The home of Arkansas golf is feared among many for the incredible challenge it presents golfers, but it’s one of the best facilities in the country.
Blessings Golf Club, located in Johnson, Arkansas, about four miles from campus, was the site of the 2019 NCAA Championships. The course stretches to more than 7,900 yards from the back tees and plays through two distinct landforms: the Clear Creek floodplain and a plateau that rises to 65 feet above the floodplain, where it’s bisected by a series of ravines. Both the outward and inward nines climb up and down between the two topographies, creating drama and variety on each hole. The course was originally designed by architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. with a redesign recently completed by noted architect Kyle Phillips.
The outdoor practice areas feature a range with multiple teeing areas and numerous range targets to allow realistic practice sessions. The short game facilities include several bentgrass putting and short game greens as well as a bermudagrass green. A separate three-acre short game practice area has also been added which features practice greens that are 4,500 and 16,000 square feet in size, practice bunkers and a putting green.
The indoor short-game practice and fitness facility includes a 9,000-square-foot, short-game practice area with a 3,000-square-foot putting and chipping green designed by Dave Pelz. The facility also provides a state-of-the-art 2,000-square-foot fitness facility. The Razorback Center houses five indoor hitting bays and one private teaching bay with video analysis equipment, Trackman, Sam Putt Lab and Putt View.
Take a look at the Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex.
The Stanford men’s and women’s golf teams have long been dominant, and looking at the Cardinal facilities, it’s easy to see why.
The Siebel Varsity Training Complex debuted in April of 2008. The 20-acre site is adjacent to the second hole at Stanford Golf Course and was a collaboration between Stanford and Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects.
The complex features bent grass hitting areas for golfers and donors, five custom green complexes that include bunkers, chipping and pitching areas able to accommodate full to half wedges and a 20,000-square foot putting green situated in front of the Varsity Golf Clubhouse.
Each putting complex is fashioned with characteristics of prominent golf course architects that team members will face in competition. Design features by Alistair MacKenzie, A.W. Tillinghast, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Pete Dye and Tom Fazio are presented. All five practice greens can be played to from a variety of locations on the property.
All greens are bent grass, although four strains were used on the large putting green and three smaller greens. Three types of sand were used in the bunkers, ranging from fine, medium and coarse. As a result, players can adapt to many specific conditions while preparing for tournaments.
East Tennessee State has been one of the better mid-major programs in recent years, and seeing its practice facilities shows a big reason why.
The Warren-Greene Golf Center was designed by world-renowned golf architect Tom Fazio and sits on 14 acres of land overlooking the ETSU campus. Named in honor of longtime ETSU men’s golf coach Fred Warren and ETSU golf supporter William B. Greene, Jr., the Warren-Greene Golf Center includes six target greens, two bent-grass greens (one for putting and one for short-game work), three tee areas, a fairway bunker and four greenside bunkers.
The accompanying 3,000-square-foot, two-story building contains coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, the Hal Morrison Hall of Fame room, players’ lounge, two indoor hitting bays and an observation deck.
Take a look at the Chris M. Kane Golf Practice Facility.
Mark Bostick Golf Course has anchored the northwest corner of the University of Florida’s Gainesville campus for more than 80 years. Donald Ross originally designed the course, but it has evolved over the years to take on its own distinct personality.
Florida’s Chris M. Kane Golf Practice Complex opened in the spring of 2012. The 56-by-32 foot facility features fitness and club fitting/repair rooms, a putting lab and two separate covered hitting bays equipped with the latest short-swing analysis equipment.
The facility also features a driving range, two putting greens and two short-game practice areas.
On January 24, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley opened its Vaqueros Golf Center.
The facility cost $3 million and was built at Champion Lakes Golf Course in McAllen, Texas. The Vaqueros Golf Center includes more than 4,200 square feet of space for locker rooms for the men’s and women’s golf programs, two hitting bays, a study lounge, nutrition station and viewing area, and coaches’ offices.
The Vaqueros Golf Center is a direct result of the partnership between UTRGV Athletics and the City of McAllen.
“What a transformative day for UTRGV Golf,” said head men’s golf coach Houston Moore. “It’s a big day for us. We’re really excited about what this facility has to offer. It’s a tremendous step forward for our programs. We plan to utilize the facility to its full potential and, hopefully, tap into ours.”
Take a look at the Arnold Palmer Golf Facility and Haddock House.
