Golf Course Architecture - Issue 76, April 2024

ridge lines and valleys. “The contours were so good that we changed holes many times before settling on this final set,” said Hanse. “All routings are like puzzles, and this one had many pieces that could have fit in various directions – we were truly spoiled with this site. We also knew that we wanted to build up to a crescendo and play back along the ridge for the final holes.” The ridge gets much steeper on the back nine and Hanse and Wagner wanted to avoid punishing walks at the end of the round. Their plan is for a par-three seventeenth and a par-five eighteenth that hug the ridge line. “With the finish, it was about bringing the players back to the ridge, which is really the theatre of the property,” said Wagner. Faced with a site that has a lot of undulation and sand, Hanse and Wagner have been allowed to be quite creative with course features. Wagner said: “The key word for both greens and bunkers will be ‘unpredictable’. Our goal is to create interesting situations 11 Photo: High Grove “All routings are like puzzles,” says Gil Hanse. “And this one had many pieces that could have fit in various directions – we were truly spoiled with this site. We also knew that we wanted to build up to a crescendo and play back along the ridge for the final holes.” Image: Hanse Golf Design

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