Latest news with #championshipcourse
Forbes
06-08-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Mike Trout's N.J. Golf Oasis Nears Completion: A First Look
Major League Baseball superstar Mike Trout is creating something virtually unheard of in today's golf landscape: a brand new, ultra-exclusive private club in the densely populated Northeast – in his home state of New Jersey, to be precise. With a championship course designed by Tiger Woods, a national membership of pro athletes and business titans, and casual luxury approach coupled with a "no rules" philosophy, Trout National - The Reserve is set to stand out even among the new breed of destination golf club. Consider this, there have been more perfect games in the majors over the past 15 years than brand new private clubs in New Jersey built from the ground up. Built on an old silica sand mine and former farm fields outside Trout's hometown of Millville in Southern Jersey, Trout Reserve might be the Northeast's answer to Michael Jordan's Grove XXIII in South Florida – a relaxed, private golf oasis. One rendering of the main clubhouse even has Trout's jersey number, 27, in Roman numerals above the front entrance. The 18-hole championship course and 9-hole reversible short course are set to open to limited member play this fall ahead of the club's official April 2026 grand opening. 'We call it an epic golf experience at a very casual level," said Tyler Trout, who's been overseeing the ambitious project for the past several years for his brother and local businessman John Ruga. In other words, it's likely to have quite a different vibe than many of the more traditional clubs in a state that's loaded with them – from Pine Valley in the South (widely recognized as the nation's No. 1 course) to old school bastions such as Baltusrol, Somerset Hills, Plainfield, and Ridgewood. Construction on both courses was completed last October, so this year has seen the anticipation build during the grow-in process. The championship course, a par 72 that can stretch to a meaty 7,455 yards, offers risk-reward opportunities throughout as it weaves through 280 acres of former quarries and sandy waste areas. The short course, The Bullpen, is a reversible Par 3 which will be lighted for nighttime play and has holes that play between 90 and 150 yards. A 'Home Base' Destination Club Trout National is positioned as a true destination club – providing a base for national members to stay on property, while offering relative proximity to other high-end clubs in the Philadelphia and New York markets. Between the Philadelphia area, Northern New Jersey, Long Island and the Westchester area in New York, there are 18 private clubs in GOLF magazine's Top 100 U.S. courses, with names like Pine Valley, Merion, Philadelphia Cricket Club, Winged Foot, Friar's Head, Shinnecock, National Golf Links, Quaker Ridge, and many more. 'You have a lot of traditional clubs that are top tier from the Philly metro area all the way up to New York and out on Long Island -- the best of the best,' said Tyler Trout. 'Our hope, our goal and where I think we're going to land, is that we're going to be another top-tier golf club, and the club that they're going to want to come and stay in. We can send you to the other clubs, but ultimately, they are coming back to Trout as their home base.' The club will have 10 suites in the main clubhouse (which is still under construction), two lodges with 12 bedrooms apiece, and six 4-bedroom cottages that surround the short course. The golf cottages are situated near the short course, the club's 30,000-square-foot putting course (that's also lighted), and extensive short game area. Club Amenities The Bullpen Par 3 course, also from TGR Design, isn't the only baseball nod at the club. There's an on-course comfort station called 'The Dugout,' with a step-down design aesthetic inspired by the bench area at baseball fields. In the middle of the course routing is a hangout spot named Aaron's after Trout's late brother-in-law, who was affectionately known to be the 'life of the party.' With wrap-around terraces, fire pits, outdoor cooking, and an indoor-outdoor bar for members and their guests to relax and watch golf, Aaron's spans the 8th to the 11th holes. Trout grew up in nearby Millville, where he met his wife, Jessica, and returns frequently to the area during the baseball offseason for hunting, golf and attending Philadelphia Eagles games while visiting friends and family. Off the course is a full performance center with three hitting bays with TrackMan technology and Force Plate by Swing Catalyst, as well as an indoor putting lab. The clubhouse, inspired by grand European manor houses with slate roofs and limestone walls, is set to have amenities that include a barber shop, spa, bowling alley, game vault, fitness center (designed by Trout), and a 2,500-bottle wine cellar. There's a helipad on property for those looking to fly in directly, but the club will also pick up members who fly into nearby airports – whether that's Philadelphia International Airport (50 miles), Atlantic City International Airport (26 miles), or the Millville Executive Airport, which is only about six miles away. The Garden State Given that New Jersey is the 'Garden State,' an appellation that applies particularly to the southern part of the nation's most densely populated state, Trout National will lean into the farm-to-table concept from a dining standpoint. Holes 2, 3 and 4 were all farmland before being transformed into fairways and greens. There's a chef's garden on site, and the club is not only contracting with local farmers but is in discussions to raise its own cattle just off property to source its meat. Aside from some space for ice cream, the club intentionally didn't include freezers in the design of its kitchens because frozen food isn't a part of the broader food and beverage plan. Mike Trout has been intimately involved in the culinary decisions, even coming home during MLB's All-Star break to conduct the final round of interviews for a head chef at his New Jersey home. 