Golf architecture, to use today’s jargon, is in its 2.0 phase. Fewer courses are being built than during the boom of the 2000s, but what we are getting now are leaner, cleaner, and, at least environmentally speaking, greener experiences. Today’s designs have more in common with golf’s original course designs in Scotland and the British Isles than they do with the suburban country clubs at which many of us grew up playing.
If you haven’t already booked your golfing trip for 2020, here are the openings that we’re most looking forward to next year—whether you prefer the coast of Oregon, the middle of Missouri, or 20 minutes from St. Andrews.
Sheep Ranch, Oregon
Perhaps no opening has been more anticipated in golf than the fifth, and final, full course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. The remote location in Oregon has consistently ranked among the top 10 in America since the original course opened in 1999, thanks to the jaw-dropping cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Before now, the Sheep Ranch course existed mostly as legend and lore—you had to call a guy, pay him $100, and he’d open a gate to let you in—but when it opens on June 1, it’ll have the full treatment from popular design duo Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. Tight, intimate routing lets golfers play out and over cliffs along nine stunning holes hugging the coast. And there isn’t a single sand bunker to hit into. This is a case of the rich getting richer that we can all celebrate.
Payne’s Valley, Missouri
No one moves the needle in golf as Tiger Woods can. This spring, his design firm TGR will debut Payne’s Valley at the Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo., and it’ll be his first public course design in America. (He’s previously designed courses for Bluejack National, a private club 50 miles north of Houston, and the Diamante luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.) Woods has made no secret that he takes inspiration for his own designs from Augusta National Golf Club, with its low rough, “flashy” bunkers, and playability. Like many others, Woods thinks the game needs to be faster and more user-friendly. Payne’s Valley, named in the memory of late Hall of Famer Payne Stewart, will invite an early look at Woods’s vision for doing that over a 7,300-yard layout of impeccable Ozarks terrain.
Mickelson National, Alberta
Phil Mickelson appears to be not only on the back nine of his career but on the closing holes. As he branches into social media and podcasts and increases his popularity off the greens, Mickelson’s role as a designer may be one more thing for the masses to celebrate. Mickelson National Golf Club, outside Calgary in Alberta, has been letting a few lucky golfers preview a selection of holes on the course this year. The reviews have largely been positive, touting forgiving fairways, treacherous fescue, and “blowout” bunkers. The course was built with design partner Rick Smith and offers plentiful views of Canada’s Rocky Mountains.
Dumbarnie Links, Scotland
If you’re going to build a true links course in Scotland, it had better be great. And if you’re going to build it 20 minutes from St. Andrews, it needs to be spectacular. Sitting on 345 acres on the eastern coast, Dumbarnie Links looks to be all that and more. The course features dual elevations connected by a flowing escarpment and has a mile and a half of beach and sea frontage. Plus, there’s a number of elevated tees whose holes play directly toward panoramic views of the Firth of Forth estuary.