or at least I don't think
Speaker 1: that characterization is completely fair. So you know, just look
Speaker 1: at Tom Doak's recent projects, for example. And Doak is
Speaker 1: a good example here because he is an industry leader.
Speaker 1: I think Doak is one of the architects that people
Speaker 1: are taught about when they expressed frustration about the lack
Speaker 1: of innovation in golf architecture. So consider what Doak has
Speaker 1: done in the past fifteen years or so. First, you
Speaker 1: have Old McDonald. This is a collection of CB McDonald
Speaker 1: templates done in the style of the old course at
Speaker 1: Saint Andrews. This is something that you really hadn't seen before. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's based on old sources, but it's executed in a
Speaker 1: fresh way. Doak also built the Loop, which is a
Speaker 1: fully reversible course. He built Saint Patrick's Lynx, an Irish
Speaker 1: Lynks course. He built the Lido, which is a recreation
Speaker 1: of a CB McDonald design using lid ar technology and
Speaker 1: GPS bulldozers, basically a completely novel workflow for golf architecture.
Speaker 1: He built Sedge Valley, which is a PAR sixty eight
Speaker 1: kind of sporting golf course, the type of course that
Speaker 1: you just don't see that often anymore. Very recently he
Speaker 1: built sand Glass, which is another lightar assistant golf course
Speaker 1: where the machines, as far as I understand it, were
Speaker 1: used to kind of create replicas of certain greens and
Speaker 1: features from other courses, and then Doak's shapers went in
Speaker 1: and kind of adapted those designs to the ground that
Speaker 1: they were on, remixed them so that they became something
Speaker 1: new again. This is not really something that I've seen
Speaker 1: done before, So I don't think you can look at
Speaker 1: that roster of designs by Tom Doak and say that
Speaker 1: he is resting on his laurels or hasn't innovated in
Speaker 1: recent years. And then you know, when you step outside
Speaker 1: of the usual architects that everybody talks about Doak, Corn Crenshaw,
Speaker 1: Gil Hans, David Kidd, there's a whole world of golf
Speaker 1: architecture that I think is a lot more varied than
Speaker 1: people give it credit for. So you've got firms like
Speaker 1: Jackson Kahn and King ko Alan's Dormer to derive influences
Speaker 1: from just different sources than the usual ones, and they
Speaker 1: are actually trying to do something new. They are earnestly
Speaker 1: attempting to move golf architecture forward. So I just don't
Speaker 1: think it's accurate to say that today's golf architects in
Speaker 1: general are complacent. However, all of that said, I do
Speaker 1: see where people are coming from when they say that
Speaker 1: a lot of high profile new courses look roughly similar
Speaker 1: to each other. There's a lot of courses set on
Speaker 1: rolling sandy land, a lot of freight edge bunkers, a
Speaker 1: lot of intricate, undulating greens, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: I think, you know the type of course that I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. It's a really cool type of course, but
Speaker 1: we've seen quite a few of them in recent years,
Speaker 1: and more broadly, I don't think there's really a sense
Speaker 1: that the current crop of up and coming golf architects
Speaker 1: even wants to break decisively from the past. You know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to find a young architect right now who
Speaker 1: doesn't genuinely look up to Bill Core and Tom Doak.
Speaker 1: So I do get where the critics of modern golf
Speaker 1: course design are coming from. I see what they are seeing.
Speaker 1: So why is it that innovation seems to be slow
Speaker 1: in golf architecture right now. And notice that I'm saying
Speaker 1: innovation is slow and not non existent, because I really
Speaker 1: don't think that there is no innovation, but the process
Speaker 1: is deliberate. Let me address this question by just running
Speaker 1: through a few theories. So theory number one is that
Speaker 1: maybe innovation has never been particularly fast in golf architecture.
Speaker 1: The business of golf course development is pretty risk averse overall,
Speaker 1: and that's because it's very expensive to build and maintain
Speaker 1: a golf course. So naturally, clients are going to want
Speaker 1: to stick with what they know will work. They're going
Speaker 1: to want to stick with what's been proven, and that
Speaker 1: is I think, you know, the main reason that we've
Speaker 1: never seen a full fledged avant garde or postmodern movement
Speaker 1: in golf course design. It's because there aren't many clients
Speaker 1: who want to support that kind of experimentation. All right.
Speaker 1: Theory number two, and this is related not that many
Speaker 1: golf courses get built period, Compared to how many albums
Speaker 1: get released, or how many novels get written, or how
Speaker 1: many movies get made, there just isn't that much room
Speaker 1: for true experimentation. And maybe there's not much appetite for
Speaker 1: novelty when the supply of golf courses is relatively speaking
Speaker 1: so small. Okay, theory number three, and this is speaking
Speaker 1: to the current period specifically, the dominant golf architects of
Speaker 1: the past thirty to forty years have had a great
Speaker 1: deal of longevity and they're still getting the best jobs, right.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about obviously Corn Crunchhaw Dough Hanson, Kid, but
Speaker 1: also Tom Fazio, Jack Nicholas. Internationally, you know, Nick Faldo,
Speaker 1: Greg Norman. These guys have been around for a long
Speaker 1: time and they're still here. They're still driving the status
Speaker 1: quo of the industry. And that brings me to my
Speaker 1: fourth and final point about the slowness of innovation in
Speaker 1: modern golf architecture, and that is that I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that the primary job of the golf architect is to
Speaker 1: be completely original. And that's because golf architecture is not
Speaker 1: a pure art, right. It's not like poetry or music.
Speaker 1: The intention is not just to create something beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: also to prepare a piece of land for playing golf.
Speaker 1: And preparing a piece of land for playing golf doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be an act of extreme stylistic originality, and
Speaker 1: maybe in most cases golfers prefer it not to be right.
Speaker 1: You know, preparing a piece of ground for a game
Speaker 1: may often rely on a lot of conventions that are
Speaker 1: determined by that game. There's not complete freedom to create
Speaker 1: whatever in golf architecture, and so really talking about golf
Speaker 1: architecture as an art form might be missing part of
Speaker 1: the point, part of the true purpose of what a
Speaker 1: golf architect is trying to achieve. All right, So all
Speaker 1: that is just food for thought, some theories as to why,
Speaker 1: you know, innovative golf er chitecture might seem pretty rare
Speaker 1: right now, and why that might not be totally disastrous.
Speaker 1: But I do absolutely think there are ways for golf
Speaker 1: architects to think outside the box and do things that
Speaker 1: feel fresh and exciting. So what are some new ideas
Speaker 1: that we're currently seeing or that I would like to
Speaker 1: see in golf architecture. This is going to be a
Speaker 1: very incomplete list, but first off, I'd love to see
Speaker 1: an architect or two or three actually take the idea
Speaker 1: of minimalism seriously. Minimalism meaning the notion of altering the
Speaker 1: land just as much as you need to in order
Speaker 1: to create compelling golf. So Minimalism has been a buzzword
Speaker 1: in golf course design for a long time. I do
Speaker 1: think there are some architects who earnestly practiced it in
Speaker 1: the nineties and early two thousands, But these days it's
Speaker 1: just really hard to find anyone who is actually devoted
Speaker 1: to anything resembling minimalism. You know, wall to wall reshaping
Speaker 1: of a site has become the standard and the expectation.
