Some Exciting New Golf Course Projects (Part 3)

For the first time in a long time, there’s a lot of golf course development happening in the U.S. and abroad. I covered several ongoing projects and recent openings in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. Here are a few more:

The Luling project (Luling, TX)

Kyle Franz

Private

One of the most intrguing trends in golf course design is the new generation of architects coming to the forefront. Brian Schneider, Andrew Green, and Rob Collins have begun to establish themselves with both renovations and new builds. Another up-and-coming name you should know is Kyle Franz. Known for his restorations of Mid Pines, Pine Needles, and Southern Pines, he’ll get his first crack at a new build in Luling, Texas, about an hour south of Austin, in a region starved of great golf.

The Luling project has a kind of site that I particularly like. When I interviewed Gil Hanse about the Old Course a while back, he brought up the idea of “human-sized” contours. I’ve found that many of my favorite golf courses have contours of this scale, as opposed to the bigger, more dramatic ones that photograph well. The Luling property is blessed with what I’d call human-sized barrancas. It’s an incredible collection of landforms that come from seemingly nowhere and give Franz a lot to work with. Luling broke ground earlier this year and is set to open in 2024.

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I’d recommend keeping track of the catalog of designs that next-generation architects, including Franz, produce over the next few years. There will be a lot of fun stuff.

Wicker Point Golf Club (Lake Martin, AL)

Coore & Crenshaw

Private

Alabama has a surplus of golf courses by big-name architects, but none from the top designers of the past couple of decades. Years ago, a Gil Hanse development called the Capstone Club failed. Soon, though, Wicker Point will bring Coore & Crenshaw to Roll Tide country for the first time. This is a new-age development that tries to improve on the residential-golf model established in the 1980s and 90s. The land plan gives the course some of the property’s best land and calls for a generous buffer between the houses and the golf holes.

Courtesy of Wicker Point

Red Feather Golf and Social Club (Lubbock, TX)

King-Collins

Private

Red Feather, which will open on July 1, will be a story of starting with nothing and attempting to make it something. A person who visited the site before King-Collins broke ground described it to me as a “featureless bathtub.” Last week on the podcast, Rob Collins told me about the tremendous earthmoving he and Tad King needed to undertake in order to make the property golfable. So Red Feather will serve as a test case for Collins’s belief that you can create great golf anywhere. It could also make Lubbock a sneaky-good spot for golf. Assuming Red Feather offers some degree of accessibility, you could combine it with Tom Doak’s Rawls Course for a fun 36-hole stop.

Still lookin good dormant. If you’re interested in learning more about membership or would like to set up a tour email madi@redfeathergc.com. pic.twitter.com/tzYVmnHDlV

— Red Feather Golf and Social Club (@redfeathergc) January 6, 2023

Cabot Barrens at Cabot Citrus Farms (Brooksville, FL)

Kyle Franz

Public

A little more than a year ago, I included Tom Fazio’s Pine Barrens course at World Woods in my list of golf course restorations I’d like to see happen. Now World Woods is a Cabot property, and we’re closing in on a full-blown renovation of the Fazio course by Kyle Franz. Franz doesn’t plan to retain much from the original design. Whether or not this approach—as opposed to a more straight-ahead restoration—is the right one (an interesting topic for another day), the new Cabot Barrens should be a cool project. This section of Floriday horse country features sandy soils and rolling hills—similar to other well-known golf/horse hotbeds Pinehurst and Aiken. This landscape, combined with Franz’s architectural mind, should yield compelling golf. The early renderings (and it’s important to remember that these are just renderings!) are dramatic, to say the least. Even a bit ostentatious. In any case, Florida’s destination appeal will certainly increase with the addition of this course. Along with Streamsong (and maybe another resort addition a wee bit north), Cabot Citrus Farms should help Florida golf start to live up to its weather.

A rendering of Cabot Barrens

Lookout Mountain Club (Lookout Mountain, GA)

Seth Raynor / Tyler Rae (restoration)

Private

This is one of the most exciting restorations of the year. Lookout Mountain has one of the most incredible settings in golf. You get to the club by driving up a winding road. On my first visit, I didn’t expect the course literally to be on the edge of a mountain, but that’s exactly where it is. Tyler Rae is helming the restoration work, and while the Seth Raynor-designed course was quite good before, there was a load of low-hanging fruit for Rae to pick. He has expanded the fairways and greens to their former dimensions, adding strategic interest to the already stunning experience of playing golf on top of a mountain. I can’t wait to see the finished product, as it was one of the American courses I thought could benefit most from some TLC.

Lookout Mountain prior to restoration work

Which new or upcoming courses have we missed so far? Let us know in the comments below.