By Stephen Hennessey
Consider what you believe a par 5 to be. For tour pros, it’s an automatic birdie opportunity. Make a par, and you’re probably losing strokes to the field.

This week at The Country Club, however, we’ll be treated to course design features not often seen on tour. Blind shots, reverse cambered fairways. And yes, challenging par 5s.

On the eve of the US Open, USGA chief championships officer John Bodenheimer, who oversees the course set-up, and architect Gil Hanse, whose team has led the renovation efforts at The Country Club over the past decade, were talking about the 14th — listed at 619 yards — potentially playing as the toughest hole in the US Open.

That truly challenges everything we’ve been led to believe about how a par 5 plays these days, which is what just one thing that makes The Country Club so intriguing.

“The thing that’s really interesting to me, is that you can’t really make a hard par 5 for the modern player anymore,” Hanse said. “But that’s going to be the case here. And for a par 5 to potentially be the toughest hole out here in this day and age, that’s quite the statement.”

Mind you, regular tour events are not often hosted at pre-Golden Age golf designs, where par 5s sit on topography that rises more than 30 feet in elevation from the fairway to a raised top section — separated by Roxbury puddingstone outcroppings — that were quite literally formed by glaciers.

Here’s what players will face: The fairway is protected by a tree on the left side, promoting players to hit a draw to a fairway protected by heavy US Open rough. Miss the fairway, and players will likely be forced to lay up — as carrying the natural landform will require a mammoth carry upwards of 200 yards up the hill (above). In his practice round, Sam Burns attempted to hit his shot from the rough to the sliver of fairway up the hill and came up about 20 yards short in the high fescue, leaving playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas stunned.

So expect to see a number of layups this week to the edge of the fairway, it’s still 175 yards up to a heavily guarded green that’s shorter than most par 5s on tour.

“When we played this in 1988, it was a darned tough par 4,” said Curtis Strange, the 1988 US Open champion here at Brookline. “If you missed the fairway, you were hacking it out and laying up on a par 4.”

That’s the kind of treat we’re in store for this week. Word is that Rory McIlroy reached the green in two in an early week practice round. Not many others will be able to boast the same.

Watch our drone flyover of the 14th hole here:

It was fascinating to eavesdrop on fans watching practice on the 14th on Wednesday:
“Where’s the green?”
“Is that fairway?”
“Where are they hitting it?”

We’d venture to guess that same chatter has been going on at Brookline for the nearly 100 years that this hole has been in existence. A glorious testament to its design merits.

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The post US Open 2022: Why The Country Club’s 14th hole is unlike any other modern par 5 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Gil Hanse’s first Middle East creation has received widespread acclaim since its opening in March 2017. Indeed, the renowned American architect’s 18-hole desert links at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai raced into the Golf Digest Middle East Top 10 course rankings within a year of opening, no small feat given the heady competition across the region.

Trump Dubai’s Par-3 course is a mini-me version of the immaculately maintained championship layout where Hanse has placed the same high premium on fun – think moonscape fairways, greens that are a joy to putt and tightly clipped run-offs that offer ample short game challenge.

The 1257-yard layout is now floodlit, meaning you can tee it up after work to dial in your wedge game or introduce friends or family to the game from as little as AED 100 per player.  The club offers tee times from 6.30am to 8.10pm, seven days a week and best of all, a challenge for all levels – the progressive tees offer holes as long as 210 yards while newcomers and juniors can play a course with tees set-up between 65 and 110 yards.

Fun. Illuminated. Just as Hanse envisaged it.

The post QUICK SHOT: Trump International Golf Club, Dubai’s ‘mini-me’ 9-holer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
We’ve been unashamed fans of Gil Hanse’s handiwork ever since meeting the American course architect in 2016, then at the controls of a bulldozer shaping what was to become Trump International Golf Club Dubai. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games course designer is revered globally for his modern twist on early 20th-century golf architecture and Sleepy Hollow Country Club is another fine nod to that noble artistry. Hanse partnered with the late George Bahto, who had extensively researched the works of Sleepy Hollow’s original designer, the legendary architect C.B. Macdonald, to remodel the course in Scarborough-on-Hudson in Briarcliff Manor, New York, over a period of more than 12 years.

Founded in 1915, the course had consisted of 11 Macdonald-designed holes and seven added in 1927 by A.W. Tillinghast but all 18 holes have now been rebuilt in Macdonald’s style. They include the picturesque par-3 16th where Hanse restored the large “thumbprint” in a green surrounded by a moat of bunkers.

With majestic views of the Hudson River from one of the highest points of Westchester County and plenty more design quirkiness besides, Sleepy Hollow has just crept into Golf Digest’s ‘America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses’ for the first time in 89th place.

The post QUICK SHOT: Sleepy Hollow Country Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Woods will design the North Course at Oahu’s Mākaha Valley Resort, while Hanse will handle the property’s South Course. No timing on either course’s opening was provided.