Speaker 1: So I would love to see someone, maybe a young architect,
Speaker 1: actually explore how little they can do to a site.
Speaker 1: You know, I love golf holes that just have one
Speaker 1: bunker or one green contour and that feature does everything
Speaker 1: that is necessary to create interesting golf and you know,
Speaker 1: so what, you know, what I think we're seeing today
Speaker 1: is a lot of overcrowding of bunkers and contours in
Speaker 1: an effort to grab the player's interest. So there might
Speaker 1: be some room for an architect to stand out by
Speaker 1: just doing less. And sometimes that might involve embracing aspects
Speaker 1: of a property that some would consider not ideal or
Speaker 1: even ugly, right, I think, you know, genuine originality can
Speaker 1: come from that sort of non judgmental approach to a
Speaker 1: piece of land and to you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: originality can come from embracing parts of a site that
Speaker 1: other architects might reject. That's probably the best way to
Speaker 1: put it, Okay, Another idea, can we rethink the notion
Speaker 1: of a bunker? Does a bunker need to be filled
Speaker 1: with sand? I don't think so, right, And one thing
Speaker 1: that I find really interesting about pre Golden Age golf
Speaker 1: architecture is that hazards were often just whatever the site offered.
Speaker 1: Maybe they were gravel pits, maybe they were, you know,
Speaker 1: an old fence or a wall or a carriage path. Right,
Speaker 1: I'd love to see more site specific hazards and less
Speaker 1: reliance on you know, conventionally sized and presented sand bunkers.
Speaker 1: All Right. A third area of innovation that I'm interested in,
Speaker 1: and this is actually something that we're seeing a fair
Speaker 1: amount of right now, is experimentation with routing a golf course.
Speaker 1: So this can mean a non regulation number of holes
Speaker 1: or non regulation types of holes. You could have a
Speaker 1: twelve hole golf course, you could have courses with a
Speaker 1: few par fours and a bunch of par threes. So
Speaker 1: for projects opening in twenty twenty six, look at Old
Speaker 1: Dane in Nebraska and the Commons at Sand Valley for
Speaker 1: examples of this kind of work. Then you can have
Speaker 1: courses that contain alternate routings, right courses within a course,
Speaker 1: reversible options. We've seen a pretty good amount of these
Speaker 1: projects in recent years as well. So we have Sylvie's
Speaker 1: Valley in Oregon, we have the Loop in Michigan. King
Speaker 1: Colin's Dormer is very interested in alternate routings, So there
Speaker 1: are definitely some architects who are pursuing this vein a
Speaker 1: little bit now. The difficulty with experimental routings is that
Speaker 1: they're hard to make a business case for. If you're
Speaker 1: competing against, you know, regulation nine and eighteen hole golf
Speaker 1: courses in a certain region, a lot of golfers are
Speaker 1: going to choose the regulation course so that they can
Speaker 1: maintain a handicap and feel like they're playing a quote
Speaker 1: unquote real golf course. So there is some work to
Speaker 1: do in convincing the general public that you know, courses
Speaker 1: with weird routings are actually a lot of fun. But
Speaker 1: I think it's worth pursuing because it could have great
Speaker 1: benefits for the game. So finally, I think a good
Speaker 1: way to approach innovation in golf architecture is to actually
Speaker 1: address the common frustrations that golfers have, and two of
Speaker 1: the biggest frustrations right now are the cost of playing
Speaker 1: golf and the amount of time it takes. So why
Speaker 1: haven't we seen more innovation from golf architects in first
Speaker 1: of all, economy of construction making courses cheaper to build, maintain,
Speaker 1: and ultimately play. I don't think no effort has been
Speaker 1: expended on that problem in the modern period of golf
Speaker 1: course development. And then second, are there architectural characteristics that
Speaker 1: can actually help pace of play? Are there ways of
Speaker 1: designing courses that allow groups to get around fast? I
Speaker 1: don't really know. I haven't investigated this problem very thoroughly myself,
Speaker 1: but I would like to find out because it would
Speaker 1: stand to reason that if golfers don't like how long
Speaker 1: it takes to play nine or eighteen holes, that we
Speaker 1: would figure out ways to get them around faster. So
Speaker 1: those are my basic initial thoughts about new ways forward
Speaker 1: for golf architecture. But I would really like to hear
Speaker 1: from all of you. Do you think modern golf course
Speaker 1: design is lacking in originality? If so, why and what
Speaker 1: kinds of experiments would you like to see golf architects
Speaker 1: take on all. Right, now, before we get to my
Speaker 1: conversation with Matt ruschis about up in course openings that
Speaker 1: we're looking at. A word from our sponsor, Goodwalk Coffee.
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Speaker 1: I am joined by my Frida Egg golf colleague Matt Ruschius,
Speaker 1: to talk about some golf course openings that we're excited
Speaker 1: about in twenty twenty six. Matt, I'll start with you,
Speaker 1: what's the first golf course opening that you're excited about
Speaker 1: for this year.
Speaker 2: Well, there's certainly a lot of cool courses coming online
Speaker 2: this upcoming year, but the one that has kind of
Speaker 2: had my attention for quite some time now is Yale
Speaker 2: Golf Club's restoration slash renovation. I'm not sure what they're
Speaker 2: exactly calling it. I would assume restoration.
Speaker 1: I would assume that Gil Hans would call it a
Speaker 1: historical renovation. But looking at the plans, it does seem
Speaker 1: like there is a lot of faithfulness to the original design.
Speaker 1: I think it can probably be called a restoration, but
Speaker 1: it's always somewhere in the middle with Gil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know they're probably planning on it in a
Speaker 2: lot of back teas and trying to lengthen it for
Speaker 2: college events and stuff like that, but I think, without
Speaker 2: a doubt their golf course will be better once it reopens.
Speaker 2: It's just I kind of have that lingering fear that
Speaker 2: it's going to kind of lose some of that patina
Speaker 2: and that kind of special sots that I experienced my
Speaker 2: first time visiting it. I mean, when I was there,
Speaker 2: I walked thirty six holes and it was an absolute
Speaker 2: brute of a walk, but it was so worth it,
Speaker 2: and it was so enchanting and exciting just to walk
Speaker 2: those fairways and know that people a hundred years ago
Speaker 2: were making that walk and playing this golf course with
Speaker 2: likely Hickory golf clubs, and it just kind of had
Speaker 2: this certain aura to it, and I just don't want
Speaker 2: that to fade away because it's such a unique and
Speaker 2: cool property. So I'm really looking forward to it, but
Speaker 2: also slightly apprehensive.
Speaker 1: Apprehensive there is a danger when you do a modern
Speaker 1: renovation to a course like that that you lose a
Speaker 1: little bit of that magic. But I'm hopeful that the
Speaker 1: work will turn out well as long as the as
Speaker 1: long as the support that is necessary is provided for it.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. Cautiously optimistic, I guess probably we both
Speaker 1: are about that about that project at Yale. All Right,
Speaker 1: So the next project I'd like to talk about here
Speaker 1: Matt is wild Spring Dunes. So the first golf course
Speaker 1: at wild Spring Dunes is going to fully open in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Grand opening is expected, I believe in
Speaker 1: October twenty twenty six. This is a new Dream golf
Speaker 1: resort in East Texas, near the town of Nagadosius, about
Speaker 1: two and a half hours from both Dallas and Houston.
