Donald Trump’s rise to President of the United States has come amidst a variety of controversies. There’s no debate about him from the architect who built Trump’s first golf course, however.

“He was the best client I ever had in the United States,’’ declared Jim Fazio, the designer who created what is now Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla. That course opened in 1999.

“It was just a piece of flat land,’’ recalled Fazio. “He leased it from the airport authority. The reasoning was, he never had built a golf course but he played and knew the game.’’

In other words, Trump wanted to learn before expanding his business involvement in golf. Trump Golf now has 18 properties around the world. Jim Fazio also designed Trump National Westchester in New York, which opened in 2002, and his designer-brother Tom has also been the architect for Trump courses.

Trump National, though, came first. Jim Fazio has designed and built over 20 courses in the United States and another 20-plus overseas. He’s done work for a variety of owners, including one in Japan who owns 15 courses. Fazio has worked for him for eight years and only seen him twice.

It wasn’t like that at Trump International.

“During the winter he’d stay at Mar-a-Lago (Trump’s private club in nearby Palm Beach) and he would see the course being built,’’ said Fazio. “Every week he’d come out and bring two-three friends. We moved over 3 ½ million cubic yards of dirt and he kept saying `We need more,’ and I kept saying `No, we don’t.’ Sometimes more is not good. We didn’t have any budget. We just kept building one hole after another.’’

Time wasn’t much of a consideration, either.

“Usually it takes six-nine months to build a golf course in Florida,’’ said Fazio. “This one took two years to the day.’’

A BRIDGE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Vidanta Resorts, which include five courses in Mexico, just announced the opening of its Greg Norman Signature Course in Nuevo Vallarta. Three of the other courses are Jack Nicklaus designs, but they don’t have one thing that the Norman layout does.

The par-73 Norman design features the world’s longest golf cart suspension bridge. It covers the Ameca River from Nayarit to Jalisco, spanning 558 feet – or 1,444 feet including the ramps.

BIG CHANGES AT PINEHURST: A Gil Hanse redesign of the No. 4 course highlights a three-year improvement plan that will soon be underway at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

Hanse, who previously led restoration projects at The Country Club in Boston, Los Angeles Country Club, Merion in Philadelphia and Oakland Hills in Michigan and created the original design for the Olympic Course in Brazil, will also build a new short course that will impact two other Pinehurst courses.

The short course will consist of eight to 12 holes on land that is currently part of the Nos. 3 and 5 courses. No. 3 will close in December and re-open in the spring as a par-68 course. Work will also be done on Thistle Dhu, the popular putting course, and Maniac Hill, the country’s first driving range.

TOUR OPERATORS’ FAVORITE: Barefoot Resort, in Myrtle Beach, S.C., created a sensation in 2000 when it became the first American facility to open four courses simultaneously. The resort has courses designed by Norman, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III and Pete Dye.

Sixteen years later the International Association of Golf Tour Operators has selected Barefoot as the North American Golf Resort of the Year. Over 500 tour operators in 62 countries participated in the voting. Last year the winner was Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club, in Florida.

NICKLAUS NOSTALGIA: Jack Nicklaus was just 11 years old and playing golf with his father at Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club on a family vacation in 1951. The round was memorable because Nicklaus shot 37 and broke 40 for the first time. Now that course has become more than a walk down memory lane for the legendary Golden Bear.

Nicklaus, working with architect John Sanford, just completed a $9 million redesign of the course. The architects also added a 300-yard practice and teaching range as the latest in resort upgrades. The on-course project follows $50 million in renovations and other enhancements at the resort in recent years.

OMNI UPGRADES: Several Omni resorts have made significant improvements. A new clubhouse overlooking its Old Course has opened at Omni Bedford Springs in Pennsylvania. (The course opened in 1895 after Spencer Oldham created the original design. A.W. Tillinghast (1912) and Donald Ross (1923) also did significant work on the course).

A tree removal project also improved the Cascades course at Omni Homestead Resort in Virginia. That resort opened even earlier (1766) than Bedford Spring, and The International Course, — a Norman design, has re-opened at Omni Orlando in Florida after undergoing thes first renovation in its 16-year history. The companion National Course is scheduled for similar improvements in 2017.

BITS AND PIECES: KemperSports has announced the naming of two new general managers – Don Crowe at Bandon Dunes in Oregon and Vince Juarez at Deerpath, a public layout in Lake Forest, Ill.

The Donald Ross Course at Indiana’s French Lick Resort is planning for its 100th anniversary celebration. It hosted the 1924 PGA Championship, won by Walter Hagen; and two LPGA majors — 1959 and 1960 LPGA Championships, won by Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright.

Harbor Shores, in Michigan, has announced plans for its seventh, and largest, waterfront development. Called Harbor Village, it’ll open to residents in the summer of 2017.

