Latest news with #Coore
USA Today
29-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'We are so proud of the way it looks right now': Ben Crenshaw delighted with retooling of International's Pines Course
Two-time Masters champion and World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw is from Austin, Texas, but Massachusetts has played an important role in his golfing accomplishments. Crenshaw, 73, played in the U.S. Junior Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline when he was 16 years old, and the course's topography ignited his interest in golf course architecture. He couldn't get over how different the course's hills were than the flat courses he grew up playing in Texas. Crenshaw also met noted golf writer Herbert Warren Wind that week, and they became lifelong friends. In 1973, Crenshaw played in his first PGA Tour event at Pleasant Valley CC in Sutton after PV owner Cuzzy Mingolla gave him a sponsor exemption to reward him for earning medalist honors at three consecutive NCAA championships. He tied for 35th in the USI Classic at PV and earned $903. In 1999, he captained the U.S. at The Country Club to the greatest Ryder Cup comeback to that point. In 2004, Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth, ranked the sixth-best private golf course in the state this year by Golfweek's Best. Coore & Crenshaw have designed many golf courses in the U.S., Canada, China, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, and on June 6, their complete retooling of the Pines Course at the International in Bolton opened. Crenshaw and Coore returned to the International on opening weekend to ride around the Pines with officials from Escalante Golf of Fort Worth, Texas, which bought the club in 2021. As avid golf fans remember, when Crenshaw captained the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team at The Country Club in Brookline, he refused to give up on his squad after it fell behind, 10-6, entering the final day. No Ryder Cup team had ever overcome such a deficit, but Crenshaw told the media, 'I have a good feeling about this.' The media thought Crenshaw was crazy, but the U.S. rallied to beat Europe, 14½-13½. Crenshaw also had a good feeling about designing and building an entirely new Pines Course at the International in Bolton with Coore. This was the first time that Coore and Crenshaw built a new course on the site of an existing one. 'The character of the ground, vegetation and the sand, it all goes together,' Crenshaw said, 'and it makes you think you can do something special, you hope, and God we are so proud of the way it looks right now. It's matured quite a bit. It looks fun to play.' Escalante Golf purchased the region's only private 36-hole club for $10 million and has invested more than $40 million in upgrades. Construction of a new clubhouse and member cottages is planned. Architect Tripp Davis renovated the Oaks Course prior to it hosting a LIV Golf event in 2022. He primarily improved tees and bunkers on the 2001 Tom Fazio design. Then an overhaul of the Pines began. Geoffrey Cornish designed the Pines as a 8,040-yard course with steeply pitched greens and challenging bunkers. It opened in 1955 on the site of Runaway Brook CC, which opened in 1901 as a nine-hole public course. More: Coore, Crenshaw finish renovation of famously long golf course in Massachusetts In 1972, architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. softened several greens and bunkers on the Pines, but he also lengthened the course to 8,325 yards. The par-5 fifth hole was 715 yards long and had a green that measured nearly 90 yards long. For more than half a century, the Pines Course was known as the world's longest golf course. Coore & Crenshaw shortened the course to 7,103 yards with a par of 71. Coore, 78, said he couldn't think of another course that was designed more than 1,000 yards shorter than the original. When Crenshaw first visited the Pines in 2022, he asked to have the flags removed because he didn't want to know where the greens were when he envisioned the new layout. No corridor or green site remains from the previous version of the course. 'You touch on people's skills,' Crenshaw said. 'You don't want to beat them up. You want to encourage good play, you want to reward them. It's a very trite observation, but anybody can build a really difficult golf course, and that's not what you want. You want to welcome them and have each class of golfers have some thrills.' The Pines is also one of the region's few courses to feature fescue grass on tees, fairways and in the rough. Crenshaw said he's still grateful that Mingolla gave him his first sponsor exemption, and he was surprised that he did. 'It kind of came out of the blue,' he said, 'but I had played some good golf, so I guess I was worthy of a nod.' Crenshaw returned to play in several PGA Tour events at PV, and he finished second in 1976 to Buddy Allin and in 1978 to Lou Graham, both times by one stroke. When in the area to play PV, Crenshaw made the short drive to play Whitinsville Golf Club with Steve Melynk and a couple of other players. They heard it was a Donald Ross course and wanted to go play the nine-hole course that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. 