The Valley course sits a little lower, meaning warmer temperatures and a longer playing season.
Just 20 minutes past Vail Ski Resort on the road from Denver, Cordillera Valley Club has gorgeous mountains, a lush valley and contains one of the gems of the Colorado golf scene.
The Valley course, designed by Tom Fazio, sits a little lower than the neighboring Mountain and Summit courses, meaning warmer temperatures and a little longer playing season.
This home that’s currently for sale for just under $13 million has sweeping views of the Sawatch Range, sits just in front of Spring Creek and according to a listing at Sotheby’s has an enormous heated patio that will allow its owner to enjoy the seasons a little longer.
The home also has a four-car garage with its own car wash, as well as a private path that leads out to the golf course.
A favorite in the Vail Valley, the community of Cordillera Valley Club is one of the few neighborhoods with private roadways allowing residents to own and drive their own carts enjoying a ”golf cart lifestyle” unique in the Vail Valley. In addition to golf, the newly remodeled Club’s local amenities include restaurant, pro-shop, pool, hiking trails, tennis courts and gym.
In addition to the golf course and the amenities, Cordillera Valley Club residents savor the surrounding natural beauty with panoramic views stretching from the Back Bowls of Vail over to the New York Mountain, Sawatch Mountain Range and Lake Creek Valley.”
Vaquero Club’s new bunkers prove that not everything is bigger in Texas – see the photos.
Everything is said to be bigger in Texas, but not the bunkers at The Vaquero Club in Westlake. Those are smaller now after a renovation by Andrew Green, although there are more of them.
The private club has just reopened the layout after Green’s makeover, which introduced several new holes, removed acres of bunkers and rebuilt every green.
The course at Vaquero was first designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2001 between Dallas and Fort Worth. The layout makes use of varied topography, including a giant hill that offers long views from two greens.
In a media release announcing the completion of the project, Green called it a “brand-new golf course.” He aimed to make the layout more enjoyable for a wider range of players while still challenging low-handicappers.
The work introduced more variety off the tees, added width and rerouted several holes to increase flexibility. The total acreage of bunkers was reduced from 6.95 to 2.58 acres, but the number of bunkers actually increased from 61 to 92. Green hopes the smaller but plentiful traps will force players to more carefully consider shot placement and strategy.
The greens were totally redesigned, with the media release saying the new putting surfaces feature unique contours and shapes that give each green a distinct personality. Most of the greens are now accessible along the ground, allowing players to bounce shots onto the putting surfaces while promoting greater variety in short-game options.
“The goal was to encourage members to play the golf course more than they ever did previously, while making them better players,” Green said in the media release. Each day, the course should be “a wonderland of variety, fun and challenge, so even if their score doesn’t reflect it, they’ll have a ton of fun.”
Among notable changes was rerouting the par-5 opener to play in the opposite direction, removing 70 percent of the sand on the par-5 seventh and introducing a new par-3 16th that is only 130 yards but that features what the architect calls a “devilish” green.
“As the club president, I am delighted to announce the triumphant completion of our new golf course, a masterpiece crafted in collaboration with the visionary Andrew Green,” Mike Bevill said in the media release. “The course stands as a testament to our commitment to excellence, and we take pride in providing our esteemed membership with a world-class golfing experience.”
Check out a selection of photos of the reworked Vaquero Club below, all shot by noted golf photographer Bill Hornstein.
StrackaLine offers a hole-by-hole guide for Sea Island’s Seaside course, the main layout in play for the RSM Classic.
Sea Island’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia – the main layout of the two in play this week for the PGA Tour’s 2023 RSM Classic – originally opened in 1929 and was extensively renovated in 1999.
Th original design was by Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison, and it underwent several modifications over the decades. It was most recently redone by Tom Fazio in 1999.
The Seaside will be one of two courses in play for this week’s RSM Classic. The first two rounds also include the popular resort’s Plantation course – each player completes one round on each course – before all weekend play moves solely to the Seaside Course.
