Design Notebook: A New Era at Canal Shores

Hello and welcome to Design Notebook, where we enjoyed a week with golf architecture in the spotlight. Would that we could see such spirit through the year. In this edition, we have more news on some backroom dealings in Florida politics as part of their effort to add golf to state parks, plus a look at Longue Vue outside Pittsburgh. But first, a trip to the northern suburbs of Chicago for an early review of renovation work at a beloved community course.

A Revamped and Revitalized Canal Shores

By Cameron Hurdus

On August 1, 105 years after the course first opened, 12 of the 18 holes of the newly branded Evans Course at Canal Shores reopened.

After years of neighborhood-led improvement projects and short-term fixes, the course was told their turf and infrastructure were in an “end of life” state. So a master plan was created with architect Todd Quitno which included tree and brush removal to open corridors for improved light and airflow, new irrigation, fixing problem drainage spots, and rebuilding the greens.

The routing was also adjusted, with the original first green being replaced by a 27,000-square-foot putting green. To compensate for that change, a new putting-only seventh hole was added, which sits at the base of the dramatic Baháʼí temple, one of the most scenic spots on the property.

The new putting-only seventh, in full view of the Baháʼí temple

Full disclosure: I never played the old course. But the results seem to have dramatically improved the course interest while still maintaining the unique character of the property. The greens feature far more internal contour with an emphasis on varied pin positions as well as template-inspired greens such as the Punchbowl sixth, Redan eighth, and Biarritz 11th.

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Canal Shores is a unique, non-profit public golf facility with ties to the Western Golf Association, First Tee of Chicago, and of course, the Evans Scholarship. (The new course name is in honor of Chick Evans, one of the greatest amateur golfers ever, who went to high school nearby and later founded the scholarship that bears his name.) It was clear from a single trip that this is a deeply loved community hub, so it’s great to see years of dreaming and planning finally pay off in a significant way.

The work was executed by Wadsworth Golf Construction and all 18 holes are scheduled to be open next year.

The Florida Fiasco Continues

By Garrett Morrison

After the recent kerfuffle around a now-scuttled plan to bring golf to Florida’s Jonathan Dickinson State Park, scrutiny has intensified on a land swap involving the resort Cabot Citrus Farms. In June, top Florida officials, including Governor Ron DeSantis, approved a transfer of 324 acres of Withlacoochee State Forest to Cabot, in exchange for 861 acres of timberland in another part of the state. This transaction, which has yet to receive the go-ahead from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, attracted scant attention before this week. Now, however, the Tampa Bay Times is digging into the deal with a critical eye.

Unlike the Jonathan Dickinson proposal, this land swap doesn’t strike me as a non-starter. It would, after all, result in a net gain of state lands. On the other hand, the parcel that Florida would receive is probably less ecologically significant than the one Cabot hopes to develop. So there appear to be valid arguments both for and against the swap.

The larger takeaway here, though, is that the golf course industry has a long way to go to gain broad public trust. And recent events in Florida haven’t helped.

In case you haven’t been following this story, here’s the basic timeline:

• Last year, the veterans charity Folds of Honor pitched government officials in Florida on a measure that would allow the construction of a 45-hole golf complex in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. No one agreed to sponsor the bill, and multiple officials have since claimed they explicitly advised against it.
• In April of this year, Folds of Honor founder Lt. Col. Dan Rooney attended a one-on-one meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis.
• Two weeks ago, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced its “Great Outdoors Initiative,” which included a golf plan similar to the one Folds of Honor had presented behind closed doors in 2023. This surprised officials who thought they had already rejected the idea.
• After a bipartisan outcry, an obscure nonprofit called the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation announced that it was responsible for the Jonathan Dickinson proposal and would be withdrawing it. The Palm Beach Post noted that this foundation shares a mailing address with Folds of Honor.

Look, I’m sure the advocates of the Jonathan Dickinson project had good intentions. They wanted to create a public golf facility honoring the Tuskegee airmen—a lovely concept. But they chose a piece of land that a great number of Floridians are opposed to developing, and they apparently didn’t take “no” for an answer when they met with government officials last year. As a result, the whole scheme looks like… well, a scheme. And it has cast a shadow of suspicion over Florida golf development that, at the very least, may complicate Cabot Citrus Farms’ expansion plans.

Like most golfers, I would love to see developers work with state and local governments to create more and better public golf options. But they have to pick their spots. They can’t be caught sniffing around beloved parks with established functions, and they need to cultivate public support rather than working political back channels. Otherwise, the reputation of golf development will suffer, and it will become harder to build the kind of socially beneficial, environmentally responsible golf facilities that we actually need.

Chocolate Drops

By Garrett Morrison

A new Vue: Andrew Green, whose overhaul of East Lake Golf Club was on display last week at the Tour Championship, has been hired to lead a historical renovation of Longue Vue Club, a dramatic course within a 15-minute drive of both Fox Chapel Golf Club and Oakmont Country Club. Longue Vue was designed in 1922 by Robert White and adjusted slightly in 1935 by A.W. Tillinghast. Green has already completed his work on the fifth and ninth holes, and he will tackle the rest of the course in two year-long phases, starting in early 2025. Here is Green’s master plan:

Andrew Green's master plan for Longue Vue Club

Also, check out our photos of the course as it currently stands in the section below.

From Bear Lakes to Love Lakes: Bear Lakes Country Club, a 1984 Jack Nicklaus design in West Palm Beach, will soon receive a makeover from Love Golf Design, the Sea Island-based firm headed up by Davis Love III and Scot Sherman. Although intended to resemble a Scottish links course, Bear Lakes has always looked far more like a run-of-the-mill housing-development track than, say, Muirfield. Love Golf Design will attempt to give the course a refreshed identity by rerouting some holes and rebuilding tees, bunkers, and greens.

I’m highlighting the Bear Lakes renovation because I think it’s an example of the type of project that could partly define the next era of American golf architecture. Because of the successes of the neoclassical movement over the past 25 years, there aren’t many Golden Age masterpieces left to restore. There are, however, legions of mediocre real-estate courses from the 1980s and 90s that could use some reimagining. Love Golf Design seems to be developing a knack for this kind of work.

A Course We Photographed Recently

Longue Vue Club (Penn Hills Township, PA)—designed by Robert White in 1922, minor changes by A.W. Tillinghast in 1935, renovated by Andrew Green 2024-2026

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Quotable

“Some inferior architects needlessly multiply their hazards. They work without any very clear idea as to the purpose of hazards, and sprinkle them here and there, sometimes with more ill effect than good. To place a bunker guarding the green on the right, and another bunker at the right of the fairway to catch a slice is to double the penalty for an error. The one bunker at the green would have been quite sufficient. Not infrequently one sees bunkers so placed as to prohibit good play. Bunkers behind the green often deter one from bold shots to the pin. Bunkers intended to punish a pull or a slice, sometimes prevent one from playing to the right or left of the fairway where the position may be ideal from which to play a second shot. The most absurd of all hazards are those which are placed to catch shots so bad that even had they found a good lie there would have been no possibility of an effective recovery.” –Robert Hunter