Renovations restore classic looks to these Texas golf courses

Compared with what has been happening within the golf building enterprise in Texas for a lot of the previous decade, the exercise of the final couple of years could possibly be thought to be a deluge.

Bent Tree, Brook Hollow Golf Club, Northwood Club, Royal Oaks, Fort Worth’s Shady Oaks and North Richland Hills’ Iron Horse are among the many courses which have undergone face-lifts.

In addition to the 2 new courses at PGA Frisco which are scheduled to come on-line subsequent spring, Heath Golf and Yacht Club opened in 2020 and two new personal courses will be part of the roster this yr. Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club, which opened 9 holes in October 2021, opened the remaining 9 holes May 4. Big Easy Ranch close to Houston is on tempo to open within the fall. Also, building on a course within the large Legacy Hills growth in Celina is ready to start this summer time.

Brook Hollow Golf Club

Perhaps no course in recent times has undergone as excessive a metamorphosis because the venerable Dallas course that opened in 1922. It was conceived because the Pine Valley of Texas when the founding members employed A.W. Tillinghast to design the course in what was then the countryside 7 miles northwest of downtown Dallas. Legend has it that Brook Hollow founding member Cameron Buxton, who was additionally a member of Tillinghast-designed Pine Valley that’s thought-about one of many most interesting courses within the United States, persuaded Tillinghast to convey his expertise to Texas.

The sandy soil on what was then farmland was thought-about ultimate for rising Bermuda grass. Early aerial views of the course present few bushes.

Over the years, the bushes on the property flourished, grass was allowed to unfold past the fairways and the course took on the traits of what has change into a contemporary nation membership look with lush fairways and wall-to-wall grass.

Plans for the renovation gained momentum when it grew to become clear the ageing irrigation system and bunkers wanted to get replaced. Brook Hollow president Robert Allday stated members voted to add the hydronics system to management the temperature at root stage and preserve the bentgrass greens wholesome after which determined to undertake the bulk if not all the grasp plan.

“The focus was on going back to what we perceived what Tillinghast would have done if he were alive today,” stated Brook Hollow president Robert Allday, noting that the course celebrated its centenary. “Did the course really fit the tradition and history of Tillinghast’s roots? Ultimately, we decided it didn’t.”

Architect Keith Foster eliminated greater than 300 bushes and plenty of extra have been trimmed to create open vistas. The membership has added 550 bushes to the perimeter of the property and created a hardwood space in the midst of the property. Rough in some areas was changed with sandy waste areas dotted with native scrubs, sage and coastal Bermuda.

Recognized Tillinghast parts equivalent to grass-faced bunkers and squared-off greens and greens with false fronts have been restored. No 15 options the Great Hazard, the most important waste space on the grounds. It is taken into account a staple of Tillinghast designs.

The personal membership was closed for 18 months earlier than having a smooth opening in November 2020. It opened for full member play in the summertime of 2021.

Meadowbrook Golf Course

The rapid way forward for the municipal course east of downtown Fort Worth rests with the outcomes of a $560 million bond bundle on Saturday’s poll. Included in that bundle is $123.96 million for Park and Recreation enhancements. One of these enhancements in a serious renovation of Meadowbrook Golf Course, which is closing in on its a centesimal yr. About $7 million has been put aside for design and building, in accordance to metropolis paperwork.

John Bredemus, who was additionally concerned with the design of Colonial Country Club, is credited with designing the course when it opened in 1924 as Meadowbrook Country Club.

John Colligan, an Arlington-based golf course architect, has achieved a grasp plan for Meadowbrook that features main modifications to the course. His plan would name for brand spanking new routing, fairways, lakes, greens and irrigation.

“We want it to be something the public will enjoy playing,” Colligan stated. “They’ll play it and want to go back and play it again.”

Colligan, who with Trey Kemp remodeled Arlington’s Ditto Golf Course into Texas Rangers Golf Club and made main modifications to Dallas’ Stevens Park Golf Course, stated he plans to make the most of a few of the Bredemus-style structure equivalent to grass-faced bunkers within the renovation.