Hugh Royer, winner of the 1987 Western Amateur and son of the 1970 Western Open champion of the same name, has joined Tidewater, in Myrtle Beach, to lead the club’s instructional efforts.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – The PGA Golf Club is the winter home of the PGA of America’s 28,000 members. It’s also one of just two facilities in America that the PGA operates, the other being Valhalla – the organization’s premier tournament venue in Louisville, Ky.

PGA Golf Club, with its four 18-hole courses plus a six-hole short course and elaborate learning center, is one of the nation’s top golf resorts. That’s why this week’s re-opening of its Dye Course will have an immediate impact on the game nation-wide. Visitors, both from all parts of the U.S. as well as other countries, will soon be arriving here with a new, most attractive playing option.

The Dye, created by legendary architect Pete Dye, was the third course built at PGA Golf Club. It opened in 2000, four years after two Tom Fazio designs – The Wanamaker and The Ryder. The Dye is the only course at the 20-year old resort not designed by a Fazio; Tom’s brother Jim designed the other, St. Lucie Trails.

Work on The Dye began in May and the re-opening was delayed two weeks after Hurricane Matthew visited the area. Director of agronomy Dick Gray said the course “isn’t perfect’’ yet but it’s more than ready to take players and Gray expects the last remnants of the hurricane will be gone in a month.

To be sure, The Dye needed work. Over years of play it had ceased to look like a Pete Dye-designed golf course. The greens had gotten smaller and some of the bunkers had disappeared, only to be re-discovered during the renovation in which Celebration Bermuda was used to re-grass the fairways and Tifeagle was used for the new putting surfaces. Dye, soon to turn 91 years old, was only minimally involved the restoration project.

“We don’t do anything without Pete taking a look at it first,’’ said Gray, a fellow Indiana native who has known the Hall of Fame designer for nearly 50 years. “We had him out in late April and he’s OK with everything we’ve done. Obviously he was a little distressed by the way it started, but Pete’s back in our corner.’’

Dye hasn’t seen the finished product yet but may visit next week when he’s being inducted into the Florida Golf Hall of Fame.

“It’s my guess he’ll be more than satisfied with the way the course now looks and feels,’’ said Gray.

That could well be the case, as the course will look much different than the last time Dye saw it.

“The greens are much bigger, with many more pin placements,’’ said Gray, “but with Pete’s courses it’s like going on a treasure hunt. You go out and find something you didn’t know was there. I couldn’t tell you how many peripheral bunkers we found. It was a restoration project, but it was a reclamation in places, too.’’

The digging most notably revealed six bunkers that had existed behind the No. 9 green, but there were more at Nos. 5, 10, 11 and 18 and Gray suspects more hidden bunkers are still out there.

Reviving The Dye was just the latest step in an upgrading of the resort that started after the number of rounds played fell to what general manager Jimmy Terry called “the lows of three-four years ago.’’

“We saw the challenge and we’re 3 ½ years into a five-year (improvement) plan,’’ said Terry. “We’ve had the absolute support from the PGA of America on what we wanted to do. We started simple, to make sure our golf courses are commensurate with the PGA of America so that its members will be proud to call it their winter home.’’

The first year of upgrades dealt with agronomy, with work done on the greens at St. Lucie Trail. That course, private when the upgrading began, took on its present name, was made semi-private and its pricing structure was changed.

In the second year the focus was on the clubhouse. Work was completed last year, but the tweaking continues. The facility was expanded and memorabilia added, most notably replicas of the trophies presented to the winners of the four major annual championships – the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. It makes for a nice photo opportunity.

The fairways and greens of The Wanamaker were upgraded last year and The Ryder was to get the same treatment right after that.

“Because we had a couple large events scheduled there this fall we didn’t want to take the risk,’’ said Terry. One of the tournaments, the PGA Senior Professional Championship, is on tap on that course this week.

So, work was started on The Dye instead but The Ryder is going to get a facelift, too.

“We’ll do The Ryder Course next year,’’ said Terry. “At the end of the five years we’ll have touched every golf course and the clubhouse. The response from our members has been very positive. Our private club memberships have the highest they’ve ever been and the rounds of golf are back to a level where we’re happy with them.’’

Davis Love III had barely finished savoring his team’s victory in the Ryder Cup when the U.S. captain had another event to celebrate. His Atlantic Dunes course was to open a day later at South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. That opening, though, never happened.

Hurricane Matthew caused damage from Florida to South Carolina, but none were more adversely affected than the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head. Many residents couldn’t return to their homes and some of those who could were still without power nearly a week after Matthew battered the Island with 88 mile-per-hour winds and a storm surge upwards of 12 feet.