Of course the place where Arnold Palmer played college golf has excellent practice facilities.
The Arnold Palmer Complex opened in 2010, and now features the Haddock House, the Haas Family Range and the Dianne Dailey Golf Learning Center.
The Haddock House, named for former men’s golf coach Jesse Haddock, opened in the spring of 2016. The $4.5 million facility serves as the home for the men’s and women’s golf programs while also showcasing the history and tradition of Wake Forest golf.
The 10,000 square foot Haddock House, situated in the southwest corner of the Arnold Palmer Golf Complex, features coaches’ offices, locker rooms, team meeting areas and a Heritage Room that showcases the history of Wake Forest Golf. The Heritage Room and other adaptable spaces within the building will also be available for use for campus events, gatherings and receptions. Out front is a statue of Palmer himself.
The complex features more than 17 acres of 419 Tif Bermuda grass, five chipping and putting greens and 24 practice bunkers. Practice tees are situated around the entire complex to allow players to hit in any direction.
The 3,500 square-foot Dianne Dailey Golf Learning Center, named for long-time women’s golf coach Dianne Dailey, is equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art technology.
The Learning Center has heated hitting bays, which allow up to five people to hit simultaneously, and includes one bay that is equipped with a state-of-the-art V1 filming system and the newest TrackMan technology. The Learning Center also includes an indoor putting room that utilizes the Tomi video system, as well as a club repair and a club storage room.
Check out Eastern Michigan’s GameAbove Golf Performance Center.
Eastern Michigan held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the GameAbove Golf Performance Center at Eagle Crest Golf Course on Jan. 16, 2024.
The two-story facility, perched elegantly overlooking the 18th green and Ford Lake, was made possible through an $8 million gift from GameAbove, a dedicated group of Eastern Michigan alumni. The facility stands as a testament to EMU’s commitment to excellence in collegiate golf. This state-of-the-art training complex, spanning 13,000 square feet, is designed to propel the Eastern men’s and women’s golf teams to new heights of success. With locker rooms, meeting spaces, indoor putting and chipping areas, and cutting-edge simulators, the facility provides an unparalleled training environment for all elements of the game.
The building features a dedicated practice range, spanning 6,619 square feet, which offers student-athletes the opportunity to hone their skills with targeted training sessions. A specialized area covering 5,383 square feet has been designated for chipping and putting, ensuring that every aspect of the game is meticulously addressed in the training regimen. Additionally, the inclusion of two TrackMan 4 Simulators, totaling 1,974 square feet, adds a cutting-edge dimension to the training experience. These simulators bring the outdoor game indoors, allowing for precision training regardless of external conditions.
Here’s a look at some of the best college golf practice facilities in the country.
There’s been an arms race of sorts brewing in college athletics, especially over the last two decades.
Across the nation, colleges and universities have been beefing up their golf practice facilities, producing some incredible practice areas for their student-athletes that you have to see to believe. From all the latest video technology to locker room entertainment, golf facilities are becoming the place to be on campus.
From historically great Power 5 programs to mid-majors and everyone in between, college golf practice facilities are better now than they’ve ever been.
So, your friends at Golfweek are showcasing a database of college golf facilities. Check out the list below.
If you’re reading this and you’d like your school to be included, contact Cameron Jourdan.
The Ivy League school closed Hanover Country Club in 2020, and has refused the foundation’s request to return the money.
Several years before his death in 2002, at age 88, Robert T. Keeler drew up a will to make his intentions clear. His wife and family were his primary beneficiaries. Also on the list were his secretary and housekeeper, a church, seminary, and medical center, and Dartmouth College, his alma mater.
Keeler didn’t name a dollar amount for Dartmouth, choosing instead to leave a percentage of his estate, but he did specify how he wanted the money used: for the “sole purpose of upgrading and maintaining its golf course.” When Dartmouth asked for the flexibility to use the money for other purposes, the family said no.
Per their 2005 “statement of understanding,” the college was to send any money it didn’t need to maintain the course to the Robert T. Keeler charitable foundation, a nonprofit that supports children in need. That hasn’t happened. The college closed the Hanover Country Club in 2020, citing financial concerns, and has refused the foundation’s request to return the approximately $3.8 million that remains.
Dartmouth has also fought the foundation and estate’s request to be allowed to make their objections to a court. They’ve so far been denied.
The disagreement has triggered a 2½-year legal dispute between Dartmouth, Keeler’s estate and foundation, and the Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Unit, which is charged with protecting donors’ intentions.