“Very few holes will stay the same,” he stated. “All the changes are for the better and to make it more playable and more enjoyable.”

If voters approve the bond bundle, Colligan estimated the course could possibly be open for play in 2025.

Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club

If the Tom Fazio course that opened this week matches the facilities — and by most accounts it does — it’s going to quickly seem within the Texas Golf rankings.

Discovery Land Company, which is growing the 800-acre residential property 25 miles south of downtown Austin, is understood for its customer support. If Discovery didn’t create the template for superior golf course experiences, it may be stated it perfected it. Among the options which have change into typical for such extremely high-end Texas courses as Dallas National, Vaquero, Escondido, Blue Jack National and Spanish Oaks are well-stocked consolation stations and cooks on the course getting ready inviting morsels to nourish golfers.

“We don’t have a manual for how to treat our members. We have 300 different manuals,” stated Casey Paulson, the president of gross sales and operations at Driftwood. “The service is always personal.”

And the golf isn’t unhealthy, both.

The course has a Hill Country really feel with out the precise hills of courses in Austin, Horseshoe Bay and Fredericksburg. But Fazio has made the a lot of the 80 toes of elevation change on the property.

“It was built for member and guest play,” Paulson stated. “It’s big enough and strong enough to challenge the best players. It can create a test of golf for anybody if you play the right tees. I know you’ll have a great experience.”

Fazio was the visitor of honor at an occasion in 2021 to promote the course. By then most of his work was achieved and the course was rising in. He was understandably excited concerning the course’s prospects.

“People will expect it to be good because it’s Hill Country, because Discovery Land Company is involved, because Fazio is involved — all those expectations are high,” he stated on the time. “When they come here and see it, they will be shocked beyond their imagination because it’s even more substantial than their expectations could lead them to believe. That’s how good the whole property is, and the golf experience we’re creating here.”

Legacy Hills

Construction is scheduled to start this summer time for the day by day payment course on the northwest aspect of Celina in a 3,200-acre Legacy Hills residential growth. It will tentatively be known as Golf Club at Legacy Hills. Centurion American Development Group introduced the Legacy Hills venture close to the intersection of Legacy Drive and Celina Parkway. The property has about 4 miles of frontage on the Dallas North Tollway extension.

Lee Singletary, who’s designing the course, stated the course web site is a big greenbelt space within the core of the venture with a mix of open house, mature bushes and meandering creeks and streams.

“It is a large canvas to work with, and there are many opportunities for outstanding golf holes,” Singletary stated in a news launch. He stated he plans to use the creeks and streams within the routing and technique for the course.

Singletary, who designed Woodbridge Golf Club in Wylie, stated the funds for the golf course, which is predicted to stretch to 7,500 yards, is $10 million to $20 million.

“We’re not cutting any corners on this project,” he stated.

Centurion American is planning 7,000 single-family houses and 4,100 multifamily models.

Big Easy Ranch

The facility that payments itself “a sporting club like no other” will add a brand new characteristic by the top of the yr. The addition of an 18-hole golf course that’s anticipated to be prepared for play in November, will give members and friends one other exercise to associate with looking, taking pictures clays, fishing and water sports activities.

The ranch, 9 miles north of Columbus in Colorado County, already had a nine-hole course par-3 course designed by Chet Williams. Construction on the 18-hole course, additionally designed by Williams, started in July 2021. Zeon zoysia sod for the fairways and tough was to be laid in early May. Grassing for the Tiff Eagle greens will start in June, Williams stated.

The property has 90 toes of elevation change. Williams raved concerning the terrain, calling it “almost perfect.”

“It rolls in the right places at the right times,” he stated. “It’s Hill Country-like, but not Hill Country.”

The course options loads of mature oaks, together with about 20 that have been moved from to make room for roads within the residential space. The par-72 course measures 7,448 yards from the information. There aren’t any houses adjoining to the course.

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