By Christopher Powers
Before he registered a career-best T-2 finish earlier this month at the Wells Fargo Championship, Aaron Wise said his “time was going to come eventually” in regards to a victory. Little did he know it would come in his very next start just two weeks later.

Despite a four-hour rain delay, Wise left no doubt on Sunday at Trinity Forest Golf Club, carding a bogey-free six-under 65 to win the AT&T Byron Nelson by three strokes over Marc Leishman. It was Wise’s first career PGA Tour win, and it comes in just his 26th start.

“It’s awesome, I get to plan my schedule, this is huge for me,” said Wise, who at 21 became the youngest winner on tour since Si Woo Kim won the 2017 Players Championship. “The majors, getting up there in the FedEx Cup, definitely in the playoffs now. It’s huge, it’s a dream come true to win this one.”

While the T-2 at Quail Hollow followed by this victory may seem like a surprise, it’s not to those who have followed Wise’s quick rise to this position. He’s won at every level he’s competed in, including taking the NCAA individual crown in 2016, the 2015 Pacific Amateur, and racking up wins on both the Mackenzie and Web.com Tours. Those experiences, plus a close call at the Wells Fargo, came in handy on Sunday in Dallas despite the fact that he would be a senior at Oregon this spring if he hadn’t turned pro after his sophomore year.

“Just a ton of self belief. It was always there, but to do it on a stage, to know I’ve done it really helped me today,” Wise said. “I felt oddly calm all day long and to pull that off and play as good as I did today, bogey free, it was awesome.

“I was more nervous yesterday, oddly enough. It’s pretty incredible to get this win.”

With the win, Wise earns a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour as well as an invitation to next year’s Masters.

Leishman shot a final-round three-under 68, one that included an eagle at the par-4 fifth and four birdies. But bogeys at the second, 10th and 15th holes wound up being the difference. It’s his sixth finish of ninth or better this season, and his second solo runner-up, the first coming in October when he lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges.

Branden Grace posted a nine-under 62 that featured an eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie-par stretch to finish his round and put him in a tie for third with J.J. Spaun and Keith Mitchell at 19-under 265. Ryan Blaum, Kevin Na and Jimmy Walker tied for sixth at 16-under 268.

The post Rookie Aaron Wise earns first PGA Tour victory in 26th career start at Trinity Forest appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
The partnership of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the men behind new Byron Nelson home Trinity Forest, has been one golf’s most respected architectural teams for quite some time. And it all started back in the late 1980s, when the pair visited a site for a course that was never built. This came soon after Coore’s first course opened at Rockport Country Club in Texas, and Crenshaw—who had just won the 1984 Masters—was so impressed with Coore’s work, Crenshaw signed up to partner with the former Pete Dye associate. The talented duo has worked together for more than 30 years, producing some of the game’s most revered designs.

Here’s a look at those courses—ranked in the order our Golf Digest course-ranking panelists scored them based on our most recent America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses ranking and Golf Digest’s Complete 200 Greatest International Golf Courses ranking.

10 . Kapalua (Plantation), Maui, Hawaii
Though their partnership started in 1991, this was Coore and Crenshaw’s first completed design. No. 21 on Golf Digest’s most recent 100 Greatest Public Courses and No. 112 on our latest Second 100 Greatest, the Plantation course hosts the annual Tournament of Champions that kicks off the year on the PGA Tour. The course is set to undergo an extensive renovation after next year’s tournament, with Coore and Crenshaw overseeing most of the work.

Stan Badz/PGA Tour

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9 . Colorado Golf Club, Parker, Colo.
Named Golf Digest’s sixth Best New private course in 2007, this Colorado layout is currently No. 111 on our latest Second 100 Greatest ranking. The venue for the 2013 Solheim Cup will also host the 2019 U.S. Mid Amateur.