“At TGR Design, we focus on finding spectacular locations to design distinct and memorable golf courses,” Woods said in a press release. “The Mākaha Valley on the west coast of Oahu is truly one of these unique and special locations. The cathedral-like setting of the property is framed with big ocean views to the west and towering mountains to the east. We are designing a golf course that will take advantage of this spectacular setting yet still be fun and playable for golfers of all abilities.”

Already arguably golf’s all-time greatest player, Woods has been building a nice résumé as a golf course designer. Among his projects, Bluejack National was recently named to Golf Digest’s America’s Second 100 Greatest Golf Courses and his first public golf course in the U.S., Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge, is set to open this year. Woods is also overseeing the highly-anticipated renovation of Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses in Chicago.

Hanse was selected to design the Rio Olympics course for the 2016 Summer Games. His other works include the Black Course at Streamsong Resort and a recent redesign to Pinehurst No. 4, a course that will host the first part of this summer’s 36-hole U.S. Amateur final.

The Pacific Links network of affiliated and reciprocal clubs includes more than 400 properties located in 37 countries around the world.

The post Tiger Woods, Gil Hanse announced as architects of two planned Hawaiian golf courses appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
Oakland Hills Country Club’s South course will be the latest to undergo a significant renovation by Gil Hanse’s design team, a news release confirmed on Friday, as work will begin in the fall of 2019 to restore this Donald Ross gem, ranked No. 17 on Golf Digest’s most recent 100 Greatest rankings. The South Course will be closed through 2020 and will re-open in Spring 2021.

The South Course most recently hosted the 2016 U.S. Amateur, adding to the club’s impressive major championship history, which includes six U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, the 2004 Ryder Cup, two U.S. Amateurs, a U.S. Women’s Amateur and two U.S. Senior Opens. Rees Jones helped the club with a restoration project in 2006, but this will be the South Course’s most significant renovation since, in the hopes of hosting more majors.

Oakland Hills joins a growing list of prestigious championship venues that Hanse and his team have worked at recently, with Merion East currently also closed for major renovation work. Winged Foot Golf Club’s West and East courses have also been worked on by Hanse over the past five years, in preparation of the West course hosting the 2020 U.S. Open. Hanse has also worked at Aronimink Country Club, which will host the 2018 BMW Championship; Ridgewood Country Club, host of the 2018 Northern Trust Open; Los Angeles Country Club’s North course; Pinehurst No. 4; and Sleepy Hollow, among others. The designer of the Rio Olympics course also saw his Streamsong Black open in September 2017 to accompany courses at the resort by Bill Coore and Tom Doak, and the Ohoopee Match Club, a private club in Georgia, opened in 2018.

Courtesy of Oakland Hills

According to the release, Hanse’s work will include extending greens to reclaim pin positions on the famous Ross greens, extending the championship yardage to 7,500 yards and installation of green subsurfaces in the hopes of significantly improving drainage.

The post Oakland Hills Country Club’s South course to close for nearly two years to undergo significant Gil Hanse restoration appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Jaime Diaz
PINEHURST, N.C. — Is it possible that in the big picture—or at least in a present that needs adjustments—golf is better smaller? That was the feeling I got earlier this week at The Cradle, the newly opened nine-hole par-3 course at Pinehurst Resort, which, along with an adjacent and also new 75,000-square-foot practice putting green, comprises a kind of small-ball paradise.

The overall staging of The Cradle—so named because it sits on the site of the golf mecca’s original (1898) course—is pretty perfect. Its gently rolling 10 acres, designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to replicate the sandy, love-grass-accented look of the famed No. 2 course, complete with dramatically undulating greens, is set directly outside the main clubhouse and veranda. With the holes averaging 87 yards (the longest is 127 yards and the shortest 58), most golfers will only need a few clubs in a carry bag.

Not only are the shots short, so is the time required to play them, usually less than an hour for a foursome. The all-day rate of $50 is also proportionately modest. In this era of power and par 5s nearly as long as The Cradle’s 789 yards, small can be beautiful.

Of course, championship golf has to be big—in its footprint and in providing holes muscular enough to sufficiently challenge the players who hit the ball so much longer than ever.

But even at the top levels of the game, there are signs of a new appreciation for the more artful strokes. Jordan Spieth has shown how superior wedge play can overcome bigger hitters, while the improvement of PGA Tour Player of the Year Justin Thomas and current World No. 1 Dustin Johnson can in large measure be attributed to their focusing on their proficiency near and on the green. There’s no denying that the little shots count the same as the big ones, and on firm and fast major championship setups, sometimes more.

With so many regulation 18-hole courses struggling to connect with a customer base in economic and cultural flux, par 3s means faster, cheaper and friendlier.

Accordingly, the short par 3 has been getting more attention. As it always is when the Open Championship is at Royal Troon, the 123-yard “Postage Stamp” was a star in 2016 for its genius setting and design. And at the recent Walker Cup, the 15th hole at Los Angeles C.C. North was daringly shortened to 78 yards and drew praise for its shot making challenge.