The status of all the Hilton Head golf courses remained very much in limbo, with no dates set for their re-openings. The much-anticipated opening of Atlantic Dunes is also in doubt. Love’s design firm had completed a complete renovation of the Ocean Course — the first 18-holer built on Hilton Head.

When it’s available the re-design will provide a more seaside ambience to Sea Pines. Atlantic Dunes will also be a nice complement to Sea Pines’ other courses – the Harbour Town Golf Links, jointly designed by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus, and Dye’s Heron Point.

More on Matthew

While Hilton Head got hit the hardest by the hurricane, other courses were impacted to lesser degrees. The King & Bear and Slammer & Squire courses at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, FL. – to the south of Hilton Head – were “lucky,’’ according to general manager Jim Hahn. He reported fallen trees, flooding, damaged bunkers and debris but expects both courses to be re-open before the week is out.

Thirty-eight courses in Myrtle Beach, S.C., — to the north – were reported closed because of storm damage but 22 of those were scheduled to re-open on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and eight more set their re-openings for no more than six days after that.

Power outages were the main problem for the courses in Charleston, S.C. The course hit the hardest was The Links at Stono Ferry, which lost over 50 trees and was unable to determine a re-opening date. Wild Dunes, one of the bigger resorts in the area and one that had suffered badly in previous hurricanes, was back in operation in just a few days and another, Kiawah, planned to open on Friday.

Only one major competition was affected by Matthew. The Web.com Tour Championship at Atlantic Beach, FL., was cancelled.

Now it’s the `New Course’

The mood is more upbeat in the Pinehurst., N.C., area. Talamore is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but the course isn’t looking that old. Now, after a major summer re-do, it’s being billed as `The New Course.’’

The greens were converted from bentgrass to Champion Bermuda, a growing trend in that area, and most of the more than 75 bunkers were eliminated from Talamore’s original layout. They were replaced in part by 12 sod wall bunkers – the first to be built at Pinehurst.

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Reynolds is going National

The National Club Cottages, adjacent to the Tom Fazio-designed National Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., are now available.

They’re the latest addition to National Village, an ongoing $40 million investment in progress at the resort that features six courses. Each of the Cottages can accommodate eight people. They have four bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, a full kitchen, two open living space areas and an expansive porch area.

The clubhouse and golf shop at National Village had been renovated prior to the opening of the Cottages. National Tavern, the newest restaurant on the premises, has become the centerpiece of the area.

More in Michigan

Golf-rich Michigan again leads the Midwest with courses ranked in Golf Magazine’s Top 100. It has five – Forest Dunes, Arcadia Bluffs, Greywalls, Tullymore and Bay Harbor. Only five other states have more courses ranked in the Top 100.

Michigan will also have another candidate for top honors next year. Sloatin Brae has opened on a limited basis at the Scott family’s Gull Lake View Resort in Augusta, Mich. Sloatin Brae is the first on the premises not designed by members of the Scott family.

Renaissance Golf Design, Tom Doak’s firm in Traverse City, Mich., designed the new course (though Doak isn’t the architect of record). Sloatin Brae opened a 12-hole loop to provide a sneak preview of the full layout that will open in 2017.

Here and there

Old Kinderhook, in Camdenton, Mo., has scheduled its Golf Appreciation Stay & Play packages for Oct. 23-31.

The Glen Club, in Glenview, IL., will host the World Speedgolf Championship from Oct. 17-18.

Chicago’s Medinah Country Club will host the Bush Cup on Friday. It’s a college match pitting the men’s teams of Army and Northwestern.

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina – This city in the Blue Ridge Mountains, just over the Kentucky line, isn’t the first place that left me wanting to stay longer – just the latest one.

An interesting place, Asheville. It’s been called the “Hippie Hideaway of the South.’’ Its downtown hangouts reminded us of a miniature New Orleans – art galleries, street entertainers, restaurants with unusual but tasty cuisine and trendy but southern-style cooking.

The big tourist attraction, though, is the Biltmore Estate. It’s billed as the “World’s Largest House,’’ and I don’t know what else would come close. This creation of George W. Vanderbilt during a six-year period leading into its opening in 1895 has four acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces and three kitchens. By comparison, the Biltmore house is more than two times the size of William Randolph Heart’s San Simeon castle in California.

Supposedly designed as Vanderbilt’s bachelor pad, Vanderbilt created a place built for house guests – and there were a lot of them because the place had most everything on its 8,000 acres.

It required nearly two hours to complete a walking tour of the house, which was filled with artistic works and separate rooms for all types of entertainment pursuits. Frankly, though, I found it depressingly dark inside.

The outside was another story. The floral gardens were the highlight of the visit, but the estate also included a separate village a short drive away that featured a winery and array of shops. There was one thing it didn’t have, though – a golf course.

You’d think that, given all the land and financial support available, there would have been one on the grounds. There even were a few golf-related offerings in the shops, but no course. Naturally I had to ask about that.