It has also illustrated the limits of donors’ ability to control their charitable intentions, even when they spell out restrictions, as Keeler did.
With the blessing of the Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Unit, a circuit court judge ruled in February that Dartmouth can keep the $3.8 million and use it for “golf-related” purposes, such as the study and design of golf practice areas or administrative and equipment costs of the school varsity golf teams.
The case is now before the state Supreme Court. Keeler’s estate and foundation have asked the court to essentially reopen the modification request and give them the right to show why Dartmouth should be forced to return the money.
They believe they can show that Dartmouth didn’t close the golf course for financial reasons, which would meet the legal threshold for repurposing the money, but closed it because it wants to extract more value from the course by erecting housing and academic buildings on the course. The school’s strategic plan identifies the redevelopment of the course as a possibility.
The foundation and estate also argue the Charitable Trusts Unit failed in its obligation to sufficiently investigate Dartmouth’s financial argument.
“If this stands, the idea that when a donor makes a gift with conditions, that those conditions are supposed to be honored, that rule does not exist anymore in New Hampshire,” said attorney John Laboe, who is representing the estate and foundation. Asked how he’d advise clients seeking to protect their intentions, Laboe said, “I would say don’t give them the money.”
Dartmouth has said it is considering different uses for its golf course, which it closed in 2020, including new housing and academic buildings. (Screenshot | Beyer Blinder Belle)
Dissecting an agreement
The law allows institutions like Dartmouth to modify how they use gifts in limited circumstances: if the donor agrees or when the gift’s original purpose or restriction becomes unlawful, impracticable, impossible to achieve, or wasteful. However, the institution must still use the gift in a way that honors the donor’s wishes as much as possible, and a court must agree.
In February, Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rappa upheld the Charitable Trusts Unit’s determination that the school had met that legal burden and ruled that Dartmouth could redirect the money to other golf-related expenses. He found too that the unit had been extensively involved in reviewing Dartmouth’s request.
In oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in late March, Dartmouth’s attorney, Ralph Holmes, defended the school’s position that it is not required to return the money. He focused on a phrase in the statement of understanding that states the gift was intended to benefit future generations of Dartmouth students and members of the Dartmouth community. According to the statement of understanding Dartmouth included in a court filing, Keeler wished to support the golf course “so that future generations of Dartmouth students and members of the Dartmouth community may continue to enjoy the great game of golf at the course which he so loved.”
Holmes also told the court that the document does not identify the foundation as a beneficiary, and therefore does not require the money be returned. Holmes said that if Keeler wanted the right to have the money returned to his estate or foundation, that wish should have been included in the agreement.
“If that had been an agreement, it would be in this document, and it’s not there,” Holmes told the justices.
The agreement states that “… any amounts in excess of the amounts the executor determines to be necessary to sufficiently upgrade and adequately maintain the golf course shall be distributed to the Robert T. Keeler Foundation …”
Dartmouth’s legal team referred the Bulletin to Diana Lawrence, Dartmouth’s associate vice president for communications. Lawrence declined to comment while the case is pending.
As close as possible
Diane Quinlan, director of the Charitable Trusts Unit, also declined to comment on the case while it is pending. Assistant Director Michael Haley defended the unit’s handling of Dartmouth’s modification request during oral arguments, saying it has been extensively involved in the case. He also reiterated Holmes’ agreement that nothing in the statement of understanding requires the money be given to Keeler’s foundation.
“Now we have $3.8 million in charitable revenue or charitable assets that cannot be used,” Haley told the justices. “If we go back to the beginning … and they have a whole new hearing, and throw out everything we’ve done so far, that’s going to tie these resources up even further. And that’s certainly not what the intent of the donor was. He wanted these funds to be used for his intended charitable purposes.”
English common law first required attorney general oversight of charitable gifts in 1601, Quinlan said. New Hampshire was the first state to codify that responsibility in law. The Legislature created the Charitable Trusts Unit in 1943.
She said it’s not uncommon for institutions to seek permission to modify restrictions on a gift. She pointed to one involving two scholarship trusts established by Keene residents, one in 1929, the other in 1970.
The first required scholarships be given to male students. The second limited scholarships to male Protestant students. In 1987, the school board sought court permission to broaden the scholarships to all students, citing a fear that its administration of scholarships limited by gender and religion violated the constitutional right to equal protection. A superior court judge agreed.
The Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Unit appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that the school board could resolve its concerns by appointing private persons to administer the scholarships. In a 1990 decision, a majority of the justices rejected the state’s argument. Then-Chief Justice David Brock disagreed, writing in his dissent, “for centuries, Americans have rightly believed that they enjoy a legally protected right to choose the objects of their bounty and to bequeath their property by will, as they see fit. Neither our state nor our federal constitution requires this court to write a ‘better’ will for a decedent in terms which reflect the breadth of concern and conception characteristic of a public welfare program.”
In other cases, the Charitable Trusts Unit has opposed a modification request or asked an organization to modify it. About two years ago, Catholic Charities told the unit it wanted to change restrictions on eligibility for the Liberty House, its transitional housing for veterans in Manchester.
The donor who had gifted the property many years ago required that it be available to only Vietnam veterans. As that population dwindled, Catholic Charities wanted court permission to lift the restriction and allow it to welcome all veterans.
Quinlan said her office told the court it would agree, but only if Vietnam veterans were given first preference. The court agreed with the unit’s recommendation, she said.
“The problem, of course, is that when someone gives the gift, and when the charity accepts the gift, they can’t always predict what might happen in the future that might frustrate the purpose of that gift,” she said
In 1928, a woman left $1,000 to provide poor residents in Manchester ice, which was then needed to refrigerate food. The trustees asked a court in 1984 to use the money instead to help needy residents with electric bills. The court agreed.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Quinlan said, “but by 1984 (when the city requested to repurpose the gift), the purpose really became impractical because who, ‘Who had an icebox? Nobody.’”
‘Honorably return the money’
After Keeler graduated from Dartmouth in 1936, he earned a law degree from Yale and joined an Ohio law firm founded by the oldest son of former President William Howard Taft. He partnered with a cousin to develop 7,000 acres into a pulp and paper company that became the main supplier for Time Inc., according to his obituary.
He also continued golfing, up to two years before he died at his home in Vermont.
While an institution must notify the Charitable Trusts Unit that it is requesting court permission to modify a gift, it does not have to tell the donor. In the Dartmouth case, Peter Mithoefer, executor of Keeler’s estate and president and trustee of the foundation, learned the school was closing the golf course from a friend, who’d read about it in a golf magazine.
Mithoefer contacted Dartmouth and asked that the remainder of Keeler’s gift be given to the foundation, as Keeler requested. He said the school’s lawyer declined. In October, Mithoefer put his request to the school in writing.
He called Dartmouth’s decision to modify the terms of Keeler’s gift a betrayal and violation of the agreement. He said he had no doubt Keeler would have opposed any other use of his gift, including “golf-related” expenses. Mithoefer shared that he’d encouraged Keeler to instead leave the school money for scholarships and academics.
“His response was very clear,” Mithoefer wrote. “He was leaving money to maintain the golf course because he felt it would be a great asset for the alumni.” It would keep alumni connected to the school, often a first step in soliciting alumni gifts.
Mithoefer characterized the school’s financial argument for closing the course as misleading. He cited the school’s interest in using the land for student housing. He accused the Charitable Trusts Unit of failing to investigate the school’s real reasons for closing the school.
“I do not begrudge Dartmouth doing what it believes to be in the best interest of the college – expand its physical plant,” Mithoefer wrote, “but it should accept the ramifications of such a decision and honorably return the money given specifically to maintain the 18-hole golf course to the only other beneficiary named in (Keeler’s) will, his foundation.”
Annmarie Timmins is a Senior Reporter for the New Hampshire Bulletin, an independent, nonprofit news organization. This story first appeared in the New Hampshire Bulletin.
When talking about the best facilities in college golf, Arizona State’s Thunderbirds Golf Complex is on that list.
Located about five miles away from ASU’s campus, the 7,000 square-foot facility resides at Papago Golf Course, a City of Phoenix municipal course which became the home of Arizona State’s men’s and women’s golf programs on Nov. 1, 2018. It features a grand entry lobby, national championship displays, a gym, locker rooms for both men’s and women’s teams, a fueling station, study lounge, team lounge, indoor hitting bays and more.
Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, an ASU alum, had a hand in the design. It includes a four-acre practice area consisting of five practice greens, four practice bunkers and a three-acre fairway and rough designed to practice every possible golf shot.
Originally built in 1963, Papago Golf Course has become a prominent feature in the college golf world, thanks to “The Bird.”
