When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
It's not often you get to see and hear about the restoration of a course as exclusive as Seminole, so enjoy this Vimeo-posted piece with restoration explanations from superintendent Hal Hicks and architect Ben Crenshaw. There are some super drone flyovers too.
Few gems have served the game better than Inverness. Even having grown too short for the modern ball and having seen a few holes badly defaced by the Fazio's, Donald Ross's design retains a character that few other inland courses enjoy. The joint first tee, the walkability factor, the character-rich holes and the golf-first approach of the membership makes it a such an important course for all to see. 
Yet Inverness has had trouble luring a significant event, so news of it getting the 2021 Solheim Cup is both tremendous for fans and for the cup. Of the upcoming Solheim Cup courses--Des Moines Golf & CC, Gleneagles--it's easily the best. In fact, of all professsional Cup courses currently scheduled, this is the best architecturally. It's just a shame we have to wait so long.
Randell Mell with all the details at GolfChannel.com.
Ran Morrissett filed this review in 2014 while also previewing some improvements to the course.
G.J. McCarthy's photo gallery for the Dallas Morning News offers a few more glimpses of the new Trinity Forest course in Dallas. Designed by Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, the course was built on a 400-acre landfill and sports a $150,000 initiation fee. 
From the sounds of Bill Nichols' story on the opener, the course has gotten more private than was outlined in the original scope but remains the home course for SMU's golf teams. Architectural details, beyond being so starkly links-like and rustic, are pretty sparse.
The layout measures 7,300 yards from the tips and plays to a par of 71 with 11 par-4s, four par-3s and three par-5s. Three holes cross a deep ravine, and three others have split fairways. Most of the greens are slightly elevated with tightly mowed surrounding areas.
This Instagram image from Jordan Spieth gives a sense of the course location and scale:
A photo posted by Jordan Spieth (@jordanspieth) on
The Coore-Crenshaw design, opening this weekend and reportedly considered a potential future major venue, will host the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson. That is a year earlier than expected, ending the PGA Tour's run at Las Colinas (since 1983) this upcoming season.
Art Stricklin reports the announcement will be made Wednesday with Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour EVP Andy Pazder.
Salesmanship Club officials said the early move came about for two reasons: The club and the Tour came to an agreement with the Four Seasons Resorts owner, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, to get out of the contract early and the Tour's agronomy staff has signed off on when the course could host its first professional event.
Translation: they couldn't get away from TPC Las Colinas fast enough.
You can see a few Trinity Forest images at their official site.
The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein considers the possible South Shore-Jackson Park-Obama-Woods-Keiser-Rolfing project on the South Side and gives it an endorsement, seeing plenty of potential "greatness," assuming green fees for the locals do not go up substantially.
That's what officials did at TPC Harding Park, the San Francisco course that was transformed into a facility worthy of the 2009 Presidents Cup. Senior residents of the city can play the 18 holes from Monday-Thursday for $39, about one-fourth of the standard rate.
Rolfing also wants to design a "short course" in the vein of what Harding Park has — nine holes ranging from 140-405 yards
Brynn Grimley reports on the selection of a local team to build a resort-style hotel, restaurant and villas at Chambers Bay. While getting the turf a little stronger is a priority for some and stadium mounds that actually work (unlike the ones RTJ envisioned), we all know by now the real key to landing a repeat major centers around high-end lodging for the decision-makers.
?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1476761935303)
Led by Dan and Tom Absher, of Puyallup-based Absher Construction, and Dan Putnam, who previously was CEO of structural engineering firm PCS Structural Solutions, Chambers Bay Development used the local angle in its pitch. Also included is Columbia Hospitality, Kemper Sports, GGLO Architects and Douglas.
Putnam and the Abshers say they view the project as a legacy, something they would remain a part of after construction.
“I think they understand the Pacific Northwest,” said county Parks and Recreation director Tony Tipton. “The end product will transform into something this community can be proud of.”
The plans are conceptual, which means architectural features and smaller details are likely change as the project moves through the permitting process.
We saw it at Troon and Turnberry and the world continued to revolve on its axis. So it is with great delight that Adam Lawrence reports on a New Course at St. Andrews effort to remove the gorse that so annoyed Old Tom Morris, and restore it to the sandy/grassy aesthetic of old.
This news is fun on multiple levels: this makes for a better looking course, better playing and better functioning. And what happens in St. Andrews has the potential to influence countless other links that have been compromised by gorse and the loss of dunes.
Lawrence quotes Graeme Taylor, course manager for the New and Jubilee.
Taylor told GCA that the reason for converting the gorse areas back to exposed sand was primarily ecological. “Bob Taylor, our ecologist from the Sports Turf Research Institute, actaully first suggested the exposed sand areas back in 2005,” he explained. “Bob explained that exposed sand was a habitat common to linksland and was ecologically important. We tried a few areas then, but nothing like the scale of what we are now doing. Bob visited us again after last year’s Open, and again suggested that creating open sand areas would be very beneficial ecologically, restore natural habitats, and be an interesting feature to otherwise scruffy areas.”
The news of an architect's involvement at St. Andrews is also intriguing given Ebert's fine work at Turnberry, Troon and presumably based on the track record of he and partner Tom Mackenzie, Portrush.
Could this be leading to a consulting role for The Old Course? Given the many disappointing tweaks in recent times and the overabundance of gorse that would have Old Tom fuming, let's hope so.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