There was once a nine-hole course but it kept getting flooded and was eventually abandoned, I was told by one of the tour guides. Still, there’s a golf story to tell regarding the Biltmore Estate.

Vanderbilt married in 1898, after the estate was up and running, and he died at the young age of 51 in 1914 after suffering complications from an appendectomy. His wife, Edith, took charge then. She sold off small parcels of the estate, and some of it went to people interested in building a country club.

Cornelia Vanderbilt, the only child of George and Edith, was born in 1900 and became the owner of Biltmore Forest Country Club. She hit the first ball on its Donald Ross-designed golf course in July of 1922. The course was eventually played by such luminaries as Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, John D. Rockefeller, William Jennings Bryan, and U.S. presidents William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge.

The Biltmore Estate, meanwhile, was opened in 1930 to stimulate tourist activity in Asheville and to help maintain the vast facility. The Biltmore Forest course, now located on the outskirts of the Ashville city limits, was taken over by club members beginning in 1940 thanks to a lease agreement negotiated with the Biltmore Estate. An option to buy was exercised in 1948.

Over the years the course has undergone many changes, the most recent being a $6.4 million restoration of the golf course and a $1.8 million restoration of the clubhouse. Both were designed to take the club back to its 1922 splendor. Biltmore Forest remains a by-invitation member owned private club.

So, you’ve been lucky enough to wangle tickets to the 41st Ryder Cup at Hazeltine? Lucky you – and you might benefit still further by enjoying some of the courses on your way to and from Chaska, MN.

Chicago golfers have a couple options on how to drive to Hazeltine. You could drive along Lake Michigan, going through Kenosha and Milwaukee before heading west through the heart of Wisconsin. Or, you could journey through Illinois along Routes 90 and 94, going through Rockford and Madison. The golf options are better going through Rockford but, either way, there are good public-accessible courses along the way that comfortably affordable.

Here’s a guide to playing possibilities. Their proximity to the highways leading to Hazeltine were a high priority in their selection.

VIA KENOSHA AND MILWAUKEE

A good first stop could be Ives Grove, a 27-hole facility in Sturtevant, just over the Illinois line. It’s got an abundance of bunkers (110, to be exact), but walking is allowed and the course is affordable. Even at weekend prime time for riders the fee is under $50. And, if for some reason Ives Grove doesn’t work out, there’s nearby Browns Lake in Burlington, which has been around since 1921. Both are managed by H&H Fairways.
INFO: hhfairway.com, brownslakegc.com or ivesgrovegl.com.

The second stop was chosen for location more than anything else. Brookfield Hills, in Brookfield, is 15 miles west of Milwaukee and it couldn’t be any closer to I-94. The course touches the east-bound lanes of the interstate. This family-owned course has been open since 1971 but it’s not a full-length layout. A par 62, it measures only 4,926 yards but there’s still some challenging holes.
INFO: brookfieldhillsgolf.com.

A suggested third stop is much different than the first two. Lake Mills has been challenging golfers for 85 years. Located on Main Street in the town of the same name, Lake Mills is a 6,745-yard par-72 layout with a busy dining spot, Mulligan’s on the Green. It’s 28 miles from the golfing hotbed of Madison.
INFO: lakemillsgolfclub.com.

You can’t get through the Madison area without finding a good course close to your route. Lake Windsor, in Windsor, is a 6,390-yard, par-72 layout that opened in 1961 and has been famly-owned since 2005. It’s supplemented by an impressive clubhouse that provides full service dining.
INFO: lakewindsor.com.

As is the case while cruising through Madison, you won’t have any trouble finding a good course in the Wisconsin Dells area. Probably the best known is Trappers Turn, which is blessed with 27 holes (the Arbor, Canyon and Lake nines) all jointly designed by two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North and Roger Packard. It’s one of the top golf facilities in the Badger State.
INFO: TrappersTurn.com.

Stillwater, MN., just over the Wisconsin line, is a three-hour drive from the Dells and it features StoneRidge, one of the best public courses in Minnesota. It’s a links-style Bobby Weed design that opened to the public in 2000.
INFO: stoneridgegc.com.

VIA ROCKFORD AND MADISON.

You don’t even leave Illinois before hitting Aldeen, in Rockford. It’s one of the best public courses in the state and hosted the Illinois State Amateur in 2013. The course, designed by Dick Nugent, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Measuring 7,131 yards from the tips, it’s a real test for even the best players.
INFO: aldeengolfclub.com.

Barely an hour’s drive from Rockford along Rt. 90 is Madison, home to a wide range of quality layouts. None are better than University Ridge, which is on the edge of both Madison and the town of Verona. A Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that opened in 1991, it’s the home course for both the men’s and women’s teams of the University of Wisconsin and this year it became a Champions Tour site when host Steve Stricker brought the American Family Insurance Championship there in June.
INFO: universityridge.com.

