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
"Coore & Crenshaw: The cornerstones of success"
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They are the undisputed best in the business and I’m not sure it’s close, so it’s great to read Shaun Tolson’s profile of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw who are still going strong but also working the same way they always have: with the utmost care for the details.
It’s hard to believe this many years later but they struggled to get their design firm off the ground.
Looking back on those early years, when the duo had no pipeline of work and no completed projects upon which they could hang their proverbial hats, both men legitimately wondered if anyone was going to hire them. What they did know was that they shared the same philosophical approach to designing courses. Equally significant, they both shared the same philosophy of how they wanted their business of designing courses to operate. “We knew it had to be run like a business to survive,” Coore explains, “but at the same time, philosophically, we were trying to say that we were going to treat it like a hobby.
“When I say hobby, I mean, ‘let’s have fun doing this.’ Don’t make this such a business that we’re not involved and can’t have fun. If you have this dream to actually create a golf course, but you structure a business deal that takes that dream away, now you’re just a businessman.”
Ultimately, Coore and Crenshaw agreed from the beginning that their No. 1 goal was to design a few interesting golf courses, to be significantly involved in the work and development of those courses as they moved through the conception and construction phases, and to have some fun while doing it all. “Back then, no matter how we progressed, we knew we weren’t going to be prolific,” Crenshaw says. “Our goal was to build a few good golf courses. And that’s never changed. It doesn’t change now.”
The Shack Show Episode 3 With Guest Ben Crenshaw
/Twenty five years ago Ben Crenshaw captured his second Masters.
We discussed that week and a range of other Masters topics, and we zeroed in on the wondrous par-5 13th’s ingenious details. I have plenty of show notes below, so here is the show thanks to iHeart with a special shoutout to producer Tim Parotchka for turning around the first week of shows within hours of recording.
Here is the iHeart embed below, the Apple podcasts link and of course, a subscribe on your favorite podcast platform will auto download the Shack Show.
Show Notes:
Ben playing the 13th hole in 1984:
The 1995 Masters final round broadcast.
Ben playing the 13th hole in 1995 starting with the tee shot:
Alan Shipnuck’s Golf.com story on watching the 1995 Masters recently with the Crenshaws.
Pages from A Feel For The Game discussing his final round shirt by Jeff Rose featuring Bobby Jones images.
Abebooks results for A Feel For The Game. ABEBooks is also featuring many independent booksellers offering new and used books.
Scott Sayers and Ed Clements interviewed Carl Jackson this week.
Ben Hogan hitting a shot into the 13th at Augusta National.
Here are Ben and I discussing the 13th in 2018 for a Golf Channel feature.
Here is a link to Steve Eubanks’ book, To Win And Die In Dixie, referenced by Ben in the discussion. Abebooks offerings are more affordable.
Also a reminder, for current book buying, Bookshop.org is raising proceeds for independent booksellers.
Talk of Herbert Warren Wind, Amen Corner provides an excuse to return to Karen Crouse’s definitive New York Times story opening with extensive quotes from Ben.
Trinity Forest Out As Nelson Host After This Year
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The Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw explains why the 2020 AT&T Byron Nelson will be the last at Trinity Forest. The bold Coore-Crenshaw design was just one issue, along with the courses location, the lack of shade and a huge decline in tournament revenues.
We have learned that it’s over, that the 2020 Nelson will be the final one held on the south Dallas course. Eventually, the tournament will move to PGA Frisco but it may need to make a stopover back at the Four Seasons TPC for 2021, which is sort of like telling your ex-wife: “Hey, things didn’t work out with my new partner, but I need to come home and crash before moving on to my next one, is that OK?’’
The tournament was expected to eventually move to the PGA of America project in Frisco, but that is at least two years away, meaning the Nelson may have no choice but to return to the TPC it left. Indeed, as Cowlishaw notes, that’ll be an awkward reunion.
It’s a shame. Trinity Forest may be the most eccentric Coore-Crenshaw design of all and one of their more amazing accomplishments given the not-thrilling landscape. But without the lively bunkering they are known for, an emphasis on the ground game (except during Nelson week when things were kept softer), and an awkward clubhouse/course/range setup for a big tournament, this was going to be a tough sell in May date prior to the PGA.
(The course would be the perfect Open Championship tune-up test, but the club is closed by July when players are prepping for the last major.)
The only good news in this case? From the start, sponsor AT&T was involved in the tournament move and former AT&T executive VP Ronald Spears is a club co-founder with Jonas Woods.