The Seaside will play to 7,005 yards with a par of 70 for the RSM Classic. The Plantation Course – renovated by Davis Love III and his brother, Mark, in 2019 – will play to 7,060 yards with a par of 72.
The Seaside Course ranks No. 1 in Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses in Georgia, and it also ties for No. 75 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in the U.S. – the renovation by Fazio was extensive enough for the layout to qualify as a modern course. The Plantation Course ranks No. 6 on the list of top public-access courses in the state.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week on the Seaside Course. Check out the maps of each hole below.
Bent grass greens can suffer in summer, so this North Carolina club replaced theirs.
Old North State Club in New London, North Carolina, has finished an extensive renovation that focused on replacing the existing bent grass greens with Bermuda grass.
Hot summers can wreak havoc on bent grass in North Carolina, so the putting surfaces at the private Old North State Club were topped with TifEagle Bermuda to provide better conditions year round.
Located on Badin Lake between Charlotte and Greensboro, Old North State Club was designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1991. The layout ties for No. 102 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of the top 200 residential courses in the U.S.
All the bunkers also were rebuilt with Capillary Concrete in the $3-million renovation undertaken by owner McConnell Golf, the largest owner of private clubs in the area with 14 private courses, two semi-private layouts and one nine-hole course. Other efforts at Old North State Club included tree removal, cart path repairs and renovations to tees that added 160 yards to the course.
“This renovation not only enhances playing conditions but also the overall membership experience and draws people back for more fun on Badin Lake,” McConnell Golf founder and CEO John McConnell said in a media release announcing the news. “It’s exciting to have the course return to its former glory with Tom Fazio’s original plan in mind.”
Check out several photos of the completed work below.
Check out these hole-by-hole photos of Marco Simone headed into the 2023 Ryder Cup.
All the golf world’s eyes will be on Marco Simone Golf & Country Club this week for the 2023 Ryder Cup. Before you get your first look at the course on television or online coverage, check out the following photos of each hole to see what the U.S. and European teams face.
Marco Simone opened in 1989 with a layout by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio, but that course doesn’t exist anymore. The whole layout was renovated and rerouted in 2018-2020 by a team from European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson, with American architect Tom Fazio II serving as a consultant.
The current hilly layout – 155 feet of elevation change in all – was designed with the Ryder Cup in mind, with several drivable par 4s. It will play to a par of 71 with a yardage of 7,181 yards for the biennial team competition.
Marco Simone, a par 72 that will play 7,268 yards for the Ryder Cup. is a public-access layout with tee times available.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome – site of the 2023 Ryder Cup between teams from the U.S. and Europe – originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989.
The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s.
Marco Simone – a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website – will play to a par of 71 with the scorecard showing 7,181 yards. It’s likely the host European team will adjust yardages in attempt to benefit itself. The rough has been reported to be deep and thick heading into the Ryder Cup, putting an emphasis on accurate tee shots to relatively tight fairways.
Thanks to a yardage book provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face at the Ryder Cup. Check out the maps of each hole below.
From the gated entrance to the 18th green, Fallen Oak rolls out the welcome mat in Mississippi.
SAUCIER, Miss. – Golf architect Tom Fazio is a heavyweight in the private club world. His designs pepper the Golfweek’s Best list of top private courses across the U.S., with dozens of such facilities among the top modern courses in the country.
Wade Hampton Club in North Carolina, Congaree in South Carolina, Estancia in Arizona — those and more than 50 others rank highly, and they’re all private. His courses tend to be part of clubs that excel in catering to their memberships’ every whim.
Fazio also has excelled in building courses for another segment of golf: casinos. Fazio either designed or collaborated on seven of the top 50 casino courses in the U.S. Best of all, these highly ranked layouts are open to the public, albeit sometimes only to guests staying at the affiliated casino resort.