On to the Wisconsin Dells and another great layout – Wild Rock. It’s connected to the Wilderness Resort, which means there’s some stay and play options available. Wild Rock was designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, the same architectural team that designed another Wisconsin course, Erin Hills. That layout will host the U.S. Open in 2017.
INFO: wildrockgolf.com.

Golf options dwindle after leaving the Dells, but Routes 90 and 94 split at the town of Tomah, and that’s a good stop-off point because the Hiawatha Golf Club is locate there. It’s a good gathering place for the local golf enthusiasts with its 6,550-yard course, the front nine of which was built in 1959 and the back in 1994.
INFO: golfhiawatha.com.

Hudson is the last town in Wisconsin before you enter Minnesota and it has a course well worth checking out. Troy Burne is a Tom Lehman Signature Design. Lehman will be one of the assistants for U.S. captain Davis Love III at the Ryder Cup. Troy Burne features 120 bunkers and is known for its consistently fine conditioning.
INFO: troyburne.com.

Cross into Minnesota and more good courses are available. One of the best is Prestwick, in Woodbury. At 6,876 yards from the back tees with large undulating greens and many elevated tees, this layout is made for the serious player.
INFO: Prestwick.com.

These courses were chosen in large part because of their proximity to the route to Hazeltine. If you have time to stray a bit from that route there’s many great courses available to you – especially in Wisconsin. Among them are Brown Deer, in Milwaukee; Hawks Landing, Madison; Glen Erin, Janesville; Lawsonia, Green Lake; Morningstar, Waukesha; Sentry World, Stevens Point; Caste Course at Northern Bay, Arkdale; and Oaks, Cottage Grove.
INFO: Check out the Wisconsin Golf Trail, golfwisconsin.com.

BELOIT, Wisconsin – The last two decades have done wonders for golf in Wisconsin. Look no further than the creations of Blackwolf Run, Whistling Straits, Erin Hills and – most recently – Sand Valley. And don’t forget the recent major upgrades at SentryWorld and Lawsonia.

The Beloit Club should count in that mix as well, though it doesn’t have a high-profile tournament course and isn’t open to the public, either.

A private facility since its opening in 1909, the Beloit Club’s transformation in just the last two years has carried over to most positive changes in the town of 30,000 in which it resides. Golf is just part of it.

Prior to taking on its present name in 2014 the Beloit Club was known as the Country Club of Beloit. Its course was designed by Tom Bendelow, who seems to have designed a vast majority of the layouts that went up in the Midwest in the early 1900s. Bendelow’s designs were pretty basic things but, surprisingly, many are still most relevant now – though renovations and upgrades were inevitable. That’s been the case at the Beloit Club.

Stanley Pelchar, who designed courses mainly in the 1920s, is also listed among the architects of record as is Bob Lohman, who started his successful Illinois firm in 1984.

The city of Beloit, just over the Illinois line from Rockford, was one of many that struggled in the economic downturns of the last decade and its only private golf club did as well. The club’s membership dipped to 115 before help from life-long area resident Diane Hendricks was requested.

Hendricks, a billionaire who deemed a private golf club a necessary amenity in her community, decided she’d simply purchase the club. That’s when exciting things started to happen. Hendricks, whose ownership of some 65 companies began when she and her late husband Ken took over ABC Supply — the largest wholesale distributor of roofing and siding materials, has invested $15 million in the Beloit Club project.

Every building on the property — from the clubhouse to the swimming pool to the maintenance facility and cart barn — is now brand new. Oliphant/Haltom was brought in to manage the golf course and that led to the removal of 500 trees in what was largely a cleanup effort.

The course, which measures 6,847 yards from the back tees and 5,160 from the front, is great for walking and fun for players of all abilities. The square-shaped tee boxes and mowed paths from greens to tees enhance a most pleasant setting. Best of all, though, are the four par-3s – Nos. 3, 7, 10 and 16. Taken collectively, I can’t recall seeing a better combination of short holes – though I’ll admit that’s an argumentative appraisal.

Kent Instefjord, the Beloit Club’s general manager, arrived when the upgrading began but he was already well versed in the spectacular golf growth in the Badger state. Raised in nearby Janesville, he worked at Blackwolf Run before a stint as head professional at Whistling Straits from 1998 to 2003 and was also general manager and director of golf at Erin Hills from 2006 to 2010. Instefjord had similar roles at high profile clubs in Missouri (St. Albans) and Arizona (LaPaloma) before returning closer to home for the Beloit Club revival.

Since his arrival the membership has climbed to 380 – with 100 coming just this year –and the upgrading is far from finished. An expansion of the lockerrooms and pro shop and the creation of a spa and lodge to accommodate overnight guests is also in the works.

