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By Design
own property in—locations that offer
beauty and a ‘back to nature’ feel
alongside great activities, whether
these be golf, horseback riding,
fishing or whatever. Sand Hills Golf
Club in Nebraska was perhaps the
trailblazer from a golfing point of
view, and many developers since
have sought to replicate some of the
appeal of Dick Youngscap, Bill Coore,
ASGCA and Ben Crenshaw’s creation.
Not all have succeeded. Creating a
destination in the back of beyond is
inevitably a high-risk exercise. But
that hasn’t stopped backers of both
private and public projects trying,
and more are on the stocks.
The Wyoming Club
Among the most exciting is the new
Wyoming Club, located in the east of
the state, just across the border from
the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The Wyoming Club is being
developed by the Weinreis family,
the owners of the largest privately
held cattle ranching business in
the United States. “We first came
on board the project back in
2007,” says Steve Forrest, ASGCA
Past President and partner, with
Arthur Hills, ASGCA Fellow, in the
design firm Hills & Forrest. “The
family had started work on a small
development—they originally
planned 14 housing plots. They
wanted to create a family legacy, but
they didn’t quite know how to do it.”
“The site is 1,500 acres. If you were
just building golf it’d be enough for
seven and a half courses,” laughs
Shawn Smith, ASGCA, who is working
with Forrest on the project. “It
includes a really nice valley that would
be a great site for a course, and we did
several routing studies for that piece of
land. But it also includes a sandstone
mesa, and the family always liked to
take people up to the top to show
them the great view from the plateau.”
“Because it is such a big property, we
suggested involving a land planning
NEW BUILDS
All the time the project was on hold,
I worried
that
we would never get to build it
, because it is
the sort of property that defines a career
Steve Forrest, ASGCA Past President
The Wyoming Club
Location: Newcastle, Wyoming
Architect: Steve Forrest, ASGCA Past President
and Shawn Smith, ASGCA