Why are these holes almost as much fun to spectate as they are to play? Because there is a purity of technique, athleticism and skill over a short distance that touring pros exhibit with the wedges. For all the talk of power, the game is still foremost about ball control. That’s never more evident than with the precision required with the most lofted irons. The crispness of the sound, the flushness of contact, the fizzing of the flight, the penetrating (not ballooning) trajectory (what Paul Azinger, one of the best wedge players ever, calls “integrity”), makes up a medley that, to me, defines a pro’s gift better than any other part of the game. In Azinger’s case, it was the foundational skill, as his instructor, the late John Redman, believed a golfer who could execute a proper pitch shot by definition possessed the essentials of a sound swing.

David Cannon/R&A
On Saturday at the Walker Cup, LA North’s par-3 15th played a mere 78 yards, but remained a challenge.

You could make the argument that playing short par 3s builds more competency for the recreational golfer trying to improve than blasting away with the longer clubs. All the more because pitch-and-putts give him or her a better opportunity to go out and play. With so many regulation 18-hole courses struggling to connect with a customer base in economic and cultural flux, par 3s means faster, cheaper and friendlier.

Even at prestigious private clubs, a par 3 is often the most popular course with the members. The par 3 at Augusta National, built in 1958, has always been a big hit, and in the last 20 years more clubs like the Olympic Club, Hamilton Farms, Sand Valley and Colorado Golf Club have added well-designed and maintained par 3s.

RELATED: The clash between modern tour pros and modern course architects

The Cradle follows a trend of alternative course openings in 2017, with the new Jordan Spieth-backed six-hole course at the University of Texas, Tom Doak’s 12-hole par 3 at Ballyneal, and Dan Hixson nine-hole pitch-and-putt at Silvies Valley Ranch.

You may note a bias toward par 3s in my commentary. Like a lot of guys my age, my first rounds were on scruffy short courses, in my case the Fleming Nine at Harding Park and Golden Gate G.C., both in San Francisco, both enduring jewels from the city’s golfing heyday.

I’ve also seen a big appetite for pitch-and-putts overseas. They can be found in a bunch of little towns in Ireland, usually teeming with an informally dressed crowd whose members tend to nonchalantly pull off very useful bump and runs. And when the Open was held at Muirfield in 2013, the so-called children’s course next to the west course at North Berwick was a big hit with visiting American pros and their families.

Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort
The Cradle’s nine holes average 87 yards with the longest hole playing 127 yards.

Accordingly, the short par 3 has been getting more attention. As it always is when the Open Championship is at Royal Troon, the 123-yard “Postage Stamp” was a star in 2016 for its genius setting and design. And at the recent Walker Cup, the 15th hole at Los Angeles C.C. North was daringly shortened to 78 yards and drew praise for its shot making challenge.

Why are these holes almost as much fun to spectate as they are to play? Because there is a purity of technique, athleticism and skill over a short distance that touring pros exhibit with the wedges. For all the talk of power, the game is still foremost about ball control. That’s never more evident than with the precision required with the most lofted irons. The crispness of the sound, the flushness of contact, the fizzing of the flight, the penetrating (not ballooning) trajectory (what Paul Azinger, one of the best wedge players ever, calls “integrity”), makes up a medley that, to me, defines a pro’s gift better than any other part of the game. In Azinger’s case, it was the foundational skill, as his instructor, the late John Redman, believed a golfer who could execute a proper pitch shot by definition possessed the essentials of a sound swing.

To me, a good par-3 course works on many levels besides just the price and the pace. A little funkiness in design and even conditioning is a plus, as the capriciousness invites improvisation. The mood should be informal and promote a hint of relaxed raucousness.

Sure, the American hunger for optimization has started a trend toward par 3s for the golfer who has everything. Such courses can be pricey, too penal to avoid slow play, and over spectacular topography that isn’t ideal for walking. There have been a few such creations.

But done right, a high end par 3 can become destination golf. And several at major resorts have pulled off that “you’ve got to play the par 3” allure. The 13-hole Preserve at Bandon Dunes by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw is thrilling. So is the short course at the Colorado G.C. by the same team.

The Cradle has immediately joined this club, and may even jump to head of the class. Hanse and Wagner have found a delicate balance between playability for the beginner to average golfer, with difficulty that will challenge and delight the better player. There are no water hazards or unplayable areas, and on most holes the tee shot can be bounced in. But getting the ball close means landing the ball precisely and with some spin, and getting up and down from off the green requires a bit of delicacy. Junior golfers who go round and round The Cradle (it’s free for kids 17 or under when accompanied by an adult) will develop a nuanced feel for the scoring part of the game. As for the kind of single-digit sticks that flock to Pinehurst, teams of them will fill the course in the shadowy early evening, perhaps a cocktail in hand, but also fueled by an obsession to conquer a first-class golfing challenge.