Chris Graythen
Azahara Munoz of Spain hits her second shot on the 14th hole at the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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8 . Streamsong (Red), Bowling Green, Fla.
This Everglades-meets-Ballybunion layout, which is how Ron Whitten used to describe the Red course at Streamsong after it opened in 2013, is the highest ranked of the three courses at central Florida’s new Streamsong Resort. Coore and Crenshaw worked with Tom Doak on which land each would use for their routings at Streamsong, a rare collaboration among competitors, but not surprising given their friendship. The Red course, which debuted inside the 100 Greatest in its first appearance, is ranked No. 102 on Golf Digest’s most recent rankings.

The 8th hole at Streamsong’s Red course.

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7 . Bandon Trails (Ore.)
Carved mostly out of wooded land though it starts and finishes among massive sand dunes, the facility’s third course, which opened in 2005, is the fourth-highest ranked course at Bandon Dunes—sitting at No. 70 on our latest ranking.

Stephen Szurlej
The first hole at Bandon Trails

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6 . Old Sandwich Golf Club, Plymouth, Mass.
Old Sandwich’s 56th-place spot is the highest place it has held on our 100 Greatest ranking. Carved out of the brush and sand just two miles from the ocean, Coore and Crenshaw utilised some rolling terrain and beautiful landscapes to create another minimalist design (see Sand Hills, below).

he Henebrys/Courtesy of Old Sandwich GC
The 15th hole at Old Sandwich G.C. in Plymouth, Mass.

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5 . Barnbougle Lost Farm, Bridport, Australia
Sitting among towering Tasmanian sandscapes is this links course that was built to be the sister course of Tom Doak’s Barnbougle Dunes, No. 11 on our World 100. Lost Farm is currently No. 26 on our World 100.

Photo by Stephen Szurlej

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4 . Friar’s Head, Baiting’s Hollow, N.Y.
Built on sandy bluffs along the North Shore of Long Island, Friar’s Head is another minimalist success by Coore and Crenshaw, which despite losing out on Golf Digest’s 2003 Best New Private survey to the Club at Black Rock in Idaho and Dallas National, Friar’s Head ranks far above those designs, continuing to rise in our 100 Greatest rankings—up to No. 19, its highest-ever position.

Evan Schiller
The ninth hole at Friar’s Head Golf Club in Baiting’s Hollow, N.Y.

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3 . Sand Hills Golf Club, Mullen, Neb.
Perhaps most architecturally significant out of this group of courses, Sand Hills is regarded as one of the most natural golf courses ever built. As Golf Digest’s Whitten writes: “The golf course wasn’t so much designed as discovered,” and helped guide the later works of Coore and Crenshaw.

Dom Furore
An overview of Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Neb. (Photograph by Dom Furore)

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2 . Cabot Cliffs, Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada

John and Jeannine Henebry
The 16th hole at Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia.

On Cabot Cliffs, Golf Digest’s 2015 Best New honoree, Whitten wrote: “This is the second coming of Cypress Point, which in my mind was previously unmatched in its beauty, variety and thrills.” For a man not known for hyperbole, that is the highest praise. Cabot Cliffs was No. 9 on our most recent World 100 ranking.

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1 . Shanqin Bay, Hainan Island, China
Probably unknown by most casual American golfers, Shanqin Bay has been called by some the best course in Asia. Built on seaside sand dunes on China’s Hainan Island, Shanqin Bay sits at No. 8 on Golf Digest’s most recent World 100 ranking.

Courtesy of Shanqin Bay G.C.
The eighth hole at Shanqin Bay in China

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Other notable Coore and Crenshaw courses:

Sand Valley Golf Course was named the Best New golf course in 2017 by Golf Digest. It will be a candidate for our next 100 Greatest/Second 100 Greatest rankings, to be published in January 2019.

Trinity Forest Golf Club, site of the 2018 AT&T Bryon Nelson, will be a candidate for Golf Digest’s 2018 survey of Best New courses.

Ozarks National at Big Cedar Lodge—same as Sand Valley—has not yet been included on a published set of Golf Digest rankings.