The next new thing, though, will come off the Beloit Club property. The Ironworks Golf Lab has a scheduled October opening in Beloit’s soon-to-be-bustling downtown area. It’ll be open to the public and offer, among other things, three indoor golf simulators with the Beloit Club staff running the operation.

The entry number is already over 2,900 from 25 countries, but there’s still room for more in the 33rd annual Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship. The deadline to enter the event, labeled “Every Man’s Major,’’ is Aug. 6 and the competition runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2.

Nearly 60 of Myrtle Beach’s best courses participate in the event, which includes four rounds of golf, a gift bag and nightly entry into the World’s Largest 19th Hole – which features free food and drinks, live entertainment, a golf expo and other attractions at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Golfers are assigned flights based on gender, age and handicap. At the conclusion of four rounds all flight winners and ties advance to the 18-hole championship playoff where the overall champion is crowned. Players with handicaps as low as three and as high as 34 have won the overall title.

Opening near for Hilton Head’s newest course

The Ocean Course may have been the most historic layout at Hilton Head, S.C., but it is no more.

Love Golf Design, founded by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III and his brother Mark, have directed a complete reconstruction and recreation of the first course built on Hilton Head. It’ll be known as Atlantic Dunes when it opens for play in October.

Atlantic Dunes will feature a pronounced seaside ambience accented by coquina shells and seaside grasses. The design goal was to incorporate elements of the surrounding beachfront along with the area’s bounty of native pines and oaks lining the fairways.

Love and lead architect Scot Sherman entirely rebuilt some holes to accommodate modern shot values. The course will benefit both visually and strategically from restoration of natural sand dunes as well as the creation of new dunes. Tens of thousands of indigenous plants have also been installed in these areas.

Michigan’s Gull Lake View will soon have a sixth course

Way back in 1963 Darl and Letha Scott built a nine-hole course in Southwest Michigan. Very soon the family-run operation will have its sixth 18-holer.

Stoatin Brae – which means Grand Hill in Scottish Gaelic – will be only the second course of the six not designed by members of the Scott family. It’s billed as a departure from the other five that have holes cutting through the trees and hills on the area’s natural rolling land in the town of Richland, near Kalamazoo.

Eric Iverson, Don Placek, Brian Schneider and Brian Slawnik – all senior associates for Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design of Traverse City, Mich. — worked with the Scott family on determining the site for Soatin Brae. Doak was not involved in the project.

The new course is on a site located atop an open grassy bluff overlooking the Kalamazoo River Valley and there’s one point where golfers scan see 15 flagsticks on a clear day. The course’s restaurant, named Blue Stern after a native grass that is growing on the course, will open at about the same time as the par-71, 6,800-yard layout.

Island Resort is adding second course

Island Resort & Casino in Harris, Mich., has begun construction on its second course. Tony Mancilla, general manager of the resort in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, said the layout will be called Sage Run. The name references 10 holes that will run significantly downhill on the course.

Paul Albanese is the course architect. He also designed Sweetgrass, the resort’s other course that is the site of the Symetra Tour’s Island Resort Championship.

Nine fairways of Sage Run will be planted beginning this month and the other nine in the spring. A soft opening is planned for the fall of 2017 and a grand opening in 2018.

Mission Inn plans Centennial celebration

The El Campeon course at Florida’s Mission Inn Resort and Club turns 100 in 2017 but the celebration will start early. The “100th Anniversary Golfers Getaway Package’’ will be offered beginning in October and will run through Jan. 15, 2015.

Designed by George O’Neil, a golf professional and architect from Chicago Golf Club, El Campeon was originally known as the Floridian when it opened in Howey-in-the-Hills near Orlando. It was one of the first courses in Florida to feature grass greens rather than the oil-sand greens common a century ago. It was also one of only two courses in the state built to what was then considered the “regulation’’ length of 6,300 yards.

The course took its present name when the Beucher family, transplants from the Chicago area, bought the resort in 1964. The course has 85-foot elevations changes, a rarity for central Florida layouts.

Reynolds Lake Oconee welcomes AJGA

The American Junior Golf Association and Reynolds Lake Oconee, in Greensboro, Ga., has announced a five-year partnership on a new championship event – the AJGA Junior All-Star Invitational. It’ll cap a season-long Road to Reynolds sequence of events for players ages 12 to 15 participating in the AJGA’s American College Development Services Series.

The event, to be held for the first time in 2017, will have an international field of 96 male and female players determined by the Polo Golf Rankings. They’ll compete over 54 holes. The Rolex Tournament of Champions, an international event for top-ranked boys and girls in the 12-18 age group, will also return to Reynolds Lake Oconee in 2021.

