Hanse Golf Course Design

December 2009
Gil Hanse named Golf Magazine's 2009 Architect of the Year. Click here to read the full article.

December 2009
Castle Stuart Golf Links named Golf Magazine's 2009 Best International Golf Course. Click here to read the full article.

Prairie Club - Horse Course
As those of you who are aware of our company have known, we have been travelling to this site in Cheery County, Nebraska for nearly 7 years to work on the design of an 18 hole golf course. In 2008 we made it a little more than half way to our goal on this dream site, by building the 10 hole Horse Course at the Prairie Club. This course is a par 3 course where the object is to re-invigorate that liberating thought of golf as match play on a course defined by the player. Based on the basketball game of H-O-R-S-E the player who wins the previous hole will be able to call the shot and angle of play on the next hole. Working on ground that is perfectly suited for this fun endeavor, we found ourselves liberated from "shot values" and the perception of fairness that pervades modern golf. If golfers have as much fun playing this as we did building it, we should have a success on our hands. We will return in 2009 to build the adjacent Himalayas putting green.

Castle Stuart Update
Castle Stuart opened for play on the 13th of July under a beautiful sunny sky and a very light breeze. We were on hand for the opening and a good time was had by all during golf and at the apres golf festivities! It was great to see the team again, co-designer Mark Parsinen, project manager Stuart McColm, greenkeeper Chris Haspell, and their families, as well as all the lads who worked on the construction and grow in. We came away very happy with the course and thoroughly enjoyed our several rounds finding it to be in great shape and fun to play. The course is joined by a clubhouse that has been designed in the art deco fashion and its attention to detail and beauty matches the golf course. Early reviews have been favorable and the course continues to grow in reputation.

Restoration Update
Our work with George Bahto at Sleepy Hollow Country Club was recognized by Golf Digest as the second best restoration project of the year in 2008. This makes three years in a row where one of our renovation/restoration projects has finished either first or second in this category. We completed our restoration of the fairway bunkers on the North Course at The Los Angeles Country Club, with Geoff Shackelford this Spring, and we are looking forward to continuing the restoration of the course in 2010. Last year we were very pleased to be given the responsibility of preparing a master plan for the restoration of Tokyo Golf Club in Tokyo, Japan. Work on the implementation of this plan will begin in October of 2009. We have also been retained as the consulting architect for the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. Our work here will be to remain faithful to the creative genius that Mike Strantz left behind on this spectacular canvas. We completed our project this year on the restoration of Taconic Golf Club on the campus of Williams College, and we are continuing our bunker restoration at Quaker Ridge Golf Club. We continue to work on small projects at The Country Club, and Brae Burn in Boston, TPC Boston, and Fishers Island Club, and we recently prepared an architectural report for Myopia Hunt Club. This year we will prepare a master plan for Greenwich Country Club, in Greenwich, Connecticut as well as Lookout Mountain Golf Club, in Georgia. We continue to be truly fortunate in working at some of the finest clubs in the world, and we are happy to welcome the additions to this roster that have come about in 2008/2009.

New Course Update
With the current economic conditions wreaking havoc on the golf development industry, we are not immune to the slowdown, as all of our new course projects have been put on hold indefinitely. These projects include Sandhill Creek with Davis Love III, in Cobbtown, Georgia, where clearing had begun, and Union Bay Golf Links on Vancouver Island where clearing is complete, and small scale construction has begun. On the drawing boards are new courses in Los Cabos, Mexico at Querencia, with Geoff Shackelford, Punta San Basilio in Loreto, Mexico also with Geoff, and two courses at Trump Cap Cana on the Dominican Republic. We will happily update these projects as they move forward.

Golf Magazine
Boston Golf Club entered the Golf Magazine Top 100 in the United States at 92 in the 2009 rankings. Castle Stuart was also listed as a course to watch for the 2011 rankings.

Tournament Updates
In addition to TPC Boston which is the annual host of the PGA Tour Playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Classic, several course where we have consulting relationships have been selected to host significant events. Ridgewood Country Club and Plainfield Country Club will host the Barclays tournament in 2010 and 2011, it is also a PGA Tour playoff event. The Country Club at Brookline will host the 2013 US Amateur, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Francis Ouimet's victory in the US Open. The Los Angeles Country Club will host the Walker Cup in 2017 as the top amateurs from the US and GB&I will tackle the North Course.