I am just back from three weeks on the road -- Palm Desert, New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii -- and responding to a request for an update on our courses.
Texas Tech: all is shaped, about nine holes are grassed, a bit behind schedule as we expected. I haven't actually been back there since the last hole was shaped; Jim Urbina and Brian Slawnik are ensuring that it gets finished the way we built it. Should open sometime next summer.
Stonewall: I'm headed back there tomorrow, and by the end of next week we should have all the green complexes shaped. Four holes have been planted already, and we're trying to get them all by the end of September. What's been finished so far looks great, like it's been laying on the ground forever. An all-star team of talent on this job -- Don Placek and Toby Cobb doing the conducting, Kye Goalby and Brian Schneider and Eric Iverson doing the shaping, and Kyle Franz and Dan Proctor doing the finish work. With that crew, who needs me?
Cape Kidnappers, N.Z. -- Looking to start in September. See related thread about it.
The Golf Club at St. Andrews Beach, Australia -- in collaboration with Michael Clayton Golf Design. Two 18-hole layouts, each 6700 or 6800 yards, with a 7100-yard Composite Course built into the design. (I think this is a really novel way to fight the distance gap, although with the A.G.U. owning its own course next door, the politics of getting a tournament are doubtful.) The property is a mile from the ocean, five miles from The National. No ocean views, but the contour is IDEAL, as good as anything I've worked with.
Cabo del Sol -- on hold for now. Really haven't heard that much from them about when they might start.
Barnbougle Dunes -- Greg Ramsay is still working on getting his funding for the courses approved and in place. Would be ideal if we could get it built while we're going back and forth to Australia and New Zealand for the other projects, but we'll have to wait and see.
The Crest, Palm Desert -- Plan is in permitting, hoping to move earth (rock) next spring or summer. For what it's worth, my son thought this property was more exciting than Cape Kidnappers or St. Andrews Beach, even though he loved New Zealand. It's an unusual design, with several holes that go uphill or downhill as much as 75-100 feet, but it's all golf right up against the mountains with some spectacular backdrops and views. I'd tell you what I think the potential is, but Golfarc would get mad.
That's all I can tell you about for now. There are 3-4 other projects in the pipeline, all of them exciting, but it's premature to talk about them. Life is very good right now.