Speaker 1: So this first course is a Tom Doake golf course,
Speaker 1: and the lead associate for the project I believe is
Speaker 1: Brian Slanik.
Speaker 2: Do I have that right, Matt, I can't remember exactly.
Speaker 2: I know he was there a lot in Eric Iverson.
Speaker 2: Eric Iverson's heavily influenced.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I can't remember exactly which one it was.
Speaker 1: Though I know Iverson did a lot of work at
Speaker 1: at Childer's Hall Upper Course, which just opened late twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. In any case, an eight hole loop at
Speaker 1: the new course at wild Spring Dunes opened on November twelfth.
Speaker 1: You have been to that eight whole loop, so we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that in a second. There's a second course
Speaker 1: designed by Corn Crenshaw where clearing is currently underway. That's
Speaker 1: expected to open in twenty twenty seven, pending all the
Speaker 1: all the usual potential delays that happened in the golf
Speaker 1: course construction, The construction of the clubhouse and the lodge,
Speaker 1: and and maybe some of the real estate that's that's
Speaker 1: involved in this development will begin this year in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. There are plans for a short course, a
Speaker 1: hunting course, a practice facility, all the all the usual
Speaker 1: stuff that you get with a resort like this. So
Speaker 1: that's wild Spring Dunes new Dream Golf resort course coming
Speaker 1: online very soon. So you've been to this place, you
Speaker 1: played that they hold loop, what's the land like, what? What?
Speaker 1: What do you think makes it different from other dream
Speaker 1: golf resorts? Just any any general impressions from from your visit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we actually got to see all eighteen holes.
Speaker 2: Everything's been grassed, they sotted it. So the course came
Speaker 2: alive pretty fairly quickly since they sotted everything. But I'd say,
Speaker 2: like initially, right when we got there, it felt very
Speaker 2: kind of pinehursty I think. I mean, it's hard not
Speaker 2: to compare him to other dope courses, but it's almost
Speaker 2: like a mixture of Sedge Valley and Pinehurst Number ten.
Speaker 2: If you wanted to put together two of his kind
Speaker 2: of most recent designs, but at the same time, it
Speaker 2: feels very different because he's done such a good job.
Speaker 2: Him and his team have done a really good job
Speaker 2: of just utilizing the natural kind of Texas terrain. It
Speaker 2: really is like a product of that region, kind of
Speaker 2: this scrubby like open prairie areas, these tall pine trees,
Speaker 2: and it really has a nice routing where you're moving
Speaker 2: through the trees and then you kind of come up
Speaker 2: out open to these open areas, and then once you
Speaker 2: get to the back nine, there's these pretty dramatic ravines
Speaker 2: and kind of spring fed creeks that the routing interacts with,
Speaker 2: So then you start to kind of get a little
Speaker 2: bit more adventurous on the back nine where you're going
Speaker 2: up and over these hills and ravines and you almost
Speaker 2: kind of get lost in the forest. But overall, it's
Speaker 2: a spectacular golf course. One thing that I'm really keen
Speaker 2: to see develop and mature is the grass. They went
Speaker 2: with a zoiza type grass in the fairways, and I
Speaker 2: just know that once that grass goes dormant and in
Speaker 2: kind of the shoulder seasons in winter, that this golf
Speaker 2: course is going to play extremely firm and fast, and
Speaker 2: I think that's really going to make the design shine
Speaker 2: and also make it really stand out from all the
Speaker 2: other kind of Michael Kaiser dream golf resort properties. It
Speaker 2: certainly has a different feel, but also kind of the
Speaker 2: similarities as a lot of the others, where.
Speaker 3: It just feels really complete. They've done this.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is like their fourth resort that they've opened,
Speaker 2: so they've really nailed down kind of the processes and
Speaker 2: know how to get everything right. So I think that's
Speaker 2: kind of the similar feeling. But then just the architect's
Speaker 2: ability to really adapt the golf course to the natural
Speaker 2: site makes it shine kind of its its own individuality.
Speaker 2: And when we were there, we got to get a
Speaker 2: little bit of peak of the corn crunchaw side, which
Speaker 2: is really cool. The first tee for Bill and Ben's
Speaker 2: course kind of plays off the same hill that they
Speaker 2: call Mount Baldy that Tom's course te's off from, and
Speaker 2: the land over there supposedly a lot more dramatic with
Speaker 2: more of those ravines that I kind of talked about.
Speaker 2: So it'll be a really good complimenting course, I think,
Speaker 2: and it'll be really exciting to see this This whole
Speaker 2: resort kind of come online and fully realize itself.
Speaker 1: Cool. Yeah, I mean you kind of see the Kaiser
Speaker 1: Brothers strategy coming into focus at this resort. Michael and
Speaker 1: Chris Kaiser, the sons of Mike Kaiser, who was the
Speaker 1: developer behind Bandon Dune's. Bandon Dune's established a model of
Speaker 1: a really remote golf resort where the priority was to
Speaker 1: find the most spectacular land possible. You can't get more
Speaker 1: spectacular land than what you found at Bandon Dunes, and
Speaker 1: it almost didn't matter that it was five hours from
Speaker 1: Portland and just like really not within reach of any
Speaker 1: large population centers, that that wasn't part of the strategy
Speaker 1: of the resort. Certainly, Michael and Chris Kaiser have started
Speaker 1: to move in the direction of finding great pieces of
Speaker 1: land that are remote and are in rural areas, but
Speaker 1: are also within striking distance of major metropolitan areas. So
Speaker 1: wild Spring Dunes is just two and a half hours
Speaker 1: from both Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: a lot of people who can use this resort as
Speaker 1: kind of a weekend retreat. And as part of that model,
Speaker 1: there is definitely more real estate involved, but the houses
Speaker 1: are not going to be on the golf course. So
Speaker 1: this is something different from Bandon Dunes, and we've known
Speaker 1: this since Sand Valley. Sand Valley had some elements of
Speaker 1: this model as well. But these new dream golf resorts
Speaker 1: that are going to be opening within the next few years,
Speaker 1: Wildspring Dunes in East Texas, Old Shores in the Florida Panhandle,
Speaker 1: Rodeo Dunes outside of Denver, there has been an emphasis
Speaker 1: placed on finding locations that are close ish to major
Speaker 1: metropolitan areas, and that's something different and it kind of
Speaker 1: makes the model replicable. Right, Bandon Dunes is almost like
Speaker 1: a national asset in a way. Right, People come from
Speaker 1: all over the world to go to Bandon Dunes, and
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily drawing from Oregon. Right, That's that's not
Speaker 1: the uh that that's that's not the concept of the resort.