Fazio’s Shadow Creek in Las Vegas has topped the Golfweek’s Best rankings of casino courses in the U.S. for years. The over-the-top desert layout in North Las Vegas is a testament to what might be accomplished when money is no issue, and the layout’s $1,000-plus green fee is aligned with that. The amount of play at Shadow Creek is also limited — stay at the MGM, take a limo to the course, be treated like a star.
But there’s another way to experience the best of Fazio casino golf that shouldn’t be missed, and it’s much more attainable.
No. 18 at Fallen Oak in Mississippi (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Fallen Oak near Biloxi, Mississippi, is a much more natural layout than Shadow Creek. And the course – operated in conjunction with MGM’s Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, a AAA Four Diamond award winner — might offer the best opportunity for public golfers to experience a top Fazio layout and all the first-rate trappings that generally come with it. Fallen Oak is No. 2 on the Golfweek’s Best list of top casino courses in the U.S.
From the gated entrance and long drive past live oaks and ponds to the stately clubhouse, all the way to the personalized lockers and frozen watermelon served at the turn on a hot day, Fallen Oak makes a public-access player feel like a member of an elite club. The service is second to none in the public-access golf world.
Director of golf Mark Powell makes sure of it.
“We want it to feel special, that, ‘Hey, I’m at a great golf course,’ ” said the longtime PGA of America pro who took the helm at Fallen Oak in 2021. “We want to be there every step of the way. We want everyone on staff to know your name.”
No. 17 at Fallen Oak in Mississippi (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Guests of the Beau Rivage gain access to all this on a course that’s never crowded, hosting just 14,000 or so rounds a year. Counting the several weeks a year Fallen Oak is closed for maintenance – a luxury most public-access layouts can’t afford — it works out to about 40 players a day.
Go ahead, stretch out. Enjoy the quiet. It’s rare these days.
Fazio’s layout at Fallen Oak opened in 2006, and for a decade it hosted the PGA Tour Champions event in Mississippi. And unlike the heavily manufactured Shadow Creek, Fallen Oak sits on a tremendous Southern site that seems entirely natural for golf. Aside from its high ranking among casino courses, Fallen Oak is the top-rated public-access course in Mississippi. The green fee tops out at $275 — you could play four rounds at Fallen Oak for not much more than one round at Shadow Creek — and the resort runs stay-and-play specials.
Fallen Oak’s rolling terrain is dotted with wetlands and specimen trees, some of which were relocated during construction. Conditioning is top notch, equal to elite private clubs even in the heat of a Mississippi summer. The greens have plenty of motion without ever crossing a line into too-difficult territory.
Best of all: the bunkering.
Many resort courses slash bunkers across their countrysides, threatening players of all levels and distance. Fallen Oak, by contrast, offers restrained bunkering, one well-placed trap often serving the job. Fallen Oak underwent a major bunker renovation in 2014 in which numerous traps were removed, and the remaining bunkers were given a face-lift again in 2022.
No. 3 at Fallen Oak in Mississippi (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Many holes feature only one fairway bunker. No. 2 is a long par 4, and there is just one fairway bunker on the left side – the hole doesn’t need any more protection. It’s similar at Nos. 4 and 9 on the front side. No. 11 has no fairway traps, and the rest of the back nine is similarly restrained. The ground moves enough through the wide corridors to provide challenge without every stray shot splashing into sand.
Same goes around most of the greens. Play a round at Fallen Oak and you’ll face more chips and pitches than bunker splash-outs. The entire layout, since the bunker renovations, shows a lovely level of understatement married to an extremely comfortable Gulf Coast motif. The terrain and the trees, the ponds and the greens are free to shine without too much sand in your face. You can always head to the beach if you want more sand.
“The first re-do they did, I tell ya, I was really impressed,” said Powell, who was working at another Mississippi club at the time. “I had played here before, back in the early days, and that was always kind of a knock on the course, too many bunkers. After the re-do, when I saw the course, I said this is even better. It’s awesome.”