Q&A With Ben Crenshaw On The State Of Putting
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For Golfweek’s May putting issue, I couldn’t help but ask Ben Crenshaw all sorts of grumpy old man questions like why can’t these kids put like you used to, what’s with these silly green reading books and what happened to all the blade putters?
I enjoyed this answer to a question about how to get kids developing their putting:
Crenshaw: Putting contests, I always thought, were great. Harvey encouraged that. Having to putt against someone and go around the clock. There’s no better practice, because you’re putting something on the line, you’re competing. When you’re putting at different holes, that’s what golf is. When I was a kid, I found about eight balls out on the golf course. I went up to the putting green by myself, and I hit this one putt about an hour. Same putt, over and over. Harvey said, “Ben, I see what you’re doing. Your stroke looks pretty good, but you’ll never have that putt again the rest of your life. Putt to different holes.” You see young people do that in practice. They get the chalk out with straight lines and all that stuff.
Save Muny Urgently Needs UT Regents To Hear From Supporters
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It’s a golf course for everyone in a city center
The University of Texas Board of Regents and legislators who hold the future of Lions Municipal apparently need to be reminded again that a lot of people care about Austin’s gem of a public golf facility.
This Thursday they vote on whether to extend the Brackenridge Tract Agreement deadline for canceling the Muny Golf Course lease. An extension is needed to allow the state of Texas and City of Austin to continue negotiations on Saving Muny and the Brackenridge Tract.
The Save Muni Instagram account offers this handy sample letter with pertinent email addresses.
Crenshaw Pleased With Trinity Forest Debut
/A record winning score posted by a player posting some amazing ball-striking stats never hurts, but Ben Crenshaw declared his pleasure at Trinity Forest's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic debut.
From Will Gray's report for GolfChannel.com:
“We’re pleased. It’s off to a nice, quiet start, let’s say,” Crenshaw said. “The week started off very quiet with the wind. This course, we envision that you play it with a breeze. It sort of lends itself to a links style, playing firm and fast, and as you saw yesterday, when the wind got up the scores went up commensurately.”
The Crenshaw's with former President George W. Bush, who appeared in the broadcast booth during the final round. He hosts an event for wounded warriors Monday at Trinity Forest.
Video: Ogilvy Taking Us Through The Best Of Trinity Forest
/Great set of content videos here from the folks at Trinity Forest, host to this week's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.
Ogilvy on the double green at the third and eleventh holes.
Ogilvy on the short par-4 5th:
On the short par-3 8th and it's green complex:
On the well-placed bunker at the 14th:
And finally the zany 17th green:
First Preview: PGA Tour Heads To Coore And Crenshaw's Trinity Forest
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Big week for minimalism!
The AT&T Byron Nelson Classic moves from the many-times remodeled TPC Las Colinas Four Seasons to the year-old Trinity Forest Not A Four Seasons Golf Club.
The recently opened Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw course is built on a landfill next to the Trinity Forest and is decidedly linksy in appearance. I'm getting a firsthand look and will be filing a review for Golfweek and Morning Drive coverage for Golf Channel, but in the meantime here is some preview coverage to whet your appetite...
Graylyn Loomis filed this preview for Links and featured this quote from Bill Coore on the design philosophy:
“We couldn’t make the course look like a prototypical Dallas layout with streams, trees, and lakes,” says Coore. “You can’t plant a tree because the roots break the cap. We knew early on there couldn’t be a stream or water, either. The focus had to be the rumpled ground created as the landfill settled over the decades and we tried to highlight those features.”
The intrigue will be in watching player comments to see how the design style is embrace given the lack of major visual eye candy and the general propensity of today's pros to find the ground game offensive.
Jordan Spieth, who makes Trinity Forest his primary practice facilities, was asked about the course at The Players:
Q. You got your home game next week; what's the scouting report on Trinity?
JORDAN SPIETH: It looks as good as I've seen it since -- and I've been going out there since before the greens were even sprigged. It looks really good. It's grown on me a lot over the past six months, and in the springtime, I think it's at its best. It's in his best condition that it can be now or the next month or two. I think the weather looks like it's going to really cooperate to give it a good first showing.
A lot of big grandstands. It's like an American links. You've kind of got to play it from the air, not really a bounce the ball up kind of links, but it is still a links-looking golf course. So it's weird, it's unique. It's actually -- Birkdale was kind of the closest comparison I've found to a links course that you kind of have to attack from the air. You get maybe four or five, six holes where you can bounce the ball up, but the way to get balls close is to come in with a higher shot. That's not necessarily true links. I don't want to say that about Birkdale because of the history and everything, but it's just the way I've found to play it well is that route.