“I was trying to find the fun,” said Hanse, who shaped both The Cradle and the new putting green, named Thistle Dhu and inspired by the humpy undulations of the vast Himalayas putting course at St. Andrews, which it exceeds in size but not in cost [it’s free]. “All of it is right out the front door, so it sets a tone of the game truly being enjoyed. I want to hear some yell, for great shots, crazy bounces, holes in one. I want people sitting outside the clubhouse to kind of bask in this great scene. I hope it just reinforces that true golf spirit that is such a part of Pinehurst.”

And which beautifully small courses like The Cradle will spread.

The post The long view on golf’s new fascination with short courses appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

That’s because, even as most of the courses on the professional tours have been stretched to a near-breaking point, the game for the world’s best golfers keeps getting easier to perform (which is not in any way to say it is getting easier to win).

Through advances in clubs and balls, fitness, technique and agronomy, tour players keep hitting the ball farther and proportionately straighter, with less fear of a disastrous miss. They are leaving themselves shorter irons into greens (very often some kind of wedge), clubs designed to produce the combination of accuracy, height and spin that allows stopping power around the hole. It adds up to a lot of birdie chances inside 15 feet, the distance from which the vast majority of putts are converted.

Amid all this progress, the modern architect’s task is to find a way to fairly increase the challenge to the best players. In the process, he aims to reward skill through the bag, encourage more strategic options, introduce more variety in shot-making and club selection (as in longer clubs for approaches to par 4s) and make the game more interesting to play and to watch. Otherwise, golf at the highest level would likely devolve into a pattern of driver (or 3-wood) off the tee and wedge to 12 feet.

For the last several years, architects have tried to find ways to counteract the “bomb and gouge” style. Measuring the appropriate consequences and making the changes that enact them is what keeps designers up at night.

For the last several years, architects have tried to find ways to counteract the “bomb and gouge” style that has become the percentage way to play at regular tournaments on the PGA Tour, where rough is manageable and greens are not overly firm. Players now know that, in general, their chances are better from off the fairway with a short iron or wedge than from the short grass with a 5- or 6-iron. It means that all things being equal, a player would rather be a long hitter who’s a bit crooked than a short one who is generally straight.

I disagree with the idea that a long driver’s advantage should be neutralized by narrowing landing areas beyond 300 yards, bringing together more closely the area from which players hit their approaches. But there’s a good argument that to restore a balance of equitable skill, long hitters who don’t hit it straight should pay a stiffer price than they currently do.

Measuring the appropriate consequences and making the changes that enact them is what keeps architects up at night. In a souped-up game in which setups necessarily keep inching closer to the edge, it’s easier to go too far. Or at least be perceived to have done so, especially when the chief evaluators are players who would prefer not to change their playing style.

At TPC Boston, Hanse was trying to inject some variety into what has become known as a “bomber’s paradise.” Reasoning that a good course has ebb and flow, he decided that making the 12th a hard hole made sense early in the back nine, before a closing stretch that has traditionally produced a lot of birdies.

Hanse stretched the formerly 461-yard par 4 all the way to 511 yards and built a new, more contoured green. To keep tee shots from running down a hill toward the green, he ended the fairway at 330 yards, and at 305 yards, placed two deep “lobster pot” bunkers evoking the Principal’s Nose on the 16th at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Justin Thomas’ called the pair “so death.”

On a hole that in the past had left wedges and 9-iron approaches, Hanse wanted players who chose not to try to thread a longer tee shot past the fairway bunkers to hit a mid- to long iron approach into the green, something that has become rare for the tour’s longer hitters. In Friday’s first round, Dustin Johnson hit a 6-iron into the 12th, the longest iron he said he had hit into a par 4 all year.

Predictably, players didn’t like being asked to “lay up” on a 500-yard-plus par 4. Some refused, but rather than take on the bunkers, they hit drivers way left—over trees, and often into rough into the adjoining 13th fairway. Eventual winner Justin Thomas did this all four days, hitting 7-irons into the green, as did another younger bomber, Jon Rahm. They decided that missing the green would still leave them a better chance to save par than driving into the bunker and being left with a long third.

Hanse, the designer of the Olympic Course and highly regarded for his thoughtful work, absorbed the expected criticism and urged patience. Changes to a hole often cause initial discomfort (and arguably should), and a good golf hole by definition shouldn’t fully reveal its secrets immediately. “Once they figure it out, they’ll see there was sound thought put behind the design,” Hanse said of the 12th, which played to an average of 4.343 strokes, about a third of a stroke higher than it used to.

The USGA figured wide fairways were needed for brawny Erin Hills, but the course’s added length didn’t prevent low scores at the U.S. Open. (Photo by Andrew Redington)

The controversy in Boston comes after two major championships in which the setups were questioned. At the U.S. Open, where as the “ultimate examination” the setup is expected to get closer to the edge than any other event, Erin Hills played easier than anticipated.

