Modern Classics: Great Waters
Jack Nicklaus returned to Reynolds Lake Oconee to modernize and renovate his three-decade-old gem Jack Nicklaus has done some great things in the state of Georgia. There are those six green jackets, of course. But Jack also did some pretty fancy tailoring about 100 miles west of Augusta, where he built—and recently renovated—Great Waters at […]
Turning Back the Clock: Course Corrections
Stale. Tired. Overgrown. Past its prime. Those aren’t words you want to hear describing anything, but they’re particularly hurtful when attached to golf courses. Bad enough if you’re talking about a Mom-and-Pop nine-holer charging a few dollars a round. But for a private residential course? Pure poison. To attract new members, keep existing members happy, and remain in the spotlight, upscale […]
LINKS Golf Podcast Episode 37: Why Do Courses Undergo Renovations?
LINKS Senior Editor Jim Frank joins the LINKS Golf Podcast in this episode to detail his recent round-trip exploring several of the newest renovation projects around the U.S. Jim and Digital Editor Al Lunsford discuss the idea of building new courses versus modernizing existing ones, and outline the different reasons that courses undergo renovations.
Greg Norman Returns to Renovated TPC Sugarloaf
In early October, 50-some-odd members of private club TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., followed along a ceremonial nine-hole loop featuring a foursome of course designer Greg Norman, two national media members, and one club member whose birthday wish came early when he won a raffle to tag along. Almost unfathomably, I found myself on the […]
Reynolds Lake Oconee’s Great Waters Course Gets Renovation
As I listened to Jack Nicklaus describe the renovation of Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee—a course that he originally opened in 1992 and reintroduced last week—it was hard not to think golf’s greatest champion was perhaps describing himself, as well. “Irrigation wears out, bunkers need reworking. It’s just time.” Nicklaus will turn 80 in […]
The Addington Golf Club, England
Idiosyncratic, brilliant, characterful, heroic. These are a few of the adjectives associated with The Addington. Located just 10 miles south of London’s Piccadilly Circus and hemmed-in by dense suburbia, it was built during the early years of the so-called “Golden Age” of course design with J.F. Abercromby creating and completing it either side of the Great War. […]
Fazio II Course Launches at St. Andrews Country Club
It is truly out with the Olde at the 30-year-old St. Andrews Country Club, where the Olde course just underwent a top-to-bottom renovation by Tommy Fazio (Tom’s nephew) that made the lushly landscaped layout more playable and more fun. It also makes the Fazio II course, as it’s now known, a more suitable complement to […]
Mountain Shadows Short Course is Reborn – Just What Golf Needs?
The conversation surrounding what makes golf fun, and where we can find it, has increased significantly of late. Frankly, fun was missing on most new courses over past decades, but with designs such as David McLay Kidd’s Gamble Sands and others roaring onto the scene, “fun” is making a comeback. One such place where fun was clearly the […]
Philadelphia Cricket Club, Wissahickon Renovation
When A.W. Tillinghast died, he requested that his ashes be spread “where he loved life the most”—along the Wissahickon Creek, a stream that winds through one of his finest designs, the Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club. Wissahickon is the most famous of Philly Cricket’s three courses. It opened in 1922, at the peak of […]
In Praise Of Course Renovations
By James A. Frank Old Marsh Golf Club In our business it’s very easy to get excited about new courses. We golf writers love talking to architects and owners about why they did what they did and then passing that information on to you, our audience of avid, savvy golfers. However, as a few recent […]