Bits and pieces

French Lick Resort, in southern Indiana, will host the LPGA Legends Championship for the fourth straight year from Aug. 18-21 on its Pete Dye Course. Sandra Haynie and Elaine Crosby will be inducted into the Legends Hall of Fame as part of the tourney activities.

The Inn on Woodlake, the boutique hotel for Wisconsin’s Destination Kohler, is expanding. Plans call for the Inn to get a combination of four-bedroom and two-bedroom units along with additional single rooms. The Inn is a popular spot for golfers coming to play Whistling Straits — home to three previous PGA Championships and the Ryder Cup site in 2020 — and/or Blackwolf Run, which has hosted two U.S. Women’s Opens.

Oglebay Park, in Wheeling, W. Va., announced that its courses were not affected by the recent floods that devastated the state. Oglebay has two 18-holers – The Speidel Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Arnold Palmer, and the 5,600-yard original course called the Crispin.

Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Golf & Spa Resort, in Los Cabos, Mexico, is expanding with the creation of The Towers at Pacifica, three new structures featuring distinct accommodations, enhanced amenities and first-class personalized services.

Cobble Beach, in Kemble, Ontario, has announced an “Unlimited Golf’’ special– $99 from Monday-Wednesday, on its Doug Carrick-designed course that has been ranked among the best public courses in Canada. After 4 p.m. the price drops to $69.

OSCODA, Michigan – I’ve always tended to shy away from dwelling on greens fees in reporting on golf travel destinations. There’s a good reason for that. Course owners, by necessity, are constantly changing what they charge their golfers and these reports can’t keep up with that. They’re written with the expectation of a long shelf life.

So, when a course is described by many as “the best golf buy in Michigan,’’ that’s a hard claim to substantiate.

But then there’s the Lakewood Shores Resort, which has been operating for over three decades within a short walk of Lake Huron and proclaims itself as “Michigan’s Best Value Resort!’’ It has three courses, each very different from the other two, and price is definitely a plus – though we’re still not going to get into specific figures.

Let’s put it this way: the resort’s promotional literature states “we believe in offering great golf along with comfortable lodging in a truly sincere and friendly atmosphere at an affordable rate.’’

I can’t quibble with any of that.

What’s most striking about Lakewood Shores is the variety in its courses in a relatively out-of-the-way segment of this golf-rich state.

The Serradella came first, a parkland style layout designed by Bruce Matthews that opened in 1969. It has minimal hazards, wide fairways, large greens and a tradition for having extraordinary floral gardens. That was the only course when Craig Peters arrived on the scene.

Stan Aldridge, already established in Michigan golf as the owner of the private Indianwood in Lake Orion, had just purchased the property and Peters – a former Notre Dame golfer – had decided that it was time to give up trying to be a touring pro. Lakewood Shores and Peters were an ideal fit. He is now in his 29th year at Lakewood Shores, serving as both general manager and director of golf.

Lakewood Shores will probably never be as well known as Indianwood. It was the site of the 1930 Western Open, won by Gene Sarazen, but thrived more after Aldridge purchased it in 1981. Since then it has hosted two U.S. Women’s Opens – 1989, won by Betsy King, and 1994, won by Patty Sheehan – and the 2012 U.S. Senior Open. Roger Chapman was the champion in that one.

Aldridge, who was eventually inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, expanded his portfolio by adding two courses to his original purchase of Lakewood Shores. Best known of the trio of 18-holers there is The Gailes, which was Golf Digest’s Best New Resort Course of 1993.

Lots of Midwest courses have been promoted as Scottish-style links courses, but this one is way ahead of its counterparts. It has double greens, an array of sod-faced pot bunkers and long fescue grasses. I’ve played lots of courses in over 30 years of Michigan visits, but haven’t encountered one like this one. Aldridge’s son Kevin is the designer of record for The Gailes, though Bob Cupp also had a hand in the project.

Kevin Aldridge did all the design work at the second course added after the Aldridge purchase. It’s called Blackshire, a great walking course with a rugged feel thanks to the hardwoods, large sand waste areas and undulations in the greens that are incorporated into the design. It opened in 2001.

In 2004 The Wee Links was added, an 18-hole pitch and putt course also designed by Aldridge with holes ranging from 50 to 105 yards. It can be played free of charge if you’re a resort guest.

ROSCOMMON, Michigan – America’s most innovative golf course design is now open for play – at least on a limited basis.

The Loop, created by the highly imaginative Michigan architect Tom Doak, is an 18-hole course that can be played in two directions. One day it’s the Black Course – 6,704 yards from the back tees and a par 70 played in a clockwise direction. The next day it’s the Red Course, played counter-clockwise at 6,805 yards from the tips but still a par 70. Within the borders of North America there’s no course, or courses, like it.