Because heavy winds that regularly whip along the Wisconsin plains never came, and rain did, fairways made wide to allow for the expected conditions gave the players too much room. The extra high rough that the USGA installed to punish the wildest wind-blown drives barely came into play, and even with the damp fairways, the record length of the course barely deterred the longer hitters, who regularly launched 340-yard blasts with relative impunity.

Perhaps in an unconscious response, the setup for the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow went the other way. On a vastly redesigned course, narrow fairways were bordered with new Bermuda rough that was extra thick and wet from rain, while new greens were overly firm and fast—and undulating—as SubAir systems dried them out. The result was a test that offered almost no tolerance for poor ball-striking, in a sense playing the role of U.S. Open for 2017. It was refreshing to see the best players truly tested, and the best strikers of the week were rewarded. At the same time, average tee-to-green play was too severely penalized, and the golf was often painful to watch.

Next year the U.S. Open is going to a Golden Age classic, Shinnecock Hills, artful in the extreme, but also shortish. It’s the kind of venue that is most at risk of being overrun by the modern game.

In the last few years, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restored the course. The fairways were widened (up to 60 yards), the greens expanded, and trees were removed. Visually, the result was spectacular, and the club’s members have loved the changes.

The USGA, too, initially sang the restoration’s praises, but recently officials have reconsidered their original setup plans at Shinnecock. The fairway width—done to create more strategic angles and options—was deemed too wide (perhaps in the wake of Erin Hills). Native fescue rough is now being planted on the edges of the fairway to narrow them back down. The course won’t be as narrow as it was when it held the championship in 1986, 1995 and 2004, but it will be narrower than what was originally planned on for 2018.

Why? Increasing fairway width is a well-meaning concept intended to introduce more angles and shot-making options, as well as putting the driver back in the players’ hands. But it’s become apparent that on a fast-running vintage course that gives players plenty of room off the tee, drivers will get bombed into wedge distance, from where angles essentially become moot.

So that the art of Shinnecock can be brought out rather than overrun, the decision was made that long and crooked has to be punished.

What’s clear from Erin Hills, Quail Hollow, TPC of Boston and Shinnecock Hills is that the modern game is getting harder to fit into golf’s tournament arenas. And that a day of reckoning is coming.

The post The Great Divide: The clash between modern tour pros and golf course architects appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

So what should we expect from Streamsong Black? The rolling scale of the property, which will play to a par 73, is certainly unique among big-time designs (only two courses in Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest and Second 100 Greatest are par 73s: Garden City Golf Club, No. 46 on our last 100 Greatest ranking and Kapalua’s Plantation course, No. 112).

And most notably is the way in which Hanse, his design partner Jim Wagner and the rest of his team were inspired by the look and feel of Australian Sand Belt courses and their bunkering to incorporate similar looks in Florida.

Hanse, whose Rio Olympic course design hosted last year’s Olympics, and who has worked on redesigns for some of the country’s most prestigious clubs, such as Winged Foot Golf Club, Merion Golf Club and Los Angeles Country Club, answered five questions about Streamsong Black and his other projects from Golf Digest’s Stephen Hennessey.

Laurence Lambrecht
The 10th hole at the soon-to-be-open Streamsong Black

1. What it’s like for you, when a project is done like Streamsong Black for a while, and you’re just waiting for feedback?

“It’s funny, I was just talking to [executive vice president of Mosaic, the developers of Streamsong] Richard Mack this weekend, about this. It’s been over a year now that we stopped construction on it. What’s great is that the Black will be at a level of maturity where Rusty Mercer, the superintendent, should have it in awesome shape. It’s a testament to the resort’s desire to let it all grow in. But we were chatting about how highly anticipated it is, and this says nothing about Black, but it’s almost as if our team has put it in the rear-view mirror and moved onto the other projects because it was so long ago for us. And you kind of forget that it’s coming up so quickly now. We’re completely excited and looking very much to the feedback that you mentioned. And so now we’re in that strange limbo period where myself, Jim Wagner and the rest of the guys who worked on the course and put so much time and effort into it, but we now turned the course over to the superintendent, and we just wait.”

Laurence Lambrecht
Looking up at the second green at Streamsong Black

2. Looking back at the various design features at Black, what stands out to you most, and what are you most excited about showing to those playing?

“One of the nice things that Rich and the folks at Streamsong gave us was the freedom for Jim Wagner and our team and I to be creative. So we have a massive punchbowl on the ninth hole that might be one of the most fun golf holes we’ve ever built. I always love that sense of anticipation, walking up the hill to see where your ball ended up. And the 13th hole has two greens—there was a lot of discussion as to whether we could build a hole with two greens, ala Nos. 8 and 9 at Pine Valley. And we talked about it, but we only wanted to do it if we could make the tee shot meaningful, depending on which green you’re playing to, so having the strategy funnel all the way back to the tee rather than just the green. So we’re excited about the feedback we’ll get back at No. 13 whether one green or another is preferred or one angle over the other is better. So that’s something we’ve never done before. And I think the scale of the place, as big as the property is and as much flexibility as they allowed us to have there, that will yield to angles being particularly relevant on certain holes. There’s a lot of really interesting stuff out there. All the guys working on it, we were coming off Rio, and most of our team was down there, so there was just a lot of creative energy that inspired us by that site, and allowed us to create something special at the Black and have people come play it.”