The par-72 layout can be stretched beyond 7,500 yards, but from the proper tees it’s a treat of attempted shotmaking into smooth putting surfaces. Good shots are rewarded, and the roll-offs around several greens require strategic approaches to the proper sides of the hole. There’s not a thoughtless approach on the 510-acre property, and at the same time there’s not one that’s unattainable.
The Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi (Courtesy of The Beau Rivage)
It’s a perfect attribute to the Beau Rivage, which is packed with highly rated dining and other curated experiences besides the golf. A word of advice: Plan your visit during baseball season, and take in a Biloxi Shuckers minor-league game at MGM Park across the street from the casino resort. It’s an intimate ballpark that provides a great break from the gaming tables.
The golf club is open to any guests of the Beau Rivage, with Powell and his staff hosting frequent special events for VIPs of the casino. Put in enough time at the tables and you might be invited to play in a sponsored tournament for casino credit that can run into the thousands of dollars. The club also has a small membership of invited casino regulars, and Powell hosts all kinds of interesting events for them, too.
“We just want to make it fun for everybody,” Powell said. “We’ve got member tournaments, a great club championship, all kinds of games during the week.
“We’re constantly looking to do every little thing we can to improve the guest experience. Sometimes a little thing goes a long way.”
Sound like a public-access private club? That’s the idea, executed perfectly.
New bunkers and tees to be added to one of the top private clubs in Connecticut.
Fazio Design and course superintendent Stephen Hicks have started a bunker renovation to Bull’s Bridge Golf Club in South Kent, Connecticut. The project to one of the top private clubs in the state will include the expansion of several fairways and approach areas and the addition of new tees on select holes.
Bull’s Bridge ties for No. 5 on Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of private clubs in Connecticut, and it also ranks No. 181 on Golfweek’s Best list of all modern courses built since 1960 in the United States. Designed by Tom Fazio, Bull’s Bridge opened in 2004.
New bunkers will be added to eight holes, and other bunkers will be repositioned. With McDonald and Sons as the construction contractor, new back tees will be added to Nos. 2, 9 and 18. Forward tees will be built on Nos. 3, 6, 10 and 17. Grow-in and full completion of the golf course project is expected in November.
No. 16 at Bull’s Bridge in South Kent, Connecticut, during renovation (Courtesy of Bull’s Bridge Golf Club)
A clubhouse expansion plan also has been approved by the local zoning commission, with Furno Architects on board for that job. The existing clubhouse has been redesigned, and a new golf house with locker rooms and a golf shop will be added and connected by a breezeway. The project began in August.
“This is an exciting time at Bull’s Bridge, with these significant upgrades being made to enhance overall member enjoyment of our facilities,” general manager Brian Freeswick said in a media release announcing the plans.
Golfweek’s experts have ranked the Top 200 courses built since 1960, such as Bandon Dunes, Whistling Straits and more.
Want to play the great modern golf courses in the U.S.? From Hawaii to Boston, we have you covered. So welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of the Top 200 Modern Courses built in or after 1960 in the United States.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.
Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.
There’s one course of particular note this year. Landmand Golf Club in Homer, Nebraska, debuts the highest of the courses new to this list, climbing into a tie for 26th. Designed by Tad King and Rob Collins, Landmand opened in 2022. It and the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes are the only courses to have opened since 2020 to rank among the top 200.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, then the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2022.
After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:
StrackaLine provides hole-by-hole maps for Quail Hollow, site of the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour.
Quail Hollow Club, site of the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour, originally was designed by George Cobb and opened in 1961 in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has been renovated several times, including by Arnold Palmer and most recently by Tom Fazio.
Quail Hollow has been a regular stop on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions since 1969. It hosted the 2017 PGA Championship, won by Justin Thomas, and also was the site of the 2022 Presidents Cup. It again hosts the PGA Championship in 2025.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week.
