[Ran Morrissett]

... under Courses by Country. Here is its link:

https://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/trinity-forest-golf-club/

I published the 147 Custodians in 2018 and received much correspondence thereafter. One of the best emails came from a friend in Colorado, asking if I had ever played Trinity Forest. I said no but I also pointed out that he must not have read it very closely because I specifically mentioned Trinity Forest in the preamble as one of three courses I most wanted to see.

My friend then proceeded to tick all the boxes as to why Trinity Forest should be a ‘147 Custodian.’ In part, he wrote, ‘Trinity Forest isn't a course that bowls you over by wild topography or a dramatic coast or infinite dunes. It is flattish but attractively buffered on three sides by trees and features micro humps and bumps everywhere.  Folks need to look deeper than the obvious to see its greatness. The greens, playing surface, runners and required angles of attack due to pin placement and green features are the highlight. One needs to encounter its many different pin positions and different angles of attack to begin to appreciate the nuanced design.’

Conversations with Bill Coore for several years prior substantiated my friend’s contentions and solidified my strong desire to see it. I agreed not to update the 147 until getting there, which I finally did this July. My friend’s sentiments turned out to be true and then some.

We all know by now that the sexiest land to a golfer is often of the 1 to 3 foot contour type, not monster dunes or massive landforms off to the side that don’t truly impact the golf. As I posted on Instagram after seeing Trinity Forest, ‘Who would have thought such a links experience could be had in South Dallas?’ Being walled off from Scotland this year, a visit here turned out to be the perfect tonic.

 
Larry Lambrecht captures the rumpled appeal of Trinity Forest with this drone shot overlooking the Double Green of 3 and 11.

Please keep an open mind if your only opinion of the course was formed from watching it for two years on television as the host to the Bryon Nelson PGA event. May wasn’t the optimal month - it can be rainy as we saw in year 2. Additionally, the course routinely plays faster and firmer than the Tour deemed prudent. Green Keeper Kasey Kauff and crew are a huge part of why this design sparkles; the release of the ball across the tight Trinity Zoysia fairways is as close to fescue fairways as the south will ever see. Seeing the ball scamper about is at the heart of the challenge/fun at Trinity Forest – just as it is at St. Andrews. One round here only scratches the surface. Golfers can play here for years before they figure out how to play the 9^th hole downwind (read why in the profile). It’s the rarest of breed in this country, one in which the fun and games really amps up once your ball lands.

The Trinity Forest story is one of my favorites. Just having the vision – and then gumption - to build a course on landfill is a spectacular starting point. Then, there is the execution risk – how do you create an authentic playing environment, one in which discerning golfers will elect to join? There are so many ways this project wasn’t going to work – and yet here we are today, posting a profile that chronicles man at his best, transforming useless land into a serene playground just 8 miles from Dallas. Bringing high quality golf close to where people live and work is what our beloved sport needs the most. Plus, for those of us golfers that live in the south, it is super encouraging to see a course play close to perfection in heat and humidity. Bottom line: this is a real think tank of both design and presentation and much can be gleaned from spending time here.

Having finally seen it, an update on the 147 can finally be released. That will happen this month and yes, Trinity Forest will feature prominently. Its quiet reverence for the sport makes it a perfect fit plus, it is a walker’s paradise even though my friend and I had to let two players through who were on golf boards! We weren’t slow, mind you, we played in just over three hours but they were faster. That’s okay, I was in no rush and was just keen to soak in one of the game’s most appealing environments on top of one of the most unlikely spots.

Best,

[Tommy Williamsen]

You're right we did not get a good idea about the course from the tournament. In fact it didn't some off very well. I have been interested in both the story and the course. I do want to get there.

[Mark Kiely]

Sounds thrilling, Ran! Exceptional write up! Thank you.

[Tim Liddy]

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks Ran. Very comprehensive. The kind of course I’d certainly like to play.
As to it’s reception and impressions via events on TV etc, you can lead a horse to water,but you can’t make it drink.
Atb

[Lou_Duran]

David T,


You'd fork over $400 to play the course so you can walk forward 1000 yards so you could challenge the par 4s?  What happened to your golf should be cheap for all ethos?


