Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.
Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on “the unluckiest island in America,” Isle Dauphine might have more potential than any golf course in the United States.
Whether Pebble Beach is America’s “best” public-access golf course is debatable. But it’s unquestionably one of the worst examples of public-access golf in America.
“I think what you see out there is that there’s a lot of reasons we play golf. And it’s not always to shoot the lowest scores. It’s not always to play tournament golf, or to try to improve.”
Even in the age of contrarianism, it’s OK to accept that the consensus choice as America’s greatest publicly accessible golf course might actually be that good.
“Summer last year was absolutely wild, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s taken me to a level where I feel like this actually is something that I can do one day at the highest level.“