An Update from Hills & Forrest, Our Golf Course Architect!
Hills & Forrest was busy with a lot of international work in 2014, mainly in China and Russia, but due to the political situations in both countries, most of that work has been delayed or in some cases cancelled. We did open one new course in Morocco that Steve Forrest had been working on for a number of years. We also completed a substantial component of the construction of a course in St. Petersburg called Mikhailovka which should be completed in summer 2015.
We’re very pleased to tell you that a new course called The Wyoming Club in the Black Hills of eastern Wyoming should start construction this spring, and if all goes well will open in 2016. Steve calls the course “an island in the sky,” because it’s on a high mesa or plateau perched above a wide valley, with panoramic views to South Dakota and Nebraska Wyoming and on a really clear day you can probably see Montana. It’s an awesome site which should result in an amazing golf course. Members interested in seeing this amazing site and learning about it can go to www.wyomingclub.com
Two prominent renovation projects in the USA also debuted last year, both of them US Open courses. Oakland Hills in Michigan will host the US Amateur in 2016, and to make the lesser known North course more competitively balanced with the famous South course the club asked Hills & Forrest for a major master plan/renovation. Shawn Smith was in charge of this, and in the club’s eyes way exceeded their expectations. In addition to making the course more challenging for the top amateurs in 2016, Shawn was also asked to address some chronic drainage issues on peaty land that has been a problem since the course was built almost one hundred years ago. Shawn not only solved the drainage issue, he rebuilt tees and bunkers as well as widening fairways to make the course a lot more fun to play for members, while stretching it out long enough and with enough challenge to take on the best contemporary players. The members, according to the club, “love” the changes, and the North is now the favorite of members to play.
A second Open course, Inverness in Toledo, also went through a makeover, restoring in character and shape both greens and bunkers which had strayed pretty far from the style of Donald Ross, the original designer of Inverness (and also of Oakland Hills.) Again, Shawn led the effort here, and the praise for the work has been very gratifying.
At present, in addition to The Wyoming Club, Hills & Forrest has undertaken some master planning and renovation of two of the Hills & Forrest courses at Bonita Bay, and work on that should begin this summer. A number of smaller renovation projects are also underway on courses in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. After the recession of 2008, many courses deferred renovation projects, so we’re seeing more and more clubs and courses looking to make new investments this year, in everything from irrigation systems to bunker renovations to overall master plans. We’ve also been helping clubs reduce water use by identifying out-of-play areas which really shouldn’t be irrigated. Our main theme in our work overall is “finding permanent design solutions to maintenance and operational issues.”
We hope this is helpful in giving you a sense of what your golf architect is up to these days!
All the best,
JOHN STRAWN, PRESIDENT & CEO