TF has become my personal favorite in north Texas.  If I was 10 years younger and the club would accept my application, I'd fork over the low six-figure initiation fee and use two hands to write the check for the monthly dues.  It is that much fun.


C & C have proven to my satisfaction that they are at the top of their profession with only relatively few peers.  The site was hardly one that could be called advantaged, both physically or from a real estate perspective (Location³).  Though you can find a sizable population in Dallas who would vehemently dispute Ran's characterization of the land as "useless" prior to construction, I couldn't agree more with his sentiments (for the same reasons why I was so deeply disappointed with the Coul Links decision).


There is a lot more to "the story" than what is related here.  I've enjoyed 7 or 8 rounds at TF since 2017 and but for one time, maybe in the first year, it has played more like a parkland on heavy soil.  The lush, tightly-mowned zoysia fairways feel on the feet like they're on a thick carpet pad.  We've had three or four wet years in a row and the club has been re-grassing parts of the fairway peripheries, but at least during my visits in April, June and August of this year, the course has not played like it was designed.  Hopefully I'll get back before the end of the year and find conditions similar to those described.


As to the individual holes, there is not a weak one among them, but I do have a couple that I am not fond of.  In the new configuration, the long #4 doesn't fit my eye and it can set the tone for the round.  We looked at the hole carefully with one of the shapers as it was being roughed in and he expressed concern about how much it cantered from left-to-right toward the forest floor (it is a bit disconcerting to me that around the southern and western edges of the course, the grade is in line with the surrounding forest canopy).  They did a great job of tiering the landing zone, but even in soft conditions, it is easy to lose the tee shot unless hit with hook spin to the left third of the fairway (200+ yards to the green with the ball well below your feet in high zoysia rough is no easy shot).  #9 has a similar problem, this time in the opposite direction, R-t-L slope toward the forest floor.


#13 is another long 4 that requires a strong drive to a smallish LZ for a shorter approach.  Long hitters will go with something less than a driver and be left with a mid to shortish iron.  Distance-deprived players like me will risk a driver to maybe have a hybrid left to a difficult green bunkered on the left.
     

[mike_beene]

to get a feel for the area, during construction a federal agency helicopter backing a drug bust up the River landed on the then under construction course looking for a bathroom. We need investments in southern Dallas and if nothing else more people know what is there now.

[Ronald Montesano]

What is the reference for this outburst? Did someone pull a comment from this thread?

David T,


You'd fork over $400 to play the course so you can walk forward 1000 yards so you could challenge the par 4s?  What happened to your golf should be cheap for all ethos?

[Lou_Duran]

Outburst?  Really?  No edits or deletions.  David writes voluminously about the virtues of minimalist maintenance, small fees, and ultra short courses.  I was just pointing out to Dai that Trinity Forest is none of these.

[Peter Pallotta]

Thanks, Ran.
From an outsider's perspective and bird's eye view, TF looks (ie aesthetically) like Wolf Point.
For those who know, does it play like it too?
And if not, what are the main reasons it doesn't, e.g. soil? maintenance? 

[Eric Smith]

From an outsider's perspective and bird's eye view, TF looks (ie aesthetically) like Wolf Point.
For those who know, does it play like it too?

I'll raise my hand, Peter, by saying that I have played multiple rounds over both courses and find that they do play similarly. It amazes me how their warm-season grasses 'hum' compared to others I have played.

[Peter Pallotta]

Thanks Eric
If I had guessed I would've guessed a different answer.
The architects started with such different 'conditions' and had to employ such different 'construction' techniques (given that one site was a landfill) that I didn't think the warm weather grasses they have in common would be enough to have them playing anywhere near alike.
Peter

[Joe Zucker]

I had the pleasure of playing three rounds at Trinity Forest this summer and I thought it was a fantastic course.  The course made me feel uncomfortable and confused almost the entire time.  It's not the best feeling when you're playing and trying to figure out a shot, but it definitely made me want to play it again to see if I could figure it out.  A few random thoughts:


- I really liked the short holes on the course.  The drivable 5th is really interesting.  My drive and first chip touched the green on every play, but none of them stayed on the green.  The short par 3 8th seems easy, but the semi blindness of it adds a lot of indecision to what should be an easy PW.