I walked The Loop in the summer of 2015 while it was under construction. With just a few contours evident in the dirt and little grass showing, it was difficult to judge what Doak was up to. Now that I’ve played it in both directions, I know. And I like it – a lot.

While a more imaginative name seems appropriate, given the nature of the course, The Loop will take the golf world by storm in 2017 when it is fully ready for play. During our July visit only 24 players per day – either members or overnight guests staying in on-site lodging — were allowed on the course.

The halfway house was still under construction, there were no benches available for sitting and only one, very basic, rest room was on the property. Though yardage books were available, slope and rating figures for The Loop had not been determined.

It was helpful for early visitors to be accompanied by a staffer, as the routes weren’t clearly defined and signage on the course was minimal. Those understandable shortcomings were being corrected, though, and the number of players allowed each day is to be increased to 48 before the summer was out.

By 2017, however, many, many more will be able to see what The Loop is all about. Some – mainly non-walkers – might not like it but most will.

To appreciate the creation a golfer has to block out two days and be prepared to walk about five miles each day. No carts are allowed, though caddies and push carts are available. Business considerations could conceivably lead to changes in that policy, but I hope it’ll always be a walking course. Allowing power carts would detract from what Doak has done.

Doak had just finished up a massive renovation of the No. 1 course at Chicago’s Medinah Country Club when he started on The Loop and the staff has a Chicago influence. Brian Moore, the director of agronomy who worked closely with Doak during the construction, arrived there after three years as an assistant superintendent at Chicago Golf Club. Chad Maveus, the general manager and director of golf, grew up in the Chicago suburb of Sycamore and played collegiately at Northern Illinois before spending 13 seasons at California’s famed Pebble Beach. Maveus had no trouble adjusting to the change in lifestyle and is looking forward to an expected influx of more players thanks to The Loop’s availability.

As for Doak, he had been considering a reversible course for about 30 years and still doesn’t consider the concept to be all that new. While the concept may be revolutionary for American golfers, it’s not so much that way in Europe.

Many clubs there play their courses backwards once a year just for fun. Others, particularly in Scotland, have been played in reverse during the winter months to spread out the wear and tear on divots. Even storied St. Andrews has been played in reverse.

To develop his reverse course in the United States Doak needed a basically flat piece of property with few trees and an owner who could think outside the box. Lew Thompson fit that to a tee.

A little history before we get back to the details of the course.

Thompson, who is in the trucking business in Arkansas, also owns The Bridges – a Jack Nicklaus design in Colorado. His only other venture into golf came in this little town of about 8,000. The Loop has become the companion course to the well-received Forest Dunes layout, which was designed by Tom Weiskopf and opened in 1998.

Forest Dunes opened as a private club in a gated community. With just six homes available, the original owner opted to sell it to the Michigan Carpenters Union Pension Fund in 2002 and Thompson stepped in to purchase the 1,325-acre property in 2011.

The Forest Dunes course was built on just 500 of those acres, so Thompson had plenty of land to consider other options and upgrades. The need for more lodging was immediately evident, and the 14-room Lake AuSable Lodge was added near the Adirondack-style clubhouse.

While Forest Dunes was consistently ranked as one of the very best courses in golf-rich Michigan, having only one layout on the property wasn’t enough to bring in enough visitors. That’s when Thompson and Doak eventually connected. Thompson wanted something that would stand alone for his second course, something very unlike Forest Dunes. Doak certainly gave it to him.

Thompson and some friends were the first to play The Loop, on June 27 of 2016. A member-guest event shortly thereafter served as an informal grand opening for what Forest Dunes is billing as its “Preview Season.’’ A more elaborate grand opening is likely in the spring of 2017.

To get a feel for what The Loop is like it’s first important to know what it doesn’t have. The Loop is built on 200 acres, less than half that used for the Forest Dunes layout, and water is not a factor anywhere. While there are no lakes, ponds or streams, there are 41 and bunkers and 40 grass bunkers. The greens are big and undulating; their average size is 6,500 square feet with the biggest at 8,600 and smallest at 5,000. The fairways are generous and you can play out of most of the rough areas.

Some early players felt there was a big disparity in difficulty between the Black and Red versions. One of my colleagues showed a 20-stroke difference in his scores between the layouts. That wasn’t evident in my visit. I found the Black three strokes easier than the Red, even though one round was played on an extraordinarily windy day and the other wasn’t. My partner had an 11-stroke difference but played all 36 holes with the same ball.

Clearly links style, The Loop is triggering other developments at Forest Dunes. Two villas opened in the spring and two more will be available next spring. Ninety-five beds are available for guests now and that number will increase to 125 in 2017. The addition of a par-3 course is also under consideration.

Well-known instructor Rick Smith opened a teaching facility at Forest Dunes this year and predicted that “it’ll be the most talked about golf destination in the country over the next five to 10 years.’’

There’s no arguing that.