A bone-dry course created one of the most unique major events in years and was ultimately won by Francesco Molinari, by no means a 'Power Hitter' among the professional golf ranks. In July however, The Open at Carnoustie revealed the timeless principles of links golf course design in particular when applied to the natural environment. In 2018, Shinnecock Hills was brought to the edge by the USGA and Koepka prevailed there as well as two months later at the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed Bellerive. Open, Brooks Koepka scorched the modern Erin Hills Fry-Hurdzan-Whitten layout. But land values and natural resources continue to skyrocket, often making it a terrible business decision to utilize more land. The conundrum among golf course architects at the moment is simple: Technology, coupled with continued professional golfer athleticism, is causing the golf ball to go farther than ever before. The move was so popular they called on Hanse to do the same to the modernized Pinehurst No. 2 course back to a single-line irrigation system and installed native, sandy wire grass instead of thick bermuda rough.

Pinehurst undid decades of lushness philosophy to return their Ross No. Even modern golf designs are finding ways to throw back their layouts. Sand Hills is regarded as a catalyst of the modern bucket-list golf getaway made famous by Bandon Dunes, whose early designs by David McKlay Kidd and Tom Doak, and later by Coore & Crenshaw, has become a template for what avid amateur golf travelers want in a resort. Sometimes they are built on top of existing tees and fairways but are entirely new experiences thanks to new shaping and redesigned bunkers.Īrchitecture has recently found a 'neoclassic' form in many areas.

nevertheless, brand new golf courses, oftentimes part of new real estate communities, continue to open. Not enough golfers have been developed to keep all these courses afloat.

However, the boom ultimately led to a lot of poorly developed courses that are continually closing year over year. and brother Rees Jones enjoyed lucrative assignments around the world. Top golf course design firms like Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Robert Trent Jones Jr. The massive boom in new courses from the 1980s thru the early 2000s was extraordinary.

Jack hamm golf digest