61 shoreline is very broken, with coves and inlets and peninsulas.” Lambeth was as good as his word. Coore & Crenshaw’s routing gets its first glimpse of the lake on the par-three eighth hole, but from there, it is by the water almost all the way – nine of the eighteen holes have water frontage. Coore says that, despite the beautiful surroundings, the routing was not an easy creation. “The difficulty was that, because the lake is man-made, all the peninsulas that run down to the water used to be ridgelines,” he explains. “They’re quite rounded, and not naturally that conducive to golf. But Russell gave us free rein to find the right land – of which they have a lot! Some sites that we looked at were beautiful, but their landforms were too severe for interesting golf. The Russell guys said, ‘You look at the properties we’ve got within the general area’. I said, ‘What’s the f lattest ground you have?’ Which isn’t the sort of question I normally ask a prospective client! But the family live there, so they’re very sensitive about how they treat the area.” Unlike most of Coore & Crenshaw’s more famous courses, Wicker Point is not built on sand, but on the red clay so common in America’s south. “The soil is heavy, but there is plenty of it,” says Coore. “Birmingham, which is the nearest city, is quite hilly – it’s the lowest reaches of the Appalachian mountains. But fortunately we haven’t encountered any rock on the site, so no need for blasting.” The course is also requiring more earthworks than the minimalist firm is associated with. “I’d be lying if I said the holes were just there – we have had to do some substantial recontouring of the ridges for the fairways,” says Coore. “But hopefully we’re doing it in such a way as it’ll still look pretty natural. There are some places with maybe ten-foot cuts and slightly bigger fills, but we’re trying to leave lots of tilt and sweeping movement. Most of the earthworks are basically taking the natural landforms that are there and keeping them intact, but softening them to accommodate golf.” The requirement for some fairly significant earthworks meant that a main contractor was required, and Landscapes Unlimited were hired to build the course. “Landscapes also built the first course for Russell, so they are familiar with the client and the area,” says Coore. But most of Coore & Crenshaw’s regular construction guys have been on site Images: Russell Lands The first visit to the shoreline comes at the par-three eighth
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