Speaker 1: It's drawing people from all over the place. These these
Speaker 1: new dream golf resorts, Yes, they're going to draw people
Speaker 1: from all over because the golf courses are going to
Speaker 1: be spectacular. But a big part of the model is
Speaker 1: bringing in people in the region who will go to
Speaker 1: the resort not just once, not just twice, but but
Speaker 1: maybe regularly repeatedly and that's that's a new iteration of
Speaker 1: this of this destination golf idea for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's really cool about Wildspring Dunes is, yeah, you
Speaker 2: have bandoned dunes, which is kind of like this once
Speaker 2: in a lifetime pilgrimage type place. But I got the
Speaker 2: sense from a lot of the locals that we talked
Speaker 2: about there is like, hey, people in Texas, like do
Speaker 2: not mind driving three four hours in a day or
Speaker 2: a weekend. The state's so big, They're used to driving
Speaker 2: a lot, and you can easily make a weekend trip
Speaker 2: from any of the major cities in Texas, Austin, Dallas, Houston.
Speaker 2: People are going to make weekend trips to go see
Speaker 2: this golf course, especially because it's one of the only
Speaker 2: truly great public golf courses that's easily accessible to a very.
Speaker 3: Large population center.
Speaker 2: There's like I don't know if you could count up
Speaker 2: all of them, but it's probably around fifteen or twenty
Speaker 2: million people that are within driving distance of this new
Speaker 2: golf resort. So I think it's going to have a
Speaker 2: huge impact on the golf in Texas, and it'll be here.
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see if if more courses in
Speaker 2: this specific region because I know there's a lot of
Speaker 2: other sandy sort of sites in this area, so it'll
Speaker 2: be it'll be interesting to see if more public golf
Speaker 2: comes online in Texas during kind of this this construction.
Speaker 1: Boom we're in, Yeah for sure. All right, Next course
Speaker 1: you want to talk about?
Speaker 2: I think one that I'm really really excited to see
Speaker 2: as the Commons at Sand Valley. Another dream golf resort project,
Speaker 2: but I got to walk it earlier this year during
Speaker 2: one of our events that we had there. We had
Speaker 2: a four day event with some Friday Golf Club members
Speaker 2: who got to play all the different golf courses, and
Speaker 2: me and Will Knights got a little tour around the
Speaker 2: new twelve hole Commons course, which was really interesting to see.
Speaker 2: If you're familiar with Sand Valley, this used to be
Speaker 2: kind of the old driving range area maybe two or
Speaker 2: three years ago before the resort really started to boom
Speaker 2: and to grow in size.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of between if people have been to
Speaker 1: Sand Valley, there's the main resort hub, which is kind
Speaker 1: of where the resort was for a long time with
Speaker 1: Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes and the Sandbox, and then
Speaker 1: there's Sedge Valley relatively new course. The Commons course is
Speaker 1: kind of between those two.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, pretty much like when you're driving in the.
Speaker 2: Main entrance, you'll drive past the majority of it kind
Speaker 2: of on your right hand side. You'll see the Sandbox
Speaker 2: through the trees on the left of that main entrance road,
Speaker 2: and then the Commons there right on the right side,
Speaker 2: and then the yeah, Sedge Valley is right in that
Speaker 2: area too, and so it's kind of like sand Valley,
Speaker 2: Sedge Valley, Commons kind of lined up all with borders
Speaker 2: touching each other.
Speaker 3: But that's the thing.
Speaker 2: The reason why I pointed out kind of this flat
Speaker 2: driving range land that was used is that it's kind
Speaker 2: of this big different differentiator for this golf course. Is
Speaker 2: a lot of it was built. And this is Jim
Speaker 2: Craig's first solo design. I know he did a lot
Speaker 2: of work on the Sandbox, has been with Corn crunch
Speaker 2: Off for a very long time, very experienced shaper and
Speaker 2: now designer. But it'll be really cool to see his
Speaker 2: first solo design kind of shown out to the world.
Speaker 2: I bet he's had tons of ideas and been wanting
Speaker 2: to do this for a very long time, and there's
Speaker 2: a lot of radical looking stuff out there. The second
Speaker 2: hole specifically, is this really cool Part three that is
Speaker 2: kind of sunk in in like almost like an exploded volcano,
Speaker 2: where it's like the greens placed down in kind of
Speaker 2: this elevated hollow, so it's really unique looking. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of cool built ground features, so the ground game
Speaker 2: will be really interesting and exciting for beginner golfers, elderly players,
Speaker 2: any type of players going to really enjoy all of
Speaker 2: the ground options that Sand Valley's come kind of known for.
Speaker 2: Is this amazing fescue playing surface, which I have no
Speaker 2: doubt that it will be just as good at the
Speaker 2: Commons course. But then you kind of towards the end
Speaker 2: of the twelve hole loop, you come out to this
Speaker 2: peninsula that's surrounded by water that this kind of man
Speaker 2: made lake that that looks very natural, and there's some
Speaker 2: really cool holes on the finishing stretch. So it's definitely
Speaker 2: going to be very different from kind of that look
Speaker 2: and feel for most of the other courses at Sand Valley.
Speaker 2: There's not as many enormous expansive like sandy waste areas
Speaker 2: that you see on Mammoth Dunes and Sand Valley, and
Speaker 2: then just the style of golf that that that Craig
Speaker 2: kind of built into the ground has a slightly different feel.
Speaker 2: It's almost kind of like Lido where it's these kind
Speaker 2: of manufactured mounds and and and different looks than kind
Speaker 2: of that that traditional like minimalist, naturalist style that that
Speaker 2: has come pretty prominent at Sand Valley. So I'm really
Speaker 2: excited to watch that course kind of mature and see
Speaker 2: how it takes off at the resort.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you think about where the really good land is
Speaker 1: at the Sand Valley Resort, it's occupied by Mammoth Dunes,
Speaker 1: the first Sand Valley course and Sedge Valley. All the
Speaker 1: other courses, the Sandbox, the New Commons course, and the
Speaker 1: Lido are built on land that was just sort of
Speaker 1: conveniently located near the other courses, and so a lot
Speaker 1: of manufacturing has been done to build these additional courses
Speaker 1: and it gives Sand Valley a very interesting mixture of architecture. Again,
Speaker 1: if you compare it to Bandon Dunes. At Bandon Dunes,
Speaker 1: you just have this almost limitless amount of great land
Speaker 1: for golf. And the point of the development was to
Speaker 1: find this land and to use it for golf. At
Speaker 1: Sand Valley, You've had more experimentation with different kinds of sites,
Speaker 1: different approaches to sites that maybe aren't ideal. Even if
Speaker 1: the soil is pretty good across the entire resort, the
Speaker 1: undulation of the land is not as consistent. You know,
Speaker 1: somewhere some places of the resort that the terrain is fantastic,
Speaker 1: other places more work needs to be done to generate
Speaker 1: something interesting, and that is part of what makes Sand
Speaker 1: Valley architecturally maybe more interesting than Bandon Dune's, but of
Speaker 1: course what makes Bandon Dunes great is the quality of
Speaker 1: the land itself. The Commons is a good example of
Speaker 1: something that Michael Kaiser has been very interested in, and
Speaker 1: that's this idea of an afternoon course, the course that
Speaker 1: can be played in the afternoon after you've tackled a
Speaker 1: regulation course like Sand Valley or Mammoth Dunes or Sedge
Speaker 1: or the Lido, right, something that is a little bit
Speaker 1: of a lower impact afternoon round. And the inspiration here
Speaker 1: is the kid's course or the lady's course or the
Speaker 1: Gulf Park as you might find it in Scotland. Michael
Speaker 1: Kaiser's really to those places, loves the kind of village
Speaker 1: greens in North Barrack and Edinburgh and wants very much
Speaker 1: to create something like that for the American golfing population.
