Trinity Forest Deep Dive And The Nelson Going Forward
It might seem rude to be looking ahead to the Byron Nelson's move from TPC Las Colinas/Four Seasons, but it's a course not loved by players. With a Coore and Crenshaw project that has reclaimed rolling, rumpled land, Trinity Forest has the potential to raise the architecture bar in the Dallas area.
More importantly, the 2018 Nelson could be a test run for bigger things, with the USGA having paid visits and the club thought to have major championship aspirations. With AT&T's golf-living bigwigs backing the project, don't be surprised if the Nelson is short-lived there and we see the PGA of America and USGA jockey for something bigger.
Anyway, Jonathan Wall at PGATour.com has done a wonderful deep dive piece into the project and has more details on the architectural elements than previous pieces. As always, please hit the link but here's a teaser:
Instead of attempting to alter the contours, Coore and Crenshaw embraced the character flaws and built Trinity Forest around the gentle rises and falls in the land, along with the native grasses and rolling, rumpled sand that are hallmarks of the design.
"The set of circumstances are we let the holes fall where they are," Crenshaw said. "The character of the topography of the ground dictates what the end result will be, and we are very traditional in that regard. We've borrowed ideas from the old architects such as Donald Ross, [A.W.] Tillinghast and Perry Maxwell, and they all basically have the same interwoven philosophies in that the holes must fit the ground.
"Perry Maxwell had some fascinating statements about that. He said, if you take a piece of land and tie it into a natural theme, your golf course will be different than anyone else's. I always thought that was a fascinating statement. So wherever we go, we try as hard as we can to not alter the land so much."
Friday, May 19, 2017 at 09:14 AM
Reader Comments (18)
"However, there are holes on the property that feature more significant rises and falls where loads of dirt had to be piled up sometimes as high as 12 to 15 feet to create the dramatic bunkering that appears all over the course."
From Crenshaw:
"We've borrowed ideas from the old architects such as Donald Ross, [A.W.] Tillinghast and Perry Maxwell, and they all basically have the same interwoven philosophies in that the holes must fit the ground."
Not sure that any of the mentioned architects moved that much earth with their horses and carts.
My reaction, too. In fact, there isn't a trace of anything natural about it. A layer of soil on top of the whole property and tons more hauled trucked in...drainage artificial...all native trees removed (having "Forest" in the name seems strange), new fauna brought in.
All these things are in the story and good on the writer for that. But it essentially was a salute to technology, money and influence. And Ben Crenshaw, of course.
With that, it's neat that there was a demand for this.
I do agree somewhat that there may be some holes that aren't the best for spectators and I have no idea how they are going to handle the parking as the course sits off a small access road on a divided roadway but I am sure they will think of something for these issues as the owners are VERY motivated about bringing a championship to that course.
I am a huge fan of the course and can't wait to see how it holds up to tournament play!
hot hot hot in June
extra hot hot hot in August - just miserable