Laurence Lambrecht
Looking back from the green on the par-3 fifth hole.

4. Working with sand in Florida isn’t unique, but tying in everything with a Sand Belt look certainly is. How do you feel your team’s work at Black will stack up among others in the state?

“First, the Streamsong property in general, if you parachuted into the land, you’d never think you were in Florida. I think the work that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did on Red, and Tom Doak did on Blue, certainly captured the natural advantages of the sand and the vegetation. So with those guys blazing the trail, we had a good head-start on how that unique character and look and feel for that specific part of Florida could be optimized. Our goal, because we share much stylistically and strategically and philosophically, with Bill and Ben and Tom. So we just needed to ask ourselves: ‘Our site is different because of X and Y. And it was principally the scale and the much more, sort of rolling piece of land rather than the dramatic pieces of land that they worked on with Red and Blue. So it was taking what they had created on that canvas and trying to modify it slightly to provide differentiation with the bunker looks in particular. Really, it’s most about variety, because you don’t want someone thinking that they’ve seen that hole somewhere on property or previously in their round at Black. So we were the beneficiaries of two great golf courses so we could go in and create something unique. There was an appreciation and a respect for what those guys did. It was figuring out a great routing, and add some unique design varieties, we were just hopeful that our interpretation and presentation of some holes stood out from the Red and Blue.”

A unique panoramic view from atop the Blue course, looking down at the new Black course, set to open in September

5. I’m amazed at all your work around the world at once. You’re talking to me right now from a bulldozer at The Creek Club, a Raynor and McDonald design your team is working on. How do you balance all your work at once?

“At the core, it’s about trusting the guys we have working with us, and putting them in a position where their creativity can shine. Our model, and I think it’s true for Bill and Ben, and Tom, is just finding really good, talented people and allow them to explore their creativity. Jim and I will act as editors and walk and talk with them, but the key has been to not only have great guys on site but empower them to make decisions and allow them to do good work as opposed to being stifled by sticking to plans or too much of heavy hand from an editing standpoint. The other thing is limiting the number of projects under construction to two or three. So while you’ll hear our names as consulting at clubs like Winged Foot, or consulting at Aronimink; we are, but right now, neither of those projects are under construction. So if we can limit the construction, then handling the plan work and the design work becomes an exercise in making sure our associates have time to crank out plans. That’s what it comes down to. Like I told you, I’ve been on a bulldozer at The Creek for the past three days here, and I love that part of the job. And if you ever lose that aspect, where Jim or I don’t have the time to get on the machinery, then we’ve lost the code [to success], as they say.”

Laurence Lambrecht
The view at the par-5 finishing hole at Streamsong Black

Here are some more photos:

Laurence Lambrecht
More examples of the massive, Sand Belt-inspired bunkers at the 12th hole at Streamsong Black

Laurence Lambrecht
The par-3 17th hole isn’t short on awesome views

Laurence Lambrecht
The massive green at the par-5 fourth hole

Laurence Lambrecht
A wide shot at dusk of the par-3 seventh green at Streamsong Black

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Blind dates of the golfing kind are invariably awkward.

The nervous suitor arrives snappily dressed and fashionably early as golfers are want to do. They’ll still need to size up a clever opening line on the fly but won’t know if their game is compatible until well beyond the first tee.

The object of all this affection is a course so new, it transpires, that it’s still fussing over an alluring picture and description for golf’s equivalent of an online dating profile, the club website. It’s just as eager to make a favourable first impression but equally doesn’t want to come across as too forward for fear it might be perceived as ostentatious or difficult, unsuitable for any sort of meaningful long term relationship.

A bunker escape on the par 4 6th. The fairway of the tough 7th sits ominously in the background (Photo: Kevin Murray)

There will be no such awkwardness when you stride onto the flowing first tee at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai. Indeed, visitors will be charmed the moment they roll up to bag drop at the foot of a majestic 30,000 sq ft clubhouse, a sweeping crescent-shaped statement that stands architectural compare to anything in Middle East golf (no easy feat) and promises to plate gourmet delights and dish-up service to a white-gloved standard.

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Wander through the massive open-air atrium after check-in and Gil Hanse’s creation begins to reveal its character. You’ll happen upon the neighbouring 9th and 18th greens and the man-made lake that guards them both, a promise of the strategic challenge and slippery run off areas to come. Your gaze will also catch the towering clock that is a trademark at all of the U.S. President’s courses worldwide. A silent observer of history, it’s positioned to the right of the rumpled 1st and 9th fairways which are stitched together by just a peep of the sandy baranca areas which snake and weave through this rustic, links-style layout.

