By Design - Fall 2019

15 by Tom Fazio, ASGCA, and the 2012 champions University of Texas, whose team included Jordan Spieth, play on a 7,400-yard hill country course in Austin designed by Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell, ASGCA. “When it comes to building a golf course played by today’s college team members, their athletic and mental abilities cannot be ignored,” says Scot Sherman, ASGCA, project architect for Love Golf Design. “Both men and women at college level are more capable than ever in all areas of the game.” Sherman is overseeing a comprehensive renovation of the Birdwood course at the Boar’s Head Resort near Charlottesville, which is home to the University of Virginia’s golf teams and is expected to reopen in spring 2020. “On the new golf course, we have certainly considered all players, but have paid closer attention to how the course might be set up for high level play when needed. We are trying hard to make golfers think. After all, isn’t that the point of the college experience?” ASGCA Past President Steve Smyers is working on a new course at Indiana University (see box), which has already been given a USGA course rating of 80. “It is, very much so, a strong test of golf,” says Smyers, who studied data of how elite golfers plot their way around a course to inform his design. “To further test the golfer’s ability to create and identify the ideal shot for the occasion, several different situations were created around putting surfaces,” he says. Tripp Davis, ASGCA, approached work on the at the Construction of Indiana University’s new golf course, designed by ASGCA Past President Steve Smyers, is complete and growing in ahead of a spring 2020 opening. Smyers’ brief was to design a course that could host high-caliber championships, require golfers to execute a variety of shots, would preserve and enhance the environment, and would be economically sustainable. “From a golf architect’s perspective, I was very fortunate,” says Smyers. “I was given almost total freedom to create whatever I thought best for the property and project. “The course was routed to take advantage of the topography and diverse landscape settings. The strategy and shotmaking of the course emanate from the movement of the land and the journey around the property from landscape room to landscape room provides variety in the settings of the golf holes. “The bunkering throughout the course has varying depths and shapes, while slopes within the bunkers vary. All of this requires different skills and creativity in shotmaking. “There is tremendous variety built into the length of the course demanding use of all 14 clubs even for the longest of hitters. The course is planned with multiple landing areas on each hole so that the golf holes can be set up with greatly varying length from one day to the next. This will require not only high-level execution but proper planning before each hole is played.” Indiana University Photo: Steve Smyers Golf Course Architects Photo: University Club of Kentucky The brief for Drew Rogers, ASGCA, at The University Club of Kentucky was to provide “stronger strategic presence and length” CASE STUDY