'The whole reason why we got behind this project, is because Mike has been very proud of calling New Jersey home,' Tyler Trout said. Trout National Membership Trout National will have a total of 200 national and regional members along with 27 founding members, the latter reflecting the number Trout has worn during his 15-year MLB career with the Los Angeles Angels. As one might expect, athletes are well represented among the membership – not unlike Jordan's exclusive club in Hobe Sound. There are former players from all four major sports on the membership roster at Trout National. The balance is fairly even, although baseball has a slight edge over hockey for the lead, with basketball and football just behind. A number of PGA Tour players based in the Jupiter and Palm Beach area of South Florida have also joined. 'This is going to be their summer club to get out of that Florida heat,' noted Tyler Trout. Professional team owners are also a part of the membership roster, but the focus has been more about collectively finding the right group to make Trout National 'a really great hang in an area that has some epic golf courses.' 'We have single-digit (handicap) employees that are at tech startups or from Twitter. We have guys that have been very successful and sold off to private equity, or managed hedge funds out of New York, or heads of top five investment banks in the U.S.,' Tyler Trout said. 'It's a wide range and our biggest thing is always just making sure that we get the right people here.' There are no tee times at Trout National and not much in the way of rules, save for the most important one of 'not allowing your fun to affect anybody else's fun.' With the lodges and golf cottages, Trout expects large groups to be a regular occurrence, with perhaps some instances of as many as eight golfers playing together on the course. While high-end destination private clubs have made up an outsized proportion of still-limited new golf development nationwide – with places like Old Barnwell, GrayBull, Apogee, Kinsale, Soleta, Childress Hall, and CapRock Ranch – Trout National is emerging as a true rarity. Rather than a getaway location in Florida, Texas, South Carolina or the sandhills of Nebraska, the Trout family is staying loyal to their South Jersey roots in creating their new casual luxury golf experience. "The scale at which we are doing it in the Northeast is, nowadays, very hard to do," acknowledged Tyler Trout. "This is a massive undertaking, but it's really special to see it kind of come to life."
Forbes
04-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Marcella Reveals Designers Of Second Golf Course To Join Tiger Woods
As the private club community of Marcella in northern Utah readies for the opening of its Tiger Woods-designed championship course, its membership now has even more to be excited about. Rob Collins and Tad King, the golf architects behind several of the most popular courses of the modern era, have been tabbed to build the second 18-hole course at Marcella along with their newest design partner, Trevor Dorner. The team at King Collins Dormer Golf Design will break ground this summer on Ambush, a mountain course with 'otherworldly terrain' that is set along ridgelines overlooking the Heber Valley. Collins, who teamed with King to create Landmand in northeast Nebraska and the 9-hole Sweetens Cove in Tennessee (two courses that have developed cult followings in destination golf circles), says the Ambush site is one of the most diverse, dramatic and beautiful locations they've ever seen for golf. 'It's a very interesting site in that it is a blend of a few different places,' Collins said. 'The big vista mountain holes have a Landmand level of scale to them, but the quieter valley holes have a touch of a Midwest 'dunesey' feel to them. It is a fascinating contrast and will be a great deal of fun to build a course there.' A Unique Second Course The developers of Marcella – the same team behind Black Desert Resort in Utah – were looking for a second course design with its own unique personality and 'edge' in turning to KCD Design. Jared Lucero, CEO of REEF Capital Partners and developer of Marcella at Deer Valley (one of Marcella's three locations), said they finalized a partnership shortly after meeting with King and Collins during a visit to Sweetens Cove. 'It became an inevitability that they would do Marcella because we hit it off so well,' Lucero said. 'And we wanted the second course to be a little different thematically from the Tiger course.' 