Dormie Club: Narrowly missed making Golf Digest’s latest Second 100 Greatest ranking, and ranking 185th on Golf Digest’s 2015-2016 ranking, Dormie Club is No. 49 on our most recent 100 Greatest Public ranking.

Chechessee Creek in Okatie, S.C.: Like Dormie Club, made Golf Digest’s 2015-2016 ranking at No. 197, and narrowly missed in 2017-2018.

The Golf Club at Cuscowilla in Eatonton, Ga. — No. 11 on Golf Digest’s most recent Best in State rankings, the G.C. at Cuscowilla recently went full-private, previously being a 100 Greatest Public course.

East Hampton Golf Club: No. 28 on Golf Digest’s 2015-2016 Best in State rankings. Did not make the 2017-2018 rankings.

We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro Course in Fort McDowell, Ariz.: No. 98 on Golf Digest’s 2017-2018 100 Greatest Public courses ranking,

Lonna Tucker
The eighth hole at We-Ko-Pa’s Saguaro course.

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Austin Golf Club: Ben Crenshaw enjoyed his layout so much in his hometown that he actually lives on property.

Bandon Preserve — The fun 13-hole par-3 course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has become one of the most popular rounds to book at the resort.

The post The best Coore and Crenshaw golf courses appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

As you may have heard, next year’s Nelson will be played on Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw-designed Trinity Forest Golf Club on a sand-capped landfill in rough and tumble South Dallas. The tournament, which has carried Mr. 11 Straight’s name since 1968, is leaving TPC Las Colinas, a bastion of the shiny affluence that distinguishes the northern reaches of the Metroplex, for a less glamorous area that retains the look and feel of a pre-boomtown past. Most importantly, it’s moving from the inherent artificiality of modern golf architecture to the elemental design values that harken back to the origins of the game.

In fact, Trinity Forest is night and day from any other venue on tour. A windswept, nearly treeless expanse of dunes, waving prairie grass, and fast, undulating turf, the new place has every attribute of a links except cawing sea birds and an ocean.

It’s a big risk for everyone involved. You can almost hear the hushed clatter of dice hitting the side rails, including those thrown by the sponsor (AT&T), the developers (Jonas Woods and Thomas Dundon), the members, the city of Dallas and the Salesmanship Club, which runs the Nelson.

Uncertainty will prevail for the next year. Everyone may miss the cozy confines of the Four Seasons, an infrastructure that helped make the Nelson No. 1 on tour in charitable dollars raised and a perfectly adequate—if not revered—golf course. The only way this thing works is if Trinity Forest is a home run.

That next year’s Nelson will cause a sensation is a given. There will be lavish praise, and there will be howling. Some players will love the cerebral, pinball-ish ground game at Trinity Forest, its ice-sculpture greens and the shabby chic of its out-of-play areas. Other expert practitioners used to hitting high shots to soft targets just aren’t going to get it. Someone will four-putt or five-putt and pitch a fit. Some viral videos may result.

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WATCH NOW: THE PRE-SHOT PUTTING ROUTINE YOU NEED UNDER PRESSURE

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Although architect Crenshaw, a traditionalist in such matters, will concede only that Trinity Forest is “links-like,” it’s essentially a links. That could be a problem. Tour players don’t do links or links-like (except for the one week in the U.K. in July) and they never have. Yes, Pinehurst hosted the North and South Open from 1902 to 1951, as well as U.S. Opens in 1999, 2005 and 2014, and some think of that North Carolina ground as linksy. But: pine trees.

The crux of the Trinity Forest matter is more than just Dallas’s venerable PGA Tour event. The TF guys set the bar really high. Take the first sentence on its website. The club, it says, “was created explicitly to attract prestigious golf championships back to Dallas.”

That means bringing a major, and hopefully more, back to Big D. Jordan Spieth’s hometown hosted the U.S. Open once, in 1952, at Northwood Club. Julius Boros won. Dallas Athletic Club staged the PGA Championship once, in 1963. Jack Nicklaus won. And that’s been it.

