Not even the best golf course architects in the world are immune from golf course closures.
Having covered golf course closures for more than a decade, I’ve learned a few things along the way. It doesn’t matter how good the course is. It doesn’t matter how famous the designer is.
A course will close if a) Ownership doesn’t properly manage its asset, and/or b) it doesn’t have a solid business plan. That business model might be requiring local support or that golfers travel a great distance to experience it. Whatever the case might be, the numbers – money brought in versus expenses going out – have to add up to keep the grass cut. It’s Economics 101.
Architects don’t have anything to do with this numbers game. They’re artists and contractors. They do the painting, the sculpting, and then turn over their masterpiece to the bean counters. Sometimes things go wrong from there.
It can’t be easy watching a project you spent years of your life building just disappear. Two of golf’s most prominent architects of all time – Tom Fazio and Robert Trent Jones Jr. – have seen two different facilities tied to them shuttered in the last six months. These closures got me wondering what other prominent modern architects have suffered the same event. Turns out it’s more prevalent than you probably think. Here’s a look at the course closures of golf’s 10 most successful modern architects:
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw
The Sugarloaf Mountain Golf & Town Club closed in central Florida in 2012. Courtesy photo
Golf’s most successful duo of all-time has been working together for almost four decades, but the best might be yet to come as they have number high-profile jobs in the works. Prior to joining forces in 1986, Coore designed a handful of projects on his own, including King’s Crossing (1986-2008) in Corpus Christi, Texas, which closed during the Great Recession. Sugarloaf Mountain (2008-2013), a central Florida real estate play that faltered, might end up being the only C&C project that ever goes belly-up. They’re at the stage of their careers where they only pick the best, most stable opportunities.
Golfers in Inland Empire lost 36 holes of Pete Dye-designed golf at Lost Canyons in Simi Valley. Oleg Volovik/GolfPass
To be honest, I’m surprised more courses designed by Pete Dye haven’t closed. His designs don’t just prey on the weakness of golfers, their hazards and visual tricks bully players into submission. I’ve enjoyed a few Dye courses over the years – I thought Ocean Links was cool and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is epic – but there’s a few I hope I never play again.
Having lived in California for a decade now, it’s entirely understandable that the 36 holes at Diablo Grande have closed. Summers are too hot for sustainable golf at their inland location, and water is expensive and in short supply. The same goes for Dye’s Simi Valley courses. They were just built in the wrong place at the wrong time by overambitious developers who thought population growth would send home owners and golfers their way. They bet wrong.
Tom Fazio and crew displayed tremendous prowess with bulldozers and imagination with the creation of the Lakes Course at Primm Valley Golf Club in Nevada. Many called it the “The Poor Man’s Shadow Creek.” Brian Oar
Are Tom Fazio designs too big to fail? It seems that way. Four prominent Fazio projects have closed during the Golf Advisor/GolfPass era, but three of them have made comebacks after closures: Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas, Butterfield Trail in El Paso, Texas; and the Prince Course at Princeville (now called North Shore Preserve, an uber-exclusive Discovery Land property). There are rumors that Primm Valley’s courses, which closed last year, could reopen if a buyer is found. Affordable California water, again, is a big issue. Paupack Hills was early Fazio collaboration with his uncle George.
Fazio has lost some of his designs to redesigns by competitors, including Pinehurst No. 4 to Gil Hanse and PGA National Resort’s Champion Course to Nicklaus.
Tallgrass Golf Course was once a linksy local favorite in Suffolk County, N.Y. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass
It’s a bold step for a modern architect to have an “NLE” – no longer existing – section of courses listed on his website, but losing two courses to closure is hardly an indictment of Hanse’s talent. He remains arguably the hottest architect on the planet, despite the closure of Tallgrass, which gave way to a solar panel development in 2015, and The Capstone Club, which closed in Alabama in 2014.
Nobody’s had more home runs in the modern era of design than Doak and his Renaissance Golf crew based in Traverse City, Mich. Doak leads all architects with the most Top 100 courses ever built. Like every great slugger, though, he’s had more than his fair share of strikeouts, too. He got a second chance to save High Pointe, his first solo design in Williamsburg, which closed in 2008. A recent redesign has transformed sections of the original course into a new high-end private club. North Carolina’s Charlotte Golf Links (1993-2014), Maryland’s Beechtree Golf Club (1998-2008), California’s Aetna Springs Golf Course (2008-2018) and Mexico’s Bahia de los Suenos (2009-2013) weren’t so lucky. They’re likely gone for good.
I was on hand for one of the greatest comebacks in golf development history when RTJ II’s Osprey Meadows in Idaho reopened last year at Tamarack Resort after a decade of lying fallow. It’s rare for a course to be revived after being down for so long. Desert Dunes, which closed earlier this year in a crowded Palm Springs golf market, likely won’t ever make it to the resuscitation table, however. RTJ II’s Beach Course is still open on Hawaii Island, but the back nine was lost in 2023 to redevelopment, leaving a 27-hole combination for guests.
The long, par-4 finishing hole on La Cantera’s Arnold Palmer Course was as picturesque as it was challenging before being closed. Courtesy of the Westin La Cantera Resort
As popular as Palmer was as a player, he was just as polarizing as an architect. For how prolific his firm was, Palmer’s design team never garnered much acclaim from critics. Only a handful of his best designs ever made it on “best of” state lists. That said, I enjoyed both La Cantera (2001-21) and Empire Lakes (1996-2016) when I played them years ago. I think both local communities still miss them.
The Falls Golf Club no longer exists in Lake Las Vegas. WorldGolf.com
I consider Weiskopf’s one of the game’s most underrated architects of all time. I haven’t met a Weiskopf course I didn’t like. That makes the 2009 closure of the Falls Course at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada, such a shame. Its sister Nicklaus course was revived in 2014 after a five-year closure, while Weiskopf’s work was chopped up for redevelopment with part of it transformed into a couple of practice holes and a teaching facility.
The Great White Course at Trump National Doral Miami has been redeveloped. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass
Love him or hate him after the LIV Golf thing and his collapses in majors, The Great White Shark is still a prominent figure in the game. He’s widely regarded as one of the best drivers of the golf ball of all time. He’s a pretty darn good designer, too, overseeing creative courses from Mexico to Australia, America and beyond. His Great White Course was my second favorite course at Trump National Doral Miami, but Donald Trump saw dollar signs instead, selling it off for redevelopment a decade ago.
Which closed golf courses from this list do you miss the most? Let us know in the comments below.
