ON THE RANGE
By Tom Cunneff
Just in time to celebrate its 100th anniversary, Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Conn., is set to reopen this spring or early summer after a two-year restoration by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. Architecture geeks are excited to finally see the landmark C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor design in all its glory. With one of the largest construction budgets at the time ($450,000), Macdonald and Raynor laid out a leviathan-sized golf course on a rocky and rolling site filled with their typical template holes like Alps, Biarritz, Cape, Road, and Redan. But the wild, wooded terrain forced the pair to come up with some dramatic designs of their own, such as on the par-4 10th (“Carries”), where a blind uphill tee shot must carry a ridge to reach an elevated saddle, and par-5 18th (“Home”), a severe test of options and topography. Considered the No. 1 college course in the country, the course opened to the public in 2022, making it one of the few places the public can play a true Macdonald/Raynor layout (the other being Old White at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia).
If watching the WM Phoenix Open got you excited to make a golf trip to the Sonoran Desert, check out the REMI. Scottsdale, Autograph Collection’s new Golf Getaway package. Available throughout Arizona’s peak golf season, the curated package offers an ideal retreat for guests who don’t just want to watch the action but experience it firsthand. The course definition between the emerald strips of fairway and the tawny desert with the giant saguaro cacti standing sentry are striking. That is especially true at We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, which has two of the best courses in the Valley of the Sun, Cholla and Saguaro, and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The newest hotel in Scottsdale’s Hospitality District, The REMI. Scottsdale also delivers easy access to the city’s top nightlife, shopping, and restaurants.
The Great Dunes course at Jekyll Island Golf Club on the Georgia coast in between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla., recently reopened after a restoration and expansion by Brian Ross and Jeff Stein. Great Dunes is one of the rare seaside courses set in the dunes the public can play for an affordable price ($110). Ross and Stein took the nine that was left from a 1928 Walter Travis design and created nine new holes on the Oleander Course in Travis’ style. The course takes golfers on a memorable journey to the ocean and back through the dunes surrounded by a maritime forest. For a great place to stay, it’s hard to top one of the oversized suites at the Jekyll Ocean Club right on the beach at the Jekyll Island Club Resort.
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