[Philippe Binette]

Just thinking about all the best new courses openings in the last ten fifteen years:

Sand Hills: open site
Cape Kidnappers: open site
Barnbougle: open site
Kingsbarns: open site
Ballyneal: open site
and many more, all open sites...

then I thought, courses in the world top 100 almost all come from open sites..

#1 Pine Valley was an open site to start
#9 Merion was too I think...
#17 Ok Pinehurst 2, but Ross got rid of the tree issue pretty quick
#21 Winged Foot was probably an open site (not sure)
#23 San Francisco (I don't know)
#38 Sunningdale, I think it was an open site
#42 Muirfield Village, might not be an open site

basically out of the top 100, maybe 6 or 7 courses didn't start with an open site... #70 Harbour Town is potentially the best courses on a closed site

Will somebody ever designed a top 50 courses from a closed site???

[Tom_Doak]

Philippe:

They had to dynamite trees out of the way at Winged Foot, so you can start there.  Not sure it was a "forest" but it was definitely wooded.  Muirfield Village was also wooded.  SFGC and Sunningdale were not.

I'll vote for Swinley Forest because it has the forest right in the name.

The best job of clearing I've seen on a modern golf course is at Cuscowilla.

[Ally Mcintosh]

St Georges Hill was one of the first wooded sites specifically cleared for a golf course... I'll vote for that... It was a magical place...

Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to see Swinley Forest...

[Ronald Montesano]

My guess is, think New England and Michigan...

[john_stiles]

From the old photos,  one that comes to mind in the southern US is Biltmore Forest in Asheville, NC.     Pretty much carved out of the old growth.

It must have been difficult to clear the land for Yale.   

The old photos show the work must have extremely difficult.   Clearing out some of the new growth since course opened has been quite a lot of work as well.

[Adam Clayman]

CPC runs in and put of the forest.

[Phil McDade]

I would think Pine Valley might set the standard in the U.S.

In the U.K., the under-rated Boat of Garten in the central Highlands of Scotland is carved out of a forest of silver birch trees. It's a short course, not much beyond 6,000 yds., but an exacting test of driving because of the corridors one plays through.

[Jim Nugent]

Yale was built in a former forest preserve, I believe. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

Surely the course has had to be routed through an existing forest to qualify?...

If the forest is the result of tree-planting or just allowing the scrub to grow around the holes, then I'm not sure this qualifies as a "forest course"...

My opinion only perhaps...

[Adam_Messix]

I'm sure Tom Paul will be able to give a definitive answer, but I think there were a lot of trees taken out during the construction of Pine Valley and they sure did return rather quickly so I think I would include Pine Valley as a forested setting.  Cypress Point isn't in the forest long enough to be considered IMHO and the best holes there are not in the forest.  I think the next best would probably be Morfontaine, those trees there look ancient.

[bbarkley]

FOREST Highlands (Canyon and Meadow Courses) in Flagstaff, AZ.  Could be considered a great course in a Forest setting.  Using Tom's criteria as well.... it has Forest in its name.  The Canyon Course "held the distinction of being ranked the number one golf course in Arizona." - www.fhgc.com

[Matt MacIver]

If Bandon Trails could be considered forest, it has my vote, esp. over HarbourTown. 

[Doug Bolls]

I would think Tom Doak's Black Forest at Wilderness Valley would be worth a vote or two - he says on his website it's the toughest course he'll ever build.
It's a very BIG golf course, and it certainly was an excellent challance for me.

I'm not sure I would put Boat of Garten in there - it's nice and it's tree lined all the way - but I think GREAT needs more than that.

[Phil McDade]

I'm not sure I would put Boat of Garten in there - it's nice and it's tree lined all the way - but I think GREAT needs more than that.

Doug:

I'm not sure the Boat is great, either, although I think it's plenty good. The thread asked for the "greatest," however, and in Scotland, home of golf, you'd have to look pretty hard to find a better course carved out of a forest than B of G. For that matter, there are a few inland courses in Scotland better than B of G (Gleneagle's, probably), but I'd argue only a few.

[Bob Jenkins]

Forests?? We are surrounded by 'em.

I suggest among the best are Capilano, Jasper, Cape Breton Highlands on the other coast and try Sahalee. Something makes me think that Banff was mostly open when they built it. Graywolf would be another.

[Doug Bolls]

Phil - I would agree with GlenEagles - both Kings and Queens - I think that's the best inland I've played in Scotland.  
I haven't played Ladybank in quite a few years, but remember it as pretty good...I remember being under some very big fur trees.
I agree that the Boat is a good, solid golf course.  The narrowness of the corridors adds greatly to it's difficulty.

[Garland Bayley]

...
#1 Pine Valley was an open site to start
...

If my memory serves me correctly, Pine Valley was a heavily wooded site that was cleared for the course. Part of the reason the trees grew in to constrict the course was that it was a natural place for trees in the first place.

My candidate for this diesignation therefore is Pine Valley.

[Tim Leahy]

Olympic Lake and Spyglass Hill should be on the list.

[TEPaul]

"#1 Pine Valley was an open site to start"


Philippe:

Pine Valley was definitely not an open site. It was chockfull of trees before Crump bought the place. The interesting thing is even though the site was really chockfull of trees none of them were particularly big OR mature when Crump found it which leads me to believe the site might've been hit by a massive forest fire in the few decades before Crump bought it.

[Andy Troeger]

Most of the ones I have played have already been mentioned...Harbour Town, Muirfield Village, Spyglass Hills, Forest Highlands. Most of Castle Pines is forested, especially on the back nine. I'm not sure what it was like originally, but seems like The Golf Club has a lot of old mature trees through much of the course, maybe not enough to call it a forest. Ditto Point O'Woods. Sahalee certainly is forested, but as much as I do tend to like trees I thought it was too claustrophobic for my liking.

Did they have to clear trees to build most of the River Course at Blackwolf Run? The Meadow Valleys portion appeared to have been open, but the River seems pretty forested around the perimeter of the course.

[Phil_the_Author]

When Bethpage was built (all three new courses, Black, Red and Blue) they were carved out of untouched woods. There were so many trees taken down that a small mill was built on sit which served the needs of the entire park. It provided the materials for other small buildings in which the rough and finished lumber for building the clubhouse and all outbuildings came from. Another small building took the wood produced and turned it into all of the furniture for the clubhouse and outbuildings. Everything from fencing, to 2x4's to furniture came from those trees.

Ironically, prior to the 2002 Open some 9,000 trees were taken down on the Black course. A number of these were turned into souvenier items for sale at the Open. Things such as wooden pens, etc...

[Jed Peters]

Olympic Lake and Spyglass Hill should be on the list.

Olympic lake had few trees when they routed it originally.

Old photos in the clubhouse and men's locker room show this.

[Ronald Montesano]

Wade Hampton in Cashiers, N.C.?

[mark chalfant]

Salem, an excellent  Ross design c. 1926, is one I regard highly. Would St.
Germain, Berkshire, or Fountainbleu  merit consideration...

[Steve Lang]

 

BLACK FOREST .. the home of unfinished business

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()