ON THE TEE
The first design subtly you notice at Trump Dubai is the long, undulating tee box which melds seamlessly into the first fairway. There’s no discernible rough either which brings the opening hole on the Old Course at St Andrews to mind; its no coincidence that Hanse spent half of a year’s scholarship studying course architecture at the home of golf. More distinctive links quirkiness is to be discovered on the 7th and 12th, but more on those magic par 4s later.

The generous fairways are all part of Hanse’s mission to make Trump Dubai playable for golfers of all abilities, although the relatively comfortable departure on the 1st gives way a challenging approach that spotlights the strategic delight of the design.

Miss a green at Trump Dubai and it’s just as well you are a short game wizard as well as a golfing Casanova. Neither? At least there’s plenty of un-used lead in the pencils they hand out with the scorecard because you’ll be scribbling down some sizeable numbers.

The par 5 2nd (Photo: Farooq Salik)

The premium Hanse places on approach shots and short game creativity is ratcheted up on the second. The par 5, presuming you negotiate the tee shot and second to a narrowing and eventually water-fringed fairway (only the strongest hitters or foolhardy will dare a dart at this green in two), accentuates the tightly clipped Tifgrand Bermuda grasses used on the green surrounds.

With water left, it will be easy to bail out right with your third shot but this will see your ball separated from the Tifeagle Bermuda-carpeted green by a steep little dune, presenting a test of your wedging nerve with the wet stuff ready to swallow any skulled flop shot. Many will be tempted to use a putter from such a tight lie which is just what Hanse envisaged when he helped sculpt this course into life from the controls of a bulldozer.

The American has designed the surrounds to make even the lowest of handicappers think. It’s not impossible – the higher marker or short game challenged can revert to the Texas wedge – but it’s no cinch either, providing length is not the only defence to the march of modern club and ball technology.

Beware the hard-packed pimples within the bunker guarding the 7th green (Photo: Kevin Murray)

“That’s the most fun part of the game from my standpoint,” Hanse enthuses. “Not being a great golfer myself, I loved having imagination in recovery because everyone thinks of golf architecture from the standpoint of you tee it here, you hit it there and you are suppose to get it on the green in regulation. But that never really happens for 96 percent of us. From that perspective, the short grass around the greens really gives you the opportunity to feel hopeful, feel like you are going to hit a fun shot.

“Conversely, for the better player, that is a more difficult proposition. Put a really good player in the rough or in a bunker, it’s all muscle memory, they know the shot, they just hit it, boom, it’s done.

“But you put them in a situation where they’ve got to think, ’do I want to putt it, do I want to chip, do I want to flop it?’ then you get these cornels of doubt going in their head…maybe that’s not the right shot, maybe it is?

“It’s one of those perfect scenarios where it is playable for everybody and interesting, yet the level of precision to pull off that shot to get it close for a good player is probably more challenging than being in a bunker because they can hit that shot pretty simple.”

The tricky crevasse in the 7th green. The elevated 8th green is in the background (Photo: Farooq Salik)

STADIUM FEEL
It would be easy to wax lyrical about every hole at Trump Dubai, let alone all the clever little nuances around the greens. Instead we’ll leave a little suspense by emphasising a few early favourites.

Beyond the par 3 3rd where any tee shot left will be wet, and the eye-catching (albeit intimidating) tee shot on the 4th, you swoop down into what feels like an amphitheater framed by apartment blocks for a memorable three-hole stretch.

The 5th is another aesthetically pleasing par 3 to a massive green (don’t miss left) while the 6th requires strategic thinking rather than a driver off the tee. You’ll need a solidly struck short iron approach as well to avoid the baranac that runs at near right angles to the green; the waste areas house five types of native grasses which are not to be tangled with or you could well require a sharpener for that pencil.

The 7th is Trump Dubai’s No.1 stroke hole and undisputedly so, triggered from a mammoth teeing ground that bends banana like towards a fairway bordered by apartment buildings to the right and a craggy-edged drop-off to baranac left. You’ll be thankful you chose to tee it forward on the 1st (hint, hint) as this beastly par 4 looks like a par 5 from the tee and only becomes more intimidating the closer you get to the green.

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The day we tested Trump Dubai the author and the club’s head pro, Sven Nielsen, were both punished for hooked tee shots into the baranac. Nielson’s second found one of three gnarly little, hard-packed pimples Hanse has (sadistically) left in the big bunker guarding the front of the green, presenting an almost impossible shot the big-hitting South African duly air-mailed over the green. It’s a green that gives new meaning to undulation too with a massive crease running through the middle, not unlike the famed 16th green at the quirky North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland. The editor, needing three to get on the green, needed three more to get off it after having to putt through the crevasse. Your flat stick will likely see plenty of overtime on this course.

