on December 29, 2020
December 28, 2020 By: Josh Sens — Another calendar year is coming to an end. Out with the old, in with the new. As in, new (and newly renovated) courses. Here are 14 layouts we can’t wait to check out in 2021.
Baltusrol, Lower Course, Springfield, N.J.
Books could be written — and, in fact, they have — on this historic club, which will add a major chapter to its annals in 2021. On top of celebrating its 125th anniversary, Baltusrol will also cut the ribbon on a Gil Hanse renovation of its vaunted Lower Course. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
Congressional Country Club, Blue Course, Bethesda, Md.
Since its birth in 1924, this Devereux Emmet design has been tweaked to varying degrees by the likes of Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Rees Jones. Now to the tee steps architect Andrew Green, charged with reviving the Golden Age features of a five-time major championship host. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
Ballyshear Golf Links, Ban Rakat, Thailand
Gil Hanse’s first design in Asia will draw inspiration from the template holes of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, as showcased at such celebrated courses as National Golf Links, Chicago Golf Club and long-lost Lido Golf Club on Long Island. Scheduled Opening: Summer.
Les Bordes, New Course, Saint-Lauren-Nouan, France
Outside of finicky architecture circles, the land of gruyere and Charles de Gaulle isn’t widely known for golf. But France boasts a lengthy list of marquee courses, with another on the way, just outside Paris: a boldly bunkered, heathland-style Gil Hanse design that will be the younger sibling to Les Bordes’ Old Course, a masterful Robert von Hagge design. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
St. Patrick’s Links, County Donegal, Ireland
Brand new courses anywhere are hard to come by. Brand new links in Ireland are scarcer still. As for a brand new links in Ireland by the noted architect Tom Doak (his first design on the Emerald Isle), those are rarer than albatrosses. Built on seaside dunes, on behalf of the Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort, this distinctive destination will more than merit a trip across the pond. Scheduled Opening: Summer.
Bougle Run, Bridport, Australia
A new 14-hole short course, designed by John Hawker, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will bring a tasty extra morsel to Barnbougle, a Tasmanian resort that is already home to two GOLF Magazine World Top 100 courses, Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm. Scheduled Opening: January.
Charleston Municipal Golf Course, Charleston, S.C.
Many keen architectural eyes see shades of Seth Raynor in this beloved muni, all the more so in the wake of renovation work by architect Troy Miller. Officially, the course reopened just a few weeks ago, but given current travel limitations, 2021 should feel like the property’s coming-out party for golfers everywhere. Scheduled Opening: Now.
American Dunes, Grand Haven, Mich.
Set on sandy land along the shores of Lake Michigan, this Jack Nicklaus design will double as a patriotic tribute, with on-course and off-course memorials to American military service members — and all proceeds benefiting The Folds of Honor Foundation. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
CapRock Ranch, Valentine, Neb.
Here’s Gil Hanse, describing his long-awaited collaboration with Jim Wagner on CapRock Ranch, a private course located in the same dunesy region of Nebraska that is already home to such acclaimed properties as the Prairie Club and Sand Hills. “I shouldn’t do this because I’ve never been there, but I’d like to liken it to Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand, with the dramatic sharp drop offs, and the sand underneath with ideal golfing contours.” Scheduled Opening: Summer.
Corica Park Golf Course, North Course, Alameda, Calif.
Only nine holes of the renovated North Course are expected to be ready in 2021, with the second side slated for completion in 2022. But already there’s buzz about the latest improvements to one of the busiest (and some would say the best) municipal facilities in the Bay Area, thanks to a top-notch South Course that takes its cues from the firm, fast layouts of the Australian Sandbelt. Scheduled Opening: Summer.
Park Mammoth Golf Club, Park City, Kent.
A passion project for young architects Brian Ross and Colton Craig involves the thorough reimagining of a promising public course near Bowling Green. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Even as the leading groups pushed toward the clubhouse in the final round of the 2020 Memorial, work crews were tearing up turf behind them, part of an upgrade that will include the reworking of all the greens in advance of the 2021 event. Scheduled Opening: Spring.
Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh, Penn.
“It is not an interpretation. It’s truly putting Raynor back on the ground.” So says Tom Marzolf, of Fazio Design, of his renovation work at this historic club, which set out to reclaim the essence of Seth Raynor’s original 1923 layout. The revived course was open for about a month in late 2020 but will hold it grand opening in June. Scheduled Opening: June.
San Vincente Golf Resort, Ramona, Calif.
Working over the footprint of a 1970s Ted Robinson layout, architect Andy Staples has fully reimagined the whole shebang, redoing all the greens and bunkers, adding width for more creative options, and inviting the ground game with firm, fast approaches and collection areas around the greens. Scheduled Opening: Spring.