Speaker 1: But I guess the question is, can a course like
Speaker 1: this exist outside the context of a multi course destination resort.
Speaker 1: Can a course like the Commons stand on its own
Speaker 1: as its own golf offering. I think that's a that's
Speaker 1: a harder nut to crack because of the just realities
Speaker 1: of what the American golfer wants, because of the handicap
Speaker 1: system and the you know, the the USGA rating systems
Speaker 1: that give kind of priority to certain regulation courses. Those
Speaker 1: are the courses you have to play to to maintain
Speaker 1: your handicap. A twelve hole course with you know, one
Speaker 1: par five and some short par fours and a few
Speaker 1: par threes is just, you know, it's not going to
Speaker 1: have the same status in the minds of a lot
Speaker 1: of American golfers as nine hole or eighteen hole regulation courses.
Speaker 1: And so that's it's a problem that I would really
Speaker 1: like to see solved because once we solve it, once
Speaker 1: we figure out how to make a course like the
Speaker 1: Commons stand on its own, be near a city, be
Speaker 1: really accessible to a lot of people, Once we figure
Speaker 1: that out, then we can do a lot of architectural innovation.
Speaker 1: It unlocks some things for architects. It allows architects to
Speaker 1: kind of push to the next era of golf course design.
Speaker 1: But as long as we're so wedded to the nine
Speaker 1: hole or eighteen hole regulation course, that innovation just isn't
Speaker 1: going to happen. Architects are going to be limited to
Speaker 1: working with the forms that are already established. And so
Speaker 1: that's the thing that I find most interesting about San
Speaker 1: Valley Commons. It's a great example of this type of
Speaker 1: alternative golf course that I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: would really love, you know, like, less capable golfers are
Speaker 1: really going to like this kind of course. But can
Speaker 1: you make it work outside of a destination resort model.
Speaker 1: I don't know yet.
Speaker 2: I like that you bring that up, and I may
Speaker 2: have to jump the gun on you here because another
Speaker 2: course that I'm going excited is this exact thing that
Speaker 2: you're talking about, The Old Dane in Nebraska, very close
Speaker 2: to Landman, which has gained a lot of following over
Speaker 2: the years. At King Collins Design. The Old Dane is
Speaker 2: getting redesigned by Trevor Dormer and something cool about this
Speaker 2: golf course is when I worked in Nebraska, I was
Speaker 2: living roughly a half mile from the Old Dane maybe,
Speaker 2: and every single day after work, me and my coworkers
Speaker 2: would would have it over to the Old Dane and
Speaker 2: we'd play nine or twelve or eighteen holes after work
Speaker 2: and just zoom around that golf course and it was
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. It's kind of just I think
Speaker 2: it's around ninety five acres and it was just nine
Speaker 2: holes at the time. But the Anderson family bought it,
Speaker 2: I think in kind of the middle two thousands and
Speaker 2: just kind of wanted a place to hang out. And
Speaker 2: then after the success of land Man, they were looking
Speaker 2: to redesign the Old Dane and kind of create a.
Speaker 3: Really cool golf experience out of it.
Speaker 2: And with Trevor Dhmer's plans right now is to have
Speaker 2: twelve holes there, change it from it was originally an
Speaker 2: eighteen hole golf course on this very small plot of land,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a lot of par threes and
Speaker 2: short par fours, and then they kind of converted it
Speaker 2: to a regulation nine hole golf course with two part threes,
Speaker 2: two par vivees. And now he's really utilizing some of
Speaker 2: kind of the unused land that was there, completely changing
Speaker 2: the entire golf course. I was just looking at the
Speaker 2: overhead on Google Earth and it's just ninety acres of
Speaker 2: exposed soil and they've kind of thrown out everything that
Speaker 2: had to do with the previous golf course and the build. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's like a two acre lake that they dug kind
Speaker 2: of on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just for a material to build their build.
Speaker 3: The style.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's on the far west side, I believe, towards
Speaker 2: kind of the cornfields. But I think it's honestly going
Speaker 2: to be almost very similar to the Commons with like
Speaker 2: these kind of built features. I know, one of the
Speaker 2: greens he built like fifteen or twenty feet up in
Speaker 2: the air, kind of like a volcano styled green site.
Speaker 2: And I think he's gonna get really creative with building
Speaker 2: really fun and unique, quirky styled golf. It's not going
Speaker 2: to be a traditional golf course by any means, I
Speaker 2: don't think. I think once again, like like Jim Craig,
Speaker 2: it's his first go at a solo designer, one of
Speaker 2: his first I know he's had that project up in
Speaker 2: Canada that he's been working on. But I think He's
Speaker 2: gonna throw a lot on the table and get really
Speaker 2: wild with the stuff at Old Dane, and I think
Speaker 2: it's gonna be really really interesting to see it come online.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Trevor Dormer is a talented prospect. It's funny to
Speaker 1: talk about a guy with kids as a prospect, obviously,
Speaker 1: but he's he is in in golf architect years young.
Speaker 1: He has worked for Corn Crenshaw and Gil Hans. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, he's done a couple of projects, you know,
Speaker 1: as a as a lead designer in Canada, but these
Speaker 1: have been small projects and collaborative and so this is
Speaker 1: really his big first solo statement and it is very exciting.
Speaker 1: It will, I think, kind of function as an afternoon
Speaker 1: course to Landman, owned by the same family. Yeah, close
Speaker 1: to close to the yeah, and so I think part
Speaker 1: of the concept here is that people who come and
Speaker 1: play land Man can then go play Old Dane in
Speaker 1: the afternoon. But it also seems like it will function
Speaker 1: as a community course as well. There will be loops
Speaker 1: of holes that people can play. I believe the initial
Speaker 1: plan I think they're still sticking to this is that
Speaker 1: there can be loops of six, nine and twelve holes
Speaker 1: it's a twelve hole course, but the routing will allow
Speaker 1: players to return to the clubhouse at six' nine as
Speaker 1: well as, twelve WHICH i obviously a very very cool.
Speaker 1: Idea again experimenting with alternative kinds of golf, courses different
Speaker 1: numbers of, holes different. Routings you, know in one golf
Speaker 1: course you can have a number of different. Experiences and,
Speaker 1: yes this is where this is where golf architecture needs
Speaker 1: to go in the. Future we just need to find
Speaker 1: the business models to support. It and massive credit to
Speaker 1: The anderson family for not only making this swing With
Speaker 1: Trevor dormer giving a chance to a talented guy who
Speaker 1: worked on the crew at The landman course and they
Speaker 1: recognized that he's very smart and if given an, opportunity
Speaker 1: would do a great. Job but also credit to them
Speaker 1: for committing to keeping this place public and, affordable just
Speaker 1: as they've done With landman Right. Landman of all the
Speaker 1: kind of destination courses that have been built in the
Speaker 1: past twenty, Years landman is probably the most affordable to.