- I found the playing surfaces to be good, maybe the best I've seen in TX, but not perfect for the course.  The surfaces weren't heavy and slow, but they definitely weren't super fast. The run-ups to the greens were not as firm as the greens themselves, so running shots were hard to hit.


- It's a hard course. Tougher than the other C&Cs I've played.  Big slopes and a lot of pins that could only be attacked with a specific shot were pretty common.  You wouldn't lose many balls as an 18 handicap, but I don't think you would hit a lot of greens either.


- The only hole I don't like is #14.  Long par 5 with a big center bunker that leaves two narrow pieces of fairway on either side.  I hit it in the centerline bunker 2 of 3 days and was left with 230 yards into the green after hitting a 5 iron out. The drive seems too penal to me.  Perhaps I should lay up short of it off the tee, but I'm not really sure after 3 plays.


Overall, a very strategic course.  Definitely something you could play 100 times a year and not get bored. 

[John McCarthy]

An complete set of landfill to golf course conversions would be interesting. 


In Chicagoland the courses are Harborside (2 courses), Settler's Hill, Willow Hill and Chicago Highlands.  It is my understanding that Harborside was the first and required an impervious barrier (rubber?) between the landfill and dirt on top.  So trees cannot be planted and either by maintenance preference or necessity the course tends to play wet.  I have not played Settler's Hill in decades but my memory was it played like a normal course.  Willow Hill is a mess but very intriguing - it is a nine holer built and owned by the Nugents but sold to a guy many years ago who by all reports seemed to be mentally unbalanced.   Well, it was sold in 2019 and the current owner wants to add another nine on the Reclamation District land next door.  The views from this course are unmatched in Chicagoland - and they have the derelict frame of a Vulcan bomber which crashed on the site.  Finally, Chicago Highlands was built within the last 15 years and they put a sand cap on the landfill.  And they have  subair system so the course plays dry.  Next week or so there will be a Korn Ferry event there and I understand the course desires more high profile events. 

[Jason Topp]

TF has become my personal favorite in north Texas.  If I was 10 years younger and the club would accept my application, I'd fork over the low six-figure initiation fee and use two hands to write the check for the monthly dues.  It is that much fun.

   

Lou


I always had the impression you were not fond of the course.  I liked it on my one visit. 

[Lou_Duran]

Jason,


I had mixed feeling originally, less about my personal tastes, but because I saw it failing to achieve its objectives.  We can discuss these if we ever play again, but TF was a major project with considerable controversy, many promises, great expense, and unmet commitments.


The first time I played it I had strong reservations that it would be widely liked.  As it happens on newly opened courses, the bounces were amplified and seemingly random.  I remember one of my mates playing ping pong a couple of times around the greens.  I just had a strong feeling that it was not the type of course that would be given a fair chance by Metroplex golfers.  In fact, the Nelson was held one year before planned and was not ready for the limelight, making a bad first impression that, IMO, set the tone for its downfall as a Tour venue.


I believe that TF fits a small niche of golfers in the area.  The course would play more to my liking if the fairways were firmer and the natives leaner, but it is a lot of fun nonetheless.  I really don't know if the TF zoysia fairways are just that thatchy- the only really firm zoysia fairways I've ever played were at Briggs Ranch in San Antonio during a drought year and they were mostly yellowish in color- or the superintendent is keeping them that soft for agronomical reasons or because the members prefer them that way.


The course has variety and interest in spades.  Like many of C & Cs courses, the guys have created a great balance between long and short game requirements.  Though I have yet to play it well, I think it is the kind of course where I could learn to score.

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