Is Trinity Forest worthy of another major? Or will it be?

Yes. Short of the British Open crossing the Prime Meridian, there’s no other feasible site (sorry Sand Hills and Bandon Dunes) that could offer as good a linksy, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride for the U.S. Open or PGA Championship as Trinity Forest. And with the possibility in a few years that the PGA Championship will be moving from its traditional August date to May, Dallas’ Sunbelt geography could make it a more attractive candidate in a month when Northeast sites tend to be too cold and soggy, and summer heat hasn’t yet overtaken Texas.

Such positive forecasting might sound foolish, but at least I know the place pretty well. For reasons that include a sharp desire to get my ass out of the office, I have been a part-time caddie at Trinity Forest since it opened last October. I have been on the bag of touring pros and abject hackers and all varieties in between. I have tended the pin for a gentleman putting from 79 yards on the double green for holes 3 and 11; he got it within eight feet and bumped my fist. I have endured many what-the-hell looks after a putt that I predicted would go a little left went a little right. I have managed not to point out that the sun was in my eyes, that the ultra-dwarf Bermuda greens are extraordinarily good for a new course but they’re not yet perfect, and that you, Mr. Golfer, are not exactly a surgeon with the putter.

What I’ve learned from repeated exposure is that your usual game ain’t gonna work. A hockey stick is literally more useful than a 60-degree wedge on these tight and dry zoysia fairways. Those who can’t bring themselves to putt or bump from off the green will give away strokes.

The first green accepts like a catcher’s mitt. The second green repels like the left field wall at Fenway. The fourth green is an infinity pool; you will very likely putt right off it. Ground zero for short-game tragedies is the adjacent fifth and the 15th greens, which are shaped like overturned cereal bowls. Five plays at around 340 yards and it’s not tight and there’s just the one bunker to miss but triple bogeys and Xs outnumber birdies there by a wide margin. At the grand opening, Crenshaw made a 20-footer—for 6.

“I love it,” Ogilvy said. “Strategically, it’s so interesting. It’s got everything that’s missing from modern architecture. There are ways to challenge golfers besides long rough and narrow fairways.”

Also: Imagination and feel can be as important as yardage, particularly on a windy day, which is most of them. And something Crenshaw said should be printed on the scorecard: “The closer you flirt with trouble, the greater advantage you gain … [that’s] the cardinal principle of strategic design.”

On Wednesday, 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy had his first look at the place since he tramped around the raw land on behalf of the design firm that he and Mike Clayton partner, which didn’t get the job. I forecaddied and the lanky Aussie talked between shots. Weeds and wild flowers—rebranded “native areas”—swayed in the breeze. So did the leaves on the trees in the dense surrounding forest, which is the largest urban hardwood forest in the U.S. Only two buildings were visible all day: the clubhouse and the Bank of America tower 10 miles away in downtown Dallas, which is the aiming point for the tee ball on 15th.

“I love it,” Ogilvy said. “Strategically, it’s so interesting. It’s got everything that’s missing from modern architecture. There are ways to challenge golfers besides long rough and narrow fairways.”

On Thursday, I spoke with two local, low-handicap amateurs who’d ridden the wild pony. “Hated it,” said one. “Ben Crenshaw can’t hit a green so he made it a contest of who can make 12-footers—and Jordan wins.”

“It was incredible,” said Mark Krasovec. “I’ve seldom stepped on a course and said, ‘I wanna be a member,’ but I did at Trinity Forest. Had a great caddie, too. Jesse. A fireman. Has about five kids.”

None of this clears up the major question, of course. But on Monday the tour caddies will gather at Trinity Forest for their annual tournament. Those guys know golf courses. And they know majors. Let’s see how they like the only links on the schedule.

The post Trinity Forest Golf Club promises to be the PGA Tour’s most intriguing venue appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.