Speaker 1: Play is that an? Exaggeration, YEAH i don't think.
Speaker 2: So, yeah it's such one of the most prominent and
Speaker 2: affordable built in the LAST i guess recent years of golf.
Speaker 2: Development so, YEAH i think they're going to compliment each
Speaker 2: other really. Well and as someone who kind of had
Speaker 2: a personal connection to The Old dane and would spend
Speaker 2: many of my afternoons, There i'm really excited to see
Speaker 2: What trevor is able to transform that place.
Speaker 1: Into flexing your your golf course knowledge, Here, matt so
Speaker 1: far we've talked about four courses that you've had experiences,
Speaker 1: at and pretty extensive experiences at for the most. Part
Speaker 1: so you've seen all these, Places Wild, Spring, dames The,
Speaker 1: commons The Yale Golf course and And Old. DANE i
Speaker 1: want to talk about one that neither of us have been,
Speaker 1: too BUT i think will be very very. Interesting this
Speaker 1: is one that a lot of people in our audience
Speaker 1: will will not have heard, of partly because of its.
Speaker 1: Location you, know we have we have a you, know
Speaker 1: not only A us, audience but maybe predominantly A us.
Speaker 1: Audience this project is happening In australia in The melbourne.
Speaker 1: Area depending on how you define the sand, belt it's
Speaker 1: either in the sand belt or just outside of the sand.
Speaker 1: Belt this is what used to be known As Long
Speaker 1: Island Golf. Club it was recently purchased by The National Golf,
Speaker 1: club which owns a complex on The Mornington peninsula that
Speaker 1: includes A Tom doak course called The Gunna. Matta apologies
Speaker 1: IF i mispronounced THAT i may have the Gun O.
Speaker 1: Matta The Mouna course By Greg norman is also there
Speaker 1: and what they call The Old course By Robert Trent Jones.
Speaker 1: Junior that's a well, known well, regarded high membership golf
Speaker 1: club on The Mornington. Peninsula that club Purchased Long Island Golf,
Speaker 1: club which is right next door To Peninsula, kingswood a
Speaker 1: well known and extremely well regarded thirty six hole facility
Speaker 1: that was in the past within the past several years
Speaker 1: completely redesigned BY ocm ogil, V coking And, mead a
Speaker 1: very exciting golf course design. FIRM ocm is now working
Speaker 1: On Long, island The National Golf Club Long island as
Speaker 1: it's now, known and what they're doing is a course
Speaker 1: within a course, concept so kind of inspired By George.
Speaker 1: Thomas George thomas theorized this in his writings in the nineteen,
Speaker 1: twenties the idea that you could build one golf course
Speaker 1: that could be played in a number of different, ways
Speaker 1: you could change tea, locations you could change pin, positions
Speaker 1: and if you design things in a certain, way you
Speaker 1: could even look for alternative routings within the golf. Course
Speaker 1: but if you are clever about how you design the golf,
Speaker 1: course then you could create multiple, different very distinct experiences
Speaker 1: within one golf. Course that is WHAT ocm is trying
Speaker 1: to do At Long island right. Now they're building twenty
Speaker 1: greens that will accommodate three different eighteen whole. Routings so
Speaker 1: you'll have greens that will accept shots from multiple. Directions
Speaker 1: you'll have different pin positions that will be suited to different.
Speaker 1: Routings so lots of interesting stuff happening. HERE ocm broke
Speaker 1: ground on the project in twenty three AND i think
Speaker 1: it's taken a bit longer than, expected but it should
Speaker 1: reopen to members this. Year they've members have walked portions
Speaker 1: of the golf, COURSE i, know and SO i think
Speaker 1: this will be a very very interesting golf, course a
Speaker 1: great addition to what's already a tremendous golf region right
Speaker 1: next To Peninsula. Kingswood so if you're At Peninsula, Kingswood
Speaker 1: Peninsula kingswood has been developing accommodations for international. Visitors SO
Speaker 1: i think going forward a lot of people will actually
Speaker 1: be staying At. Peninsula. Kingswood Long island is right, there
Speaker 1: SO i think it'll become part of the rota of
Speaker 1: courses that people commonly play when they go to The
Speaker 1: melbourne Sand belt to play. Golf So i'll be very
Speaker 1: curious to see how this works. OUT ocm is an
Speaker 1: extremely capable. Firm i'm sure they've worked out, everything but
Speaker 1: as always with concepts like, this there's the question as
Speaker 1: to whether it's going to be, sustainable whether whether golfers
Speaker 1: are going to want to keep with the three different
Speaker 1: courses or settle on one that they think is the
Speaker 1: best and just want to play. That that's always the
Speaker 1: danger that if one eighteen whole routing comes to be
Speaker 1: thought of as the, best golfers want to play. That
Speaker 1: and so the task FOR ocm is to make all
Speaker 1: three so compelling that they'll be maintained on an ongoing.
Speaker 1: Basis and so that's the big question for me of this.
Speaker 1: Project have you heard of this?
Speaker 2: BEFORE i ACTUALLY i haven't really heard of, this BUT
Speaker 2: i think it's really exciting because The melbourne Sand belt
Speaker 2: is sort of known for this one style of, golf and,
Speaker 2: WELL i know a lot of these courses are probably
Speaker 2: very different from each. Other there's nothing quite like this
Speaker 2: concept where it's this big.
Speaker 3: Outlier from the.
Speaker 2: Rest and the thing we know about building reversible golf
Speaker 2: is you can't really do it on severe, land and
Speaker 2: from WHAT i know not having been, there is that
Speaker 2: The melbourne area is kind of this perfect middle ground.
Speaker 3: Between being too severe and not interesting.
Speaker 2: Enough SO i think it's going to lend itself really
Speaker 2: well to this kind of reversible concept where you can
Speaker 2: play in multiple. Directions it's obviously going to have exceptional turf,
Speaker 2: conditions play very, firm very, fast and hopefully give the
Speaker 2: members and visitors this great variety from what's already in the.
Speaker 2: Region and it's also really exciting THAT ocm just continues
Speaker 2: to get jobs like this and they're able to kind
Speaker 2: of stretch their legs, out take a little bit of
Speaker 2: a chance here with a new, concept a new, idea
Speaker 2: and really run with, it which will be exciting to
Speaker 2: see what them and their firm can come up. With
Speaker 2: since they're kind of growing in popularity so much as
Speaker 2: of recent.
Speaker 1: They've done a lot of different interesting stuff in their
Speaker 1: career so, far you, know they've done kind of A. C.