'Their courses deliver the kind of magic that makes people fall in love with the game all over again,' he added. Expressive design and memorable shot-making has become a hallmark of King and Collins, who in November 2024 brought aboard Dormer – a former associate for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw for most of the past decade – as a partner. Dormer grew up in the mountains of Alberta, Canada, and that experience helped shape his early passion for golf architecture, studying those landscapes and envisioning how golf could be laid out on them. 'Rob has done an amazing job laying out the holes to perfectly capture the natural ebbs and flows of the terrain,' Dormer said. 'The scale of the golf course features will definitely match the aura of the landscape -- bold and beautiful. In my opinion, you can't have a small golf course on a property like this; it truly demands more.' Marcella's Membership The two courses will be exclusive to members at Marcella, which is a collaboration between REEF, Raintree Investment Corporation and Crosslake Partners. With the purchase of real estate in either Marcella at Deer Valley or Marcella at Jordanelle Ridge, buyers gain access to all three locations, featuring world-class golf and ski amenities. All 500 golf (and ski) memberships have already sold out, speaking to the demand for what will be the premier 36-hole private club experience in the American West. In the states of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, only one other private community -- The Glacier Club in northern Colorado -- has two 18-hole courses built by different architects. Marcella still has ski/social memberships that provide limited access to the golf courses. Memberships are only available through purchase of real estate at Marcella, which spans three locations: Marcella at Deer Valley, Marcella at Jordanelle Ridge, and Marcella on Main, located in Old Town Park City. Entry points start at $750,000 at Marcella Jordanelle Ridge and $9 million at Marcella Landing at Deer Valley. 'Together, these courses form the core of something truly rare — a complete high-altitude golf and lifestyle community built for generations,' said Raintree division president Cody Winterton. Marcella's 36 Holes Both golf courses are located on Jordanelle Ridge within the Marcella community, with the first tees of both located within about 1,000 yards of the Marcella clubhouse. The Skyline Course designed by Woods and Beau Welling features 360-degree views of the Uinta Mountains, Jordanelle Reservoir, Deer Valley Resort and the Heber Valley. The Skyline routing takes advantage of the long-range views while incorporating intimate valleys between the ridges, and Woods has said he wants the course to be 'playable for all' – offering generous landing areas – while also presenting a strategic challenge. Some holes are expected to be ready for play by members this year. Meanwhile, the Ambush Course will start and finish on a ridge, with a string of cliff-edge holes that boast panoramic views, while the middle of the round is characterized by a series of holes nestled into an Aspen-lined valley. 'There are massive amounts of variety, and it is quite different from many of the other mountain courses that I've seen in that it won't get trapped in some of the limiting factors and thematic elements that you see on 'typical' mountain courses,' Collins said. 'While it is extremely dramatic in spots, it also lends itself to a 'lay of the land' look and feel, which I think will be a great deal of fun to execute in the design and construction process.' Landmand Comparisons For those who have experienced the massive scale of Landmand -- which sprawls across an incredibly hilly and dynamic 588-acre site in Nebraska – the mental images are inevitable. Collins says that's understandable. 'Like Landmand, it is a very dramatic site with long vistas,' Collins said. 'If you took the 1st, 2nd and 18th holes at Landmand and placed them on top of a ridge at 7,500 feet overlooking a magnificent valley that also has 360 degree views of the Rockies, that would give you a pretty good idea of what we have to work with.' Despite being a mountain course, Ambush's routing will lend it to be walkable, with close green-to-tee transitions throughout. The key for the KCD team will be executing the grade changes to make walking feel comfortable. Fortunately, Collins says, the valley holes currently 'meander at a nice grade back to the ridge for a dramatic finish.' Another differing aspect for Ambush is that the course plans to have a fescue blend in the fairways, which Collins says will require the team to 'design and build to accommodate a lot of shots along the ground.' The activity at Marcella – along with new courses at several other private clubs (Wohali and Three Bridges) and the very early stages of potentially an even bigger project for REEF Capital near Black Desert Resort – have quietly made Utah one of the most active states in the country in terms of new golf development. Percentagewise, Utah is experiencing the third-highest population growth behind only Florida and Texas. 'I suppose it has to do with the fact that Utah is a wonderful place to live and work,' said Collins. 'And people from all over the country are realizing that a state that has great weather in the summer along with some of the best winter sports anywhere in the world is a pretty damn good place to be.'