'We were very thankful to Whitinsville for letting us do that,' Crenshaw said. 'It was a wonderful nine-hole golf course. People don't know that about New England. There are wonderful nine-hole golf courses all through New England, and it has nothing to do with the number of holes, it has to do with the character of the holes. But it was wonderful to see.' Crenshaw especially loved the challenging, par-4 ninth hole. 'Oh gosh, a gorgeous hole,' he said. 'You remember holes like that.' Crenshaw knows his golf history. So he knows all about Bobby Jones calling a penalty stroke on himself that cost him the 1925 U.S. Open championship at Worcester CC. He even recited what Jones said after the media praised him for his honesty in calling the penalty stroke: 'You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.' He's also well aware that Worcester CC hosted the first Ryder Cup in 1927. 'I never did make it to Worcester Country Club,' Crenshaw said. 'I should have.' Worcester CC head pro Andy Lane said he'd loved to have Crenshaw play the course. 'First off, we welcome Mr. Crenshaw to come and play Worcester Country Club any time,' Lane said, 'and I think it's exciting. With all these centennials and Ryder Cup celebrations coming up, I think Worcester is kind of the center of attention in golf here in New England. Each day gets a little more exciting as we approach that 100-year anniversary of that first Ryder Cup, and obviously with guys like Ben Crenshaw, who are pioneers in the game of the golf affiliated with Ryder Cups, we can't wait to get him out here to play.' 'I'd love to see it because I know it's a Ross course,' Crenshaw said. Nevertheless, Crenshaw is familiar with golf in Massachusetts. 'It's traditional,' he said. 'It's been a leader forever, historically. People that know golf know that it's quality. It's been that way forever, and I'm extremely proud to be part of it.' Of course, Crenshaw is most proud of captaining the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory at TCC. When he saw Justin Leonard sink a 45-foot birdie putt on 17 on the final day to help win the cup, he thought of Francis Ouimet sinking sizable putts on 17 in the final round of regulation and the playoff to help him win the 1913 U.S. Open at TCC. 'That's pretty eerie,' Crenshaw said. 'I've called him (Leonard) Francis ever since.' On April 15, Michael Galvin became the general manager at the International after serving as director of agronomy for five years. He was the superintendent the previous four years at Red Tail GC in Devens after working on the grounds crew at Wedgewood Pines in Stow for two and on Long Island for 15. Galvin replaced Tom Barnard, who retired after one season for health reasons. 'I've always thought about it in my career whether I'd be 55 years old and still being a superintendent,' the 44-year-old Galvin said. 'Being a superintendent is a grind. It's early hours. You're at the mercy of Mother Nature. The opportunity came up, and with where we are right now with Coore and Crenshaw and where we're going and the support of all of Escalante, I felt it was the right decision to make to keep this going in the right direction.' Galvin said the International has 302 members and that he and the club's two membership directors would like to boost that total.
USA Today
20-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Seven architects (and teams) dominate the ranking of best modern courses in the U.S.
Who are the masters of modern golf architecture? Judging by the recently released Golfweek's Best ranking of the top modern courses in the United States, just seven architects or teams have combined to design 62 percent of the top 200 layouts. Each of those seven designers or teams have placed at least 10 courses on the list. Judging by number of courses on the new Golfweek's Best list, Tom Fazio leads that group of architects with 40 of the top 200 modern courses built in the U.S. since 1960. His highest-ranked course is Wade Hampton Club in North Carolina, which ties for No. 7. Following Fazio with the most courses on the list is Pete Dye (18), the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (16), Tom Doak (15), Jack Nicklaus (15), Gil Hanse (10, usually working with partner Jim Wagner) and Robert Trent Jones Sr. (10). Most of these courses feature just one architect in the credits, but several times these seven architects or teams share credit with others in either building a new course or renovating an existing layout. Judging only the most elite courses that rank inside the top 20 modern courses in the U.S., Doak leads the list of architects with five layouts. His Pacific Dunes at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon tops the list for him at No. 3, just a couple spots ahead of his Ballyneal in Colorado. Fazio, Dye and the team of Coore and Crenshaw each have three layouts among the elite top 20 modern courses. And looking only at the top spots, it's Coore and Crenshaw at Nos. 1 and 2, with Sand Hills in Nebraska and Friar's Head in New York claiming the top two spots this year.