Speaker 1: B McDonald Seth rayner inspired course In Lonsdale, Links they've
Speaker 1: done a complete redesign of a Major american championship course
Speaker 1: And madina. Three so this is not a firm that
Speaker 1: is that is, shy right they. Are they are willing
Speaker 1: to take big, risks AND i think that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we what we want to see out of this
Speaker 1: next generation of architecture. Firms and certainly because of their
Speaker 1: association With Jeff, ogilvie whom a lot of people know
Speaker 1: already and like a, lot they're going to keep getting attractive, jobs,
Speaker 1: Right they're going to be a formidable force on the
Speaker 1: golf architecture job market just because of Who Jeff ogilvie.
Speaker 1: Is and then obviously we know you AND i Know
Speaker 1: Mike coking And Ashley mead know that they're also very
Speaker 1: impressive individuals as. Well so we're going to see a
Speaker 1: lot FROM. OCM i THINK i think this project is
Speaker 1: one that people should keep more of an eye on
Speaker 1: THAN i than they have they have so, far just
Speaker 1: because of what the concept. Is you, know this is
Speaker 1: a concept that a lot of people have tried and
Speaker 1: not really been able to find a client for and
Speaker 1: so it's great that The National Golf club has has
Speaker 1: been willing to pursue this WITH. Ocm all, right what's
Speaker 1: the uh we're gonna we're gonna finish with one last course?
Speaker 1: Here is that there is there one more that that
Speaker 1: you want to bring?
Speaker 2: Up, yeah this course technically opened this, year kind of
Speaker 2: right at the end of the. Year But Miami lakes
Speaker 2: outside Of, Miami, florida is A Bruce heppner redesign of
Speaker 2: an existing golf. Course it was kind of this really
Speaker 2: cool hangout spot back in the in the fifties and.
Speaker 2: Sixties The Miami dolphins, specifically we're known to come hang
Speaker 2: out here in their free time and play golf and
Speaker 2: it's kind of a part of this community that was
Speaker 2: built by the ownership's. Family Danny martinez's grandfather helped to
Speaker 2: kind of construct the golf course and come up with
Speaker 2: the concept for this living community and the course just
Speaker 2: kind of fell.
Speaker 3: By the wayside over the.
Speaker 2: Years it's In, florida very low lying, land lots of
Speaker 2: lakes and a lot of.
Speaker 1: Water, yeah a lot of water for a public course
Speaker 1: where you, know a lot of the golfers were not super.
Speaker 2: Experienced, yeah but the land and the golf course would
Speaker 2: basically become completely inundated with a small rainstorm and they
Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to. Golf so they wanted to redesign
Speaker 2: it and kind of fix these issues related to the
Speaker 2: drainage and maintenance of the golf, course and then kind
Speaker 2: of out of, serendipity the project fell Into Bruce heppner's,
Speaker 2: lap who's a very experienced golf course architect work For
Speaker 2: Tom doak for many years and just sort OF i
Speaker 2: think is the perfect guy for this. Project he's been
Speaker 2: doing a lot of public redesign work recently In nashville
Speaker 2: and now here In, miami and we got to tour
Speaker 2: around it when it was under, construction and it was
Speaker 2: just really compelling to see how simple he was kind
Speaker 2: of dumbing down the, processes where, hey we don't need
Speaker 2: to blow an enormous. Budget we just need to build
Speaker 2: cool greens and thoughtful bunkers make it accessible for, everyone
Speaker 2: and that's a huge part of kind of the mission
Speaker 2: of this. Course it's the home for the First tea
Speaker 2: Of South florida and they hold Special olympics gatherings and
Speaker 2: it's really a golf course that's focused around the youth
Speaker 2: and kind of the.
Speaker 3: Future of the.
Speaker 2: Game there's going to be a really cool learning center
Speaker 2: and driving, range AND i Know danny's kind of mission
Speaker 2: for this is just to make it a fun place
Speaker 2: for people to go hang. Out maybe you don't play,
Speaker 2: golf maybe you just go there to hang out and
Speaker 2: be with your friends and run around and play on the,
Speaker 2: practice putting green or whatever it may. Be but the
Speaker 2: whole goal is to be this kind of welcoming golf
Speaker 2: environment and community. Atmosphere AND i think that's almost the
Speaker 2: most compelling part of the, project is just that he's
Speaker 2: just trying to build something where people can go hang
Speaker 2: out and have. Fun and they're not spending millions and
Speaker 2: millions and millions of dollars to overhaul the golf. Course
Speaker 2: they're spending what they have to, spend and they're doing
Speaker 2: a really thoughtful and creative job with. It So i'm
Speaker 2: really excited to watch this course kind of grow and
Speaker 2: mature and see if it catches on with other kind
Speaker 2: of local golf courses that are in need of maybe
Speaker 2: a new irrigation system or some sort of infrastructural need
Speaker 2: where they can bring in an intelligent architect Like Bruce
Speaker 2: heppner and just do a simple redesign that instantly makes
Speaker 2: the golf course a lot better while also creating a
Speaker 2: cool atmosphere for kids to learn the.
Speaker 1: Game, yeah this is a project with its heart in
Speaker 1: the right. Place we've talked To Danny, martinez who is
Speaker 1: spearheading this project on behalf of his, family quite a few.
Speaker 1: Times we know that he listens to the. Podcast he
Speaker 1: got introduced To Bruce hepner by listening to our interview
Speaker 1: With bruce a couple of years ago on The Friday golf.
Speaker 1: Podcast he is a golf nut and he wants to
Speaker 1: create an accessible hub for his, community not just a
Speaker 1: cool golf, course but a place where people feel welcome
Speaker 1: and that improves the life of his town and the
Speaker 1: area around. It and, yeah that's the right, idea and
Speaker 1: THEY i hired a very good partner In Bruce. Hepner
Speaker 1: hepner is very interested in saving as much money as
Speaker 1: possible in building a golf. Course he wants to get
Speaker 1: the most results with the least input. Financially and you,
Speaker 1: Know Danny martinez couldn't have chosen a better. Person for
Speaker 1: that type of project Than Bruce. Hepner so lots of
Speaker 1: smart good things happening there At Miami.
Speaker 3: Lakes now.
Speaker 1: This is my bad, here my mistake for not Mentioning Cabot,
Speaker 1: highlands The Old Petty course At Cabot, highlands that should
Speaker 1: have been one of the ones we, discussed probably should
Speaker 1: have bumped The National Golf Club Long, island But i'm
Speaker 1: just so interested in talking about The Long island concept
Speaker 1: THAT i went with. That but a major opening In
Speaker 1: Scotland Tom Doakes Old petty At Cabot. Highlands this project
Speaker 1: was partly led By Clyde johnson as. Well this is
Speaker 1: in addition to the resort formerly known As Castle stewart,
Speaker 1: right which started with A gilhant's course a number of
Speaker 1: years back Near. Inverness so in The Scottish highlands it's
Speaker 1: the new courses is set along a kind of tidal
Speaker 1: estuary near a church Called Old, petty so that's where
Speaker 1: it gets its name. From this is not natural links
Speaker 1: land and so WHAT i find interesting about the project
Speaker 1: is that it's Very the course is very. Manufactured but
Speaker 1: from What i've seen of the Work doak And Clyde
Speaker 1: johnson have made sure to keep things very low profile
Speaker 1: And scottish. Feeling so although they've manufactured a lot of contour,
Speaker 1: here they haven't gone big and bold with it Like
Speaker 1: kingsbarns or some of the other you, know manufactured some
Speaker 1: of the other artificial links courses In scotland that might
Speaker 1: come to. MIND i, mean Certainly King Colin's dormer is
Speaker 1: going to do something big with that The strewy course
Speaker 1: At Royal dornick in the next several, years very. Likely
Speaker 1: and so, yeah what's compelling to me about the work
Speaker 1: that they're doing At Old petty is that it's going
Speaker 1: to be very, subtle even though they fabricated pretty much
Speaker 1: all of. IT i think that's an interesting. Approach it's
Speaker 1: something slightly new AND i bet it's going to come
Speaker 1: out really. Well so that's the obligatory mention Of Old
Speaker 1: petty At Cabot. Highlands that's going to be one of
Speaker 1: the most notable course openings in twenty twenty six for.
