I had a nice chat today with Richard Zokol by phone - on occasion, he checks out this site and this topic was an interesting one for him. He agrees with those of us on here that proposed Sagebrush as fitting the criteria set out in the original post.
He also asked that I pass along a couple of details regarding the development of Sagebrush, just for the sake of clarity and to ensure everything that's been written here about the course is factual.
In Dick's own words:
Tom Doak wrote, …“but my recollection is that Jim was more positive about the site, but not so sure the client would give us creative space, and l looked at the map and felt it would be nearly 18 side-hill holes. So we passed.” Tom’s recollection on Sagebrush is very different from what actually happened.
As the client, it never got the point of discussing “creative space” with Urbina.
I first reached out to Ben Crenshaw; I wanted Coore/Crenshaw to design Sagebrush. Ben passed, as their plate was full, and before even looking at the land, Ben instantly recommended Rod Whitman. Ben’s recommendation was significant (see letter attached).
At the same time, I also reached out to Tom Doak, who does remarkable work too. Tom had Jim Urbina come up for a site visit. Jim was fantastic and after he spent the day walking the land, Jim quickly came up with a rough routing. Before Urbina departed, I informed Jim that Whitman was also a strong candidate for the job based on Crenshaw’s recommendation. Jim had nothing but nice things to say about Whitman.
Whitman came in for a site visit. When Rod first saw the property, he asked if we had access to more land. We were able to find additional land that became holes 12 & 13. After Rod’s site visit, I decided to go with Whitman.
Shortly after Urbina called me back inquiring about if Renaissance had a shot at getting the job. In that call, I informed Jim that we decided to go with Rod.
I still remain hopeful that Sagebrush gets back on track (through new ownership) and reopens again someday.