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30 Best New Courses of 2004
From New Jersey to New Zealand, the year's finest new public,
private and international golf courses
by Brian McCallen – Travel and Leisure Golf (Jan ’05)
We no longer live in the fruitful nineties, those halcyon days when golf
courses sprang from the ground like cornfields in Iowa. According to the
National Golf Foundation, 156 new layouts were scheduled to open in the
United States in 2004, a mere 60 percent of the number from a decade before.
But what last year's new offerings may have lacked in quantity, they more than
compensated for in quality.
On the public-access side, only
the most fully capitalized projects now get built in the U.S., which
is why the developers are increasingly Native American tribes with casinos
on-site—and why the layouts are consistently
first-rate. Of course, deep-pocketed private-club entrepreneurs still roam the land,
notably a pair of Arkansas heavyweights who've each built spare-no-expense clubs in their
home state. But these days the headiest action is taking place on the international front,
with the ready accessibility of prime golfing terrain yielding spectacular courses even in the
farthest reaches of the globe. To wit, architect Tom Doak weighs in with a Down Under
trifecta that may collectively define his career. But he's far from alone: Tom Fazio,
Gary Player, Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Arnold Palmer have also painted
noteworthy newcomers on the international canvas. Taken as a whole, the thirty debuts here
prove that it's no longer a question of how many new courses there are—just how
many great ones.
COURSE OF THE YEAR: CAPE KIDNAPPERS
CAPE KIDNAPPERS GOLF COURSE, TE AWANGA, HAWKE'S BAY, NEW ZEALAND
Financed by hedge-fund tycoon Julian
Robertson and routed on fingers of land nearly five hundred feet above
Hawke's Bay, this vertigo-inducing course, creased by ravines and patrolled
by gannets, belongs more to heaven than to earth. Several holes are pressed
to the edge of serrated cliffs, with deep "saving bunkers" designed to snare balls headed
for oblivion. Shot values are a match for the aesthetics, which are off the charts, as is
the scale of the five-thousand-acre sheep ranch designer Tom Doak was handed for his first
overseas project. Doak describes the land as "tilting toward the sea on a broad plane,
with deep valleys dividing it into a series of ridges jutting out toward the edge of the cliffs." The
soil is volcanic, not sandy, and lacks the subtle undulations of a true links,
yet the Cape, with its firm turf and steady winds, offers seaside golf at its
finest. A masterpiece of minimalist design (with maximalist views), Cape Kidnappers
is not only the course of the year, it's the new eighth wonder of the golf world.
Architect: Tom Doak. Yardage: 7,137. Slope: 141. Greens Fee: $275.
Tee Times: 011-64/6875-1900, capekidnappers.com.
2004 TEN BEST NEW PUBLIC/RESORT COURSES
ANGELES NATIONAL GOLF CLUB, SUNLAND, CA
ARROYO TRABUCO GOLF CLUB, MISSION VIEJO, CA
This Orange County newcomer occupies
a generous parcel crisscrossed by Trabuco Creek, which plays as a lateral
hazard on seven holes. Set in the Ladera Open Space Reserve, Arroyo Trabuco
is also one of a handful of courses in the region unmarred by real estate.
Lakes and dry creeks must also be avoided, but mostly this out-and-back,
links-style layout cut below dun-colored foothills is designed for guys
who love to bang the driver—like codesigner
Tom Lehman.
Architects: Casey O'Callaghan and Tom Lehman. Yardage: 7,011. Slope: 134. Greens Fees: $55-$85. Tee Times: 949-305-5100, arroyotrabuco.com.
ATUNYOTE COURSE, TURNING STONE RESORT AND CASINO, VERONA, NY
FIGHTING JOE COURSE, ROBERT TRENT JONES GOLF TRAIL AT THE SHOALS, MUSCLE SHOALS, AL
GILLETTE RIDGE GOLF CLUB, BLOOMFIELD, CT
KINDERLOU FOREST GOLF CLUB, VALDOSTA, GA
LAKOTA CANYON RANCH GOLF CLUB, NEW CASTLE, CO
MAY RIVER GOLF CLUB, BLUFFTON, SC
VINEYARD GOLF AT RENAULT, GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, NJ
THE WILDERNESS AT FORTUNE BAY, TOWER, MN
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