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.
The Refuge in Flowood, Miss., reopened in 2021 after a four-year renovation. In hindsight, though, the renovation appears to have been less about the golf course and more about decorating the new hotel next door.
With the goal of breaking ground in September 2021, the team spearheading a 12-hole King Collins design in Jackson, Miss., has begun laying the groundwork for a fundraising push beginning in late 2020.
The 45-year-old golf course at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Ala., was called the Refuge. Coincidentally, that’s what it’s become: an empty, open wilderness, devoid of golf and almost anything else — left, at the moment, largely to the whims of nature.