Trinity Forest Opening Photos, A Few Course Glimpses

G.J. McCarthy's photo gallery for the Dallas Morning News offers a few more glimpses of the new Trinity Forest course in Dallas. Designed by Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, the course was built on a 400-acre landfill and sports a $150,000 initiation fee.

From the sounds of Bill Nichols' story on the opener, the course has gotten more private than was outlined in the original scope but remains the home course for SMU's golf teams. Architectural details, beyond being so starkly links-like and rustic, are pretty sparse.

The layout measures 7,300 yards from the tips and plays to a par of 71 with 11 par-4s, four par-3s and three par-5s. Three holes cross a deep ravine, and three others have split fairways. Most of the greens are slightly elevated with tightly mowed surrounding areas.

This Instagram image from Jordan Spieth gives a sense of the course location and scale:

You’re looking at the future home of the @ATTByronNelson! See you on the new track in 2018. #Dallas #ATTAthlete

A photo posted by Jordan Spieth (@jordanspieth) on Oct 26, 2016 at 12:20pm PDT

Comments

[My Golf Putters]

Great looking location. It looks and sounds like it will be a nice challenging course to conquer.

[D. maculata]

So this is where all the secrets in Dallas garbage trucks are buried. Some interesting question posed by locals in the D Magazine piece 10/26/16 such as:

No parking means shuttle service for spectators. Tour players hated coming to Las Colinas and staying within walking distance from the Four Seasons.

The installation of a giant fan to combat the odor. This could be tongue in cheek but I'm curious when the site was capped and how the outgassing was addressed?

[Bedard]

I have a soft spot for courses placed on parcels of land that are perfectly square.

[Dsl]

Not that I'll ever play there, but having only 3 par-5s sounds like hell

[Easingwold]

"Not that I'll ever play there, but having only 3 par-5s sounds like hell "

I don't understand why only 3 par 5's would be hell, the Old Course only has 2 and it's golfing heaven !

[dsl]

Damn! I tried to do a search for courses with only 3 par-5s and came up empty. I never even considered the grand daddy of them all! And it has less than that!

So, the Old Course is on that same list of courses I'd never get to play. It's also on a list of courses that would absolutely destroy me, but be a blast to play just for the experience. So, still hell from a 'having fun playing golf' point of view, but heaven from a 'holy sh*t, I got on the Old Course and all I have to show for it is this lousy 120'.

[mark]

DSL,

Woodhill CC in Minnesota, were Arnold Palmer has the course record and Jack Nicklaus played in the trans miss has 3 par 5's One tho with the modern distance of the ball is almost a par 4

Pebble Beach for the US open had only 3 par 5's

[Easingwold]

My home course only has 3 par 5's. Never thought it unusual, just different. One of my old clubs had 5 par 5's!

DSL, get a caddie at the Old Course and you will score better than you think you will. Plus, the pins aren't tucked away like they are for the pros.

[Pat]

dsl -- the Old Course isn't particularly difficult, especially when the wind is down. I don't mean its easy, but its not a killer.

[BrianS]

One of the funner courses (and great scenery) is the Old Course at the Homestead Resort, in VA. That course is on the hotel grounds, and is where most of the Corp outings take place. The layout is 6/6/6, par 3/4/5. Very fun, I don't recal for sure, but I believe they never have holes of the same par consecutively.

[Linkslike]

If I hear the words "starkly links-like and rustic" again I may puke.

[PABoy]

PVGC only has two par fives, but one does feature 'hell's half acre'.

[Greg B.]

The Speith photo makes it look positively barren. The landfill origins seem apparent.

[Willie]

Hey LinksLike, if Brian S uses "funner" again without italics or quote marks, I might puke.

[Brad Ford]

While that perfect square might look odd in the middle of that forest, most of Dallas county was treeless (and flat) in the early 1900's. Although I don't know for sure, I have heard that most of the trees in the area were planted in the post-WWII era.