Speaker 1: SURE a bunch of other stuff going, on you, know
Speaker 1: golf construction is very active right. Now you, know it's
Speaker 1: a discussion for a different day to talk about the
Speaker 1: type of construction that's. Happening, obviously a lot of the
Speaker 1: stuff we've talked About matt in this episode has been destination,
Speaker 1: golf whether that's destination resort model or destination club. Model,
Speaker 1: yes a lot of the most interesting architecture is happening.
Speaker 1: There but there's also some cool stuff happening in the
Speaker 1: public golf. Scene there's not enough of it. Happening but
Speaker 1: the hope is that people can look at projects like
Speaker 1: the ones At Miami lakes And Buffalo dunes And Old
Speaker 1: dane and say to, themselves this can be. Done we
Speaker 1: can do this if we have the right, motives if
Speaker 1: we're not looking to become billionaires just based on this one,
Speaker 1: project if we just want to contribute something great to
Speaker 1: the golf, world then, yes this can be. Done and,
Speaker 1: so you, know that's what happened With Miami. LAKES i
Speaker 1: Think Danny, martinez you, know it was not only listening
Speaker 1: to podcasts that inspired. Him it was looking At Winter
Speaker 1: park In florida and seeing that something like this was.
Speaker 1: Possible and so my big hope for the new year
Speaker 1: is that that people are going to realize that great
Speaker 1: work can be done in affordable public. Golf you just
Speaker 1: have to have your heart in the right place with it,
Speaker 1: right and so we'll see if that. Happens but thank
Speaker 1: You matt for joining. Me appreciate, it and we'll have
Speaker 1: you on the podcast again.
Speaker 3: Soon, Awesome Thanks.
Speaker 1: Garrett all, right let's do some. Takeaways first of, ALL
Speaker 1: i want to expand on a POINT i made towards
Speaker 1: the end of my conversation With matt and just underline
Speaker 1: the fact that all seven of the Courses matt AND
Speaker 1: i just talked about are going to be accessible in
Speaker 1: some form to the.
Speaker 3: Public.
Speaker 1: Now part of this is selection. Bias matt AND i
Speaker 1: want to talk about courses that everyone can. Play, obviously
Speaker 1: there are plenty of firmly private clubs with interesting architecture
Speaker 1: opening in twenty twenty six as. Well BUT i do
Speaker 1: find it notable that enough is happening in public golf
Speaker 1: this year for us to devote almost an entire episode to.
Speaker 1: It AND i think that's worth remembering and holding on
Speaker 1: to a little, bit BECAUSE i sense concern among many
Speaker 1: golfers that public golf is. Suffering and, listen there's no
Speaker 1: doubt right that on the, whole structurally public golf is.
Speaker 1: Suffering there are profound challenges that face anyone who wants
Speaker 1: to build a new public golf, course especially a new
Speaker 1: affordable public golf, course especially a new affordable public golf,
Speaker 1: course anywhere near a population. Center but it is possible
Speaker 1: to do, It it can be, done it is being,
Speaker 1: done and not all hope is. Lost and in addition
Speaker 1: To Old dane And Miami, LAKES i would suggest looking
Speaker 1: At Warmouth, sands a new build municipal course In georgia
Speaker 1: designed By Mike, young expected to open this year after
Speaker 1: some delays during. Construction and also look At Buffalo, dunes
Speaker 1: another city o, course this one In kansas has just
Speaker 1: gone through a really cool looking. Redesign So i'm hoping
Speaker 1: to bring you more stories about these courses and courses
Speaker 1: like them this. Year so a few other twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six course openings that we could have mentioned but we.
Speaker 1: Didn't the first would be Stream Song. White this is
Speaker 1: the New david McLay kid design at Stream Song resort In.
Speaker 1: Florida so Stream song is now going to feature courses
Speaker 1: by all four of the leading golf architects of this
Speaker 1: era In Corn, Crenshaw Tom, Doak Gil, hants and Now David.
Speaker 1: Kidd so a unique offering there then we have some
Speaker 1: some of these kind of new destination private. Clubs we
Speaker 1: Have tepatonka designed BY ocm In, Minnesota High grove designed
Speaker 1: By Gil. Hants that one's In. Florida we have The
Speaker 1: Lower course At Childress. Hall this is another Gil hans's
Speaker 1: effort for a private. Club this one In. Texas we
Speaker 1: Have Bounty, Club King Collin's Dormer course outside Of, Nashville.
Speaker 1: Tennessee we Have Looling, sport the second course At Louling.
Speaker 1: Sport this is AN ocm design outside Of, Austin. Texas
Speaker 1: and then Finally Anson, point which is a New Corner
Speaker 1: crenshaw design at the Development Palmetto bluff In South. Carolina
Speaker 1: so plenty of action going on in that kind of
Speaker 1: higher end sector. There on the affordable public. Side i'm
Speaker 1: definitely curious to See Todd clark And Ron witten's renovation
Speaker 1: Of Swape. Park swape is a municipal course designed by
Speaker 1: Aw tillinghast In Kansas. City and Then Gil hans's redesign
Speaker 1: Of Maggie, hathaway which is a short course In Los. Angeles,
Speaker 1: finally this is going to be the year That Punta brava.
Speaker 1: Opens this is A Tom doak design on pretty spectacular
Speaker 1: looking cliffs In Baja, California SO i think that's going
Speaker 1: to be an eye catching golf. Course So i'm probably
Speaker 1: leaving out some projects, there but that gives you a
Speaker 1: general idea of WHAT i have my eye on right.
Speaker 1: NOW a lot to look forward to in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: Six so Happy New year to. Everybody thank you for
Speaker 1: checking back in With Designing. Golf this episode Of Designing
Speaker 1: golf was produced By Will. Balsam thank You. Will if
Speaker 1: you Enjoyed Designing golf in twenty twenty, five if you
Speaker 1: expect to enjoy it in twenty twenty, six then make
Speaker 1: sure to check Out Frida Egg Golf. Club that Is
Speaker 1: Frida Egg golf's. Membership we're having a lot of fun with,
Speaker 1: it so go to The Frida egg dot com slash
Speaker 1: membership to see everything that you get As Friday golf.
Speaker 1: Member thank you for, listening and we'll be back again
Speaker 1: soon with another. Episode