USA Today
21-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw to build Pinehurst No. 11 course at famed North Carolina resort
Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw to build Pinehurst No. 11 course at famed North Carolina resort The golf design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are back at it in the Sandhills of North Carolina, this time laying out a new course that will become Pinehurst No. 11 and that is expected to open in the fall of 2027. Construction will begin this year. The new layout will join the Tom Doak-designed Pinehurst No. 10 course that opened in 2024 in an area Pinehurst Resort has named Sandmines. With 900 acres available in Aberdeen just a few miles south of the main resort and famed Pinehurst No. 2, the Sandmines is being developed to include cottages and other amenities. The 6,000-square-foot pro shop and locker room opens this June, and in August the Sandmines' restaurant and bar will open. Plans for lodging for guests staying on property are ongoing and could be available by the end of 2027. Doak's No. 10 sits on land previously occupied by The Pit, a course that closed in 2010. The Sandmines area previously had been mined for, as the name implies, sand. Those mining operations left contours and features that were incorporated into Pinehurst No. 10 by Doak, and they also will play a big role in Coore and Crenshaw's No. 11. 'It's such a wonderful site, just because of its inherent character,' Coore, who along with Crenshaw restored Pinehurst No. 2 in 2010 for a 2011 reopening, said in a media release announcing plans for No. 11. 'That character was essentially created, not all of it is natural, but it has all been reclaimed by nature. This land is left over from all that mining from the 1930s. The spoil piles are here, and Mother Nature provided the trees, and it's all incredible. It's not too often you get that kind of combination, and it creates a site that is extraordinarily interesting for golf.' Coore and Crenshaw's restoration of No. 2 focused on reintroducing sandy expanses alongside the fairways and greens designed by legendary architect Donald Ross. The restoration has been most prominently featured in two U.S. Opens (2014, won by Martin Kaymer; 2024, won by Bryson DeChambeau) and a U.S. Women's Open (2014, won by Michelle Wie West). Pinehurst Resort is slated to host the U.S. Open again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047, and the U.S. Women's Open is scheduled to return in 2029. Coore and the Hall of Fame golfer Crenshaw head one of the most decorated design firms of the modern era, having created such highly ranked courses as Sand Hills in Nebraska, Friar's Head in New York and two layouts at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, Bandon Trails and Sheep Ranch, among many others around the world. The duo loves sandy sites, as found at the future home of Pinehurst No. 11. 'It's this choppy, ridgey ground,' Coore said. 'It's not as much elevation change, but it's so quirky with the ridges and the piles and the trees and the angles. This is going to be so intimate in scale. You're winding your way through trees and over old piles and across ridges. We're far, far from the sea, but we have these contours and features and landforms that remind you of spots in Ireland or Scotland. And yet here it is, in Pinehurst.' And while they will sit adjacent to each other on similar ground, Coore and Crenshaw are working on a set of plans that will make their new course stand out from the already well-received No. 10. 'The two courses really couldn't be more different, and we love that,' said Tom Pashley, president of Pinehurst Resort, in the media release. 'The designs of No. 10 and No. 11 complement each other so well by contrasting so much. Golf in the North Carolina Sandhills can be an experience unlike any other, and we believe the golf at Pinehurst Sandmines will be a great representation of that.' Specifics for No. 11 are still in the works, but the expansion is welcome at a resort that already is home to 10 courses plus an incredibly popular par-3 course, the Cradle. Pinehurst Resort operates six courses ranked by Golfweek's Best as among the top 200 resort layouts in the United States: No. 2 ranks third on that list, the new No. 10 course is 19th, the No. 4 course by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner ranks 29th, the No. 8 course by Tom Fazio ranks 84th, the No. 7 course by Rees Jones ranks 164th and the No. 9 course by Jack Nicklaus ranks 194th. 'We want Pinehurst Sandmines to be a special place not just in Pinehurst, but in the game of golf that will stand the test of time and enhance the soul of American golf,' Bob Dedman Jr., owner and CEO of Pinehurst Resort, said in the media release. 'The vision Coore and Crenshaw have for No. 11 coupled with what Tom Doak has already done at No. 10 makes that hope more of a possibility, and we couldn't be more excited about what the future has in store.'