Here is a sampler from the AT&T Byron Nelson:
Andy Johnson broke down the 6th hole in this flyover. Check out that green!
The turf looks ready!
Crenshaw And Dynamics Of Possibly Lengthening Augusta National's 13th
/For Golfweek's Masters preview issue I wrote about the dynamics involved in lengthening the 13th hole and got some interesting feedback from Adam Scott. We will find out more today about future plans for the hole from Chairman Fred Ridley's press conference (11 am ET).
As part of the 13th Hole feature that aired this week on Live From The Masters (and may still run), we are getting some fun bonus content from our chats with Nick Faldo and Ben Crenshaw. Here is Ben talking about many elements of the hole, looking at Josh Pettit's plan created for the feature:
"Ben Crenshaw and Luke Wilson form a Pro-Am team to protect an Austin treasure and Civil Rights landmark"
/Garden and Gun's Tom Cooper--because who doesn't garden and shoot things--looks at the Save Muny fight through the eyes of its most famous supporters, 
Cooper on actor Luke Wilson's involvement:
Ever since that decision, Muny has become a cause célèbre in Austin, and a nonprofit organization named Save Muny has become the organizing force, recruiting local notables such as Willie Nelson and his son Lukas to help with the efforts. Which brings us back to Luke Wilson. The forty-six-year-old grew up in Dallas, and his two brothers, Owen and Andrew, both attended UT–Austin. A competent golfer himself, he’s played Muny many times and last year invested in an Austin company, Criquet, that makes retro-looking golf shirts. Criquet adopted Save Muny as its signature cause and enlisted Wilson to lend his star power. Last April, at Criquet’s annual 19th Hole party, a rollicking fund-raiser for Save Muny, a round of golf with Wilson and Crenshaw went for $25,000 at auction, raising enough to cover the nonprofit’s annual operating costs.
Trinity Forest Deep Dive And The Nelson Going Forward
/It might seem rude to be looking ahead to the Byron Nelson's move from TPC Las Colinas/Four Seasons, but it's a course not loved by players. With a Coore and Crenshaw project that has reclaimed rolling, rumpled land, Trinity Forest has the potential to raise the architecture bar in the Dallas area.
More importantly, the 2018 Nelson could be a test run for bigger things, with the USGA having paid visits and the club thought to have major championship aspirations. With AT&T's golf-living bigwigs backing the project, don't be surprised if the Nelson is short-lived there and we see the PGA of America and USGA jockey for something bigger.
Anyway, Jonathan Wall at PGATour.com has done a wonderful deep dive piece into the project and has more details on the architectural elements than previous pieces. As always, please hit the link but here's a teaser:
Instead of attempting to alter the contours, Coore and Crenshaw embraced the character flaws and built Trinity Forest around the gentle rises and falls in the land, along with the native grasses and rolling, rumpled sand that are hallmarks of the design.
"The set of circumstances are we let the holes fall where they are," Crenshaw said. "The character of the topography of the ground dictates what the end result will be, and we are very traditional in that regard. We've borrowed ideas from the old architects such as Donald Ross, [A.W.] Tillinghast and Perry Maxwell, and they all basically have the same interwoven philosophies in that the holes must fit the ground.
"Perry Maxwell had some fascinating statements about that. He said, if you take a piece of land and tie it into a natural theme, your golf course will be different than anyone else's. I always thought that was a fascinating statement. So wherever we go, we try as hard as we can to not alter the land so much."
Texas Senate Votes To Transfer Lions Away Muny From UT
/Ralph K.M. Haurwitz of the Austin American-Statesman on news that the Texas state Senate voted 21-10 to transfer Lions Municipal Golf Course ownership from the University of Texas to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The bill now goes to the House.
This part made me chuckle given university plans for years to develop the course. What beacons of the community!
UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves offered in January to extend the city of Austin’s lease for Muny after it expires in May 2019 — provided that the city is willing to pony up lease payments that are closer to market value. Fenves testified before a Senate panel that the market value would be around $6 million a year, about 12 times the current rate paid by the city, which has operated the course for decades.
The Save Muny folks are understandably pleased:
Trinity Forest Opening Photos, A Few Course Glimpses
/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:
Trinity Forest To Host Nelson Year Earlier Than Planned
/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.