The short par 4 8th is a driver and a flicked wedge to a green atop a dune. It’s framed by a peep of the clubhouse in the distance, a backdrop that is magnified in a fitting finale to the outward nine.

A decent drive on the 9th may tempt you to have a pop at the par 5 in two but with bunkers and a near-nude run off to the right of the green, any mis-struck shot will feed down into that greedy lake. A three shot strategy may prove more prudent and your reward for a layup will be a close-up of the miniature rupture in the fairway just shy of the green. It looks like it’s been created by a small earthquake rather than an earthmover – and absolutely lovely with a touch of late afternoon shadow to enhance its linksy-ness.

A panoramic view of the 1st and 8th greens. (Photo: Farooq Salik)

HOMEWARD BOUND
The homeward half shapes as the easier of the two nines but only by a whisker. Accuracy with approaches to the 10th (short-side yourself on the right at your peril as you’ll be chipping to an uphill green from a downhill lie) and 11th will be required for pars before you arrive at the aforementioned 12th.

All great courses have a drivable par 4 and this is Hanse’s memorable version at Trump Dubai. The biggest hitters may even get home here with a three wood or hybrid but holding the green will be a different story, either with a tee shot or your short second.

At its most anorexic, the 12th green is just seven paces wide. A pin cut here will be mightily tough to get at and with tightly clipped drop-offs at just about every turn, don’t be surprised if your third shot is also from off the green but further away. It’s a risk and reward gem sure to be a joyful source of conversation in The Ninth, the clubhouse bar, after most rounds.

Then you get these cornels of doubt going in their head… – Gil Hanse

The strategic-approach, short-game combo continues on the stretch of holes from the 13th to the 15th (make sure to take a peek at the awesome par 3 Academy Course on the way): a strong, dog leg par 5 to a well-bunkered, hanging green; a testy par 4 with a big slopey putting surface and a par 3 over the same interconnected baranac.

The closing three holes are gems all, the sweeping left-handed par 4 16th to an enticing but well-protected green proceeding what many consider Trump Dubai’s signature hole. Hanse secretly despises the term as he gives each hole equal design love and attention but it’s easy to see why this little par 3 is so cherished, although you mightn’t be so enamoured if you miss the terraced green short and end up in the baranac.

No round is over until the very last shot and there promises to be quite a few of them on the 18th, a par 4 that hugs that pesky lake all the way down the left. The approach here is over a bank of bunkers that challenge your depth perception. The obvious bail out is right but this means a deft downhill chip onto a green that seems to slide into the water, ensuring any matches that survive until the last hole will go to the wire.

POST-ROUND DEBRIEF
Some will bypass Trump Dubai based solely on the openly divisive politics and personality of the man now sitting in the Oval Office. Given his past statements on Muslims alone, that’s entirely understandable, not least in this part of the world.

But conveniently ignoring Trump’s increasingly unavoidable geopolitical influence, it is hard to deny the impact the 45th U.S. President is having on modern golf globally. Nielsen witnessed it first hand with Trump’s acclaimed redevelopment of the Alisa course at Turnberry before he was headhunted from the Open Championship venue to head the academy at Trump Dubai.

A doff of our cap to the leader of the “free world” for selecting one of the golfing world’s best to sculpt what is a magnificent addition to the Middle East golfing landscape. This despite the aesthetic limitations Hanse faced building inside the corridors of a major real estate project. We love that the distances between green and tee box makes the course walkable in the winter while superintendent Ben Griffiths deserves much kudos for the immaculate surfaces, a glorious, grassy final coat on Hanse’s handiwork.

Not unlike the American architect’s Olympic Games course in Rio, Trump Dubai is an eminently playable layout without being easily score-able, striking just the right balance between the advances of technology and the still generally unreliable swings of the vast majority of weekend warriors.

The magical 12th green (Photo: Farooq Salik)

 While the high handicapper will revel in finding fairways, to score well the low marker will still need to position their drives for decent looks at pins. Regardless of ability, bring your short game with you as nerveless wedge play and plenty of bump and run artistry are a perquisite to seeking out a good score.

“I think with all of our courses we’re trying to hit the sweet spot where they are wide enough to play – sure you are going to get in trouble if you are hitting it errant, but it’s plenty wide to hit shots – but then the level of precision required to score on the golf course is much, much higher,” Hanse said.

“What we tried to do here is just to get it to a point where it is fun to play and if there is ever a tournament or we need to really ramp it up, I think we can set it up pretty difficult and especially if the wind blows out there which it seems to do quite a bit.”

Like a memorable first date, Trump Dubai does exactly what Hanse hoped it would…it leaves you wanting more. We’re already looking forward to a second rendezvous but maybe not before a little short game guidance from Nielson. The first date was awkward enough.

This feature first appeared in the February issue of Golf Digest Middle East.

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