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Pinehurst Unveils Course No. 11 As Golf's Biggest Resort Grows Again
An aerial image of the routing for Pinehurst No. 11, which is situated on the resort's Sandmines ... More property next to its No. 10 course. The biggest golf resort in the U.S. is growing yet again, with the iconic Pinehurst Resort in the sand hills of North Carolina unveiling plans for its 11th 18-hole course. Designed by the accomplished team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Pinehurst No. 11 will sit adjacent to Pinehurst No. 10, which debuted last year on the site of a former sand mine that sat unused for more than a decade. Construction will begin later this year, with No. 11 expected to open for play in Fall of 2027. 'I don't think I have ever seen two more physically different sites that are contiguous, literally touching each other than the sites for No. 10 and No. 11,' said Coore, who grew up in North Carolina and has been playing courses in the Pinehurst area since his youth. 'They're monumentally different in terms of their character. And the two courses will (also) be massively different in terms of their characteristics, just because of the landforms.' The routing for the new course is situated at Pinehurst Sandmines, a 900-acre property that Pinehurst President Tom Pashley has called the resort's 'Field of Dreams' – an area that could realize the evolving demands of destination golf in a modern way. Once Tom Doak and Angela Moser were enlisted to build No. 10 on the site, expectations were that it would eventually include two championship courses, a short course, a putting course, a new clubhouse, pro shop, and golf lodging for guests. Designed by Tom Doak and Angela Moser, Pinehurst No. 10 opened in 2024 on a 900-acre property that ... More was acquired by the resort in 2011. After sitting on the land from 2011 to 2023, the opportunity is ripe for Pinehurst to pursue continued growth. There have not only been a record number of rounds of golf played in recent years, but the number of U.S. golf travelers has topped 12 million in each of the past three years, the highest levels on record, according to the National Golf Foundation. Coore and Crenshaw, who were responsible for the major restoration of Pinehurst's flagship No. 2 course in 2011, had done a routing in 2012 for a course on the property that is now Sandmines. But Pashley has said he's grateful it wasn't pursued at the time because the resort has learned much more about the look and feel of the 'future of golf.' After the restoration of No. 2, Pinehurst introduced its nearly two-acre Thistle Dhu putting course in 2012 and opened its hugely popular Cradle par-3 course just outside the main clubhouse in 2017. Architect Gil Hanse, who built the Cradle, was celebrated in 2018 for his redesign of Pinehurst No. 4. Pinehurst No. 8 also underwent a facelift, but the construction of No. 10 – along with the branding of Pinehurst Sandmines – represented the resort's first new 18-hole course project in nearly three decades. Pinehurst No. 10 has the Sandmines logo. While No. 11 will sit next to its predecessor, the terrain for the two courses is very different. As a result, the designs will complement each other by contrasting with one another. 'The two courses really couldn't be more different, and we love that,' says Pashley. 'Golf in the North Carolina Sandhills can be an experience unlike any other, and we believe the golf at Pinehurst Sandmines will be a great representation of that.' While Pinehurst No. 10 has elevation changes and expansive vistas that are noteworthy for the area, No. 11 will play over and around jutting ridges and massive mounds of material left over from long-time mining operations. The dunes aren't natural, but these so-called spoils are deposits left by miners who decades ago were stripping sand and other material. 'We expected sand here,' said Coore. 'What we didn't expect were these created landforms that have now matured into a very natural appearance and condition. We have sand, interesting landforms, (and) trees. It's pretty good.' Bill Coore on the site that will be home to Pinehurst No. 11. Coore says there's a more intimate scale to the land, which he describes with terms like quirky, choppy and ridgey. 'You're winding your way through trees and over old piles and across ridges," added Coore. "We're far, far from the sea, but we have these contours and features and landforms that remind you of spots in Ireland or Scotland. And yet here it is, in Pinehurst.' As far as Pinehurst's continued growth, the 6,000-square-foot pro shop and locker room for Sandmines will open this June, with a restaurant and bar to follow in August. Plans for guests to stay on the property, which is about four miles south of the resort's main clubhouse, are ongoing and could be in place by the end of 2027. Aerial of the 17th hole at Pinehurst No. 11, which breaks ground on construction later in 2025. 'We want Pinehurst Sandmines to be a special place not just in Pinehurst, but in the game of golf that will stand the test of time and enhance the soul of American golf,' says Bob Dedman Jr., the owner and CEO of Pinehurst Resort. 'The vision Coore and Crenshaw have for No. 11 coupled with what Tom Doak has already done at No. 10 makes that hope more of a possibility, and we couldn't be more excited about what the future has in store.' When No. 11 opens, it will give Pinehurst 207 holes in total, further solidifying the resort's standing as the largest in the world of destination golf. The only other public resorts with more than 100 holes are Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia (126), Bandon Dunes in Oregon (122) and Gull Lake View in Michigan (108).
