Veteran Canadian architect Doug Carrick will be swinging for the fences in 2025 as he begins a reimagination project in British Columbia. Best known for his designs at Predator Ridge, Greywolf, Muskoka Bay and Bigwin Island — four of Canada’s top courses — Carrick has signed on to perform a complete makeover of the Granite Pointe Golf Course, transforming it into The Dodger at Hallo Nelson.
Located on a picturesque 130-acre plateau overlooking Kootenay Lake and surrounded by the Selkirk Mountains, the former Granite Pointe Golf Course will reappear as The Dodger, a par-70 mountain course combining contrast and a variety of slopes, lakes and mountain vistas, forest enclosure, and open fairway meadows.
Conveniently located just minutes from downtown Nelson, British Columbia, the old course debuted in 1920 and was remodeled and expanded by Bill Newis in 1993. Carrick’s vision for the entirely new layout will balance the superior aesthetics of the old course with a sophisticated, strategic design for modern players. Look for an exemplary photo-op at the 13th hole that will plunge more than 160 feet from four different high-elevation tee boxes, delivering exceptional views over Kootenay Lake and the surrounding mountain ranges.
"I am thrilled to be involved in the design of an exciting mountainside golf course for the new Hallo Nelson," said Carrick, principal golf course architect of Carrick Design. "The golf course will feature some of the most stunning views and dramatic elevation changes of any course I’ve seen anywhere in the world. The individual holes weave through undulating terrain, gradually climbing the mountainside exposing a tremendous variety of views and engaging golf shots. The towering evergreen trees and intricately sculpted bunkers will give the course a sense of timeless elegance and beauty. I have no doubt that it will be a golf course on many golfers’ bucket lists when visiting Western Canada.”
The Dodger at Hallo Nelson will serve as a cornerstone summer recreational asset amid a $500-million-dollar master-planned community and will be Canada’s first Troon-managed property.
"The Hallo Properties team has found a location destined to become one of the top golf destinations in Canada," said Jim McLaughlin, division president of TCS, a Troon company. "Combining a stunning Doug Carrick design with our experience and expertise in operating and marketing upscale golf properties is an exciting undertaking. Our joint intention is to make The Dodger at Hallo Nelson a flagship, Troon-managed property for Western Canada."
Overlooking the first fairway of The Dodger, Hallo Nelson’s premiere real estate offering is The First Homes, a collection of 24 fully furnished townhomes with a level of appointed curation exceeding any property offered in Canada and now available for purchase.
"The Dodger at Hallo Nelson is superbly geographically located close to the Canada-U.S. border, with direct air access from airports in Nelson, Castlegar and Trail," said Graham Kwan, development principal of Hallo Nelson. "Our location south of some of the other western Canadian golf courses allows us to open earlier and close later each season."
Course construction is slated to begin in early 2025 and be completed in 2027.
SOCIAL ASPECT
Things are looking good at Crown Colony. Looking forward to getting all of the bunkers finished up! #SandersGolf pic.twitter.com/W1tPfzpiPK
— Trey Kemp (@TreyKempGCA) September 7, 2024
ESTATES COURSE REOPENS IN ARIZONA
Phoenix’s Arizona Biltmore Golf Club reopened its Estates Course on Sept. 6 following a nearly two-month beautification and improvement project. The new course, which debuted last December and was designed by Lehman Design Group and Scottsdale resident Tom Lehman, saw close to 6,000 trees, hedges and bushes added plus numerous playability improvements in the last 60 days.
Since mid-July, agronomy teams have planted nearly 400 additional trees, 400-plus hedges and more than 5,000 shrubs and bushes. New tee boxes and bunkers have also been added and additional irrigation lines have been placed. The result of the agronomy teams’ hard work is a more attractive course, with improved and better-defined golf holes.
"During last summer and fall’s compacted course renovation schedule, crews focused on shaping, irrigation and growing in the bermudagrass, while planting hundreds of smaller trees," said Arizona Biltmore Golf Club director of golf Leo Simonetta. "This summer, while the course was closed for improvements, we were able to plant larger, more mature trees and finish the landscape pods, adding more color and character to the golf course."
Named after the iconic Biltmore neighborhood that surrounds the property, the Estates Course plays to a par of 71 and measures 6,669 yards from the back/Black tees — an increase of more than 130 yards from the former Adobe Course it replaced. The Estates Course’s playing surface is a drought-tolerant TifTuf bermudagrass on the tees, fairways and rough. During the 2023 renovation, the club installed a state-of-the-art irrigation system allowing the agronomy team to control each sprinkler head while using high-tech sensors to measure soil moisture and salt levels to allow for precise watering and reduced water usage.
In May 2024, the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club unveiled its new 19,400-square-foot clubhouse — home to the Adobe Bar & Grille, a grab-and-go market known as The Pantry, a golf simulator room, as well as 6,000 square feet of event space in The Ballroom. The Adobe Bar & Grille features a center bar, communal tables for dining and swapping golf stories, multiple televisions and large Renlita doors that open to an expansive patio with views of the Estates Course and downtown Phoenix.
Set in the heart of Phoenix with Piestewa Peak to the north and the downtown Phoenix skyline to the south, the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club is a 36-hole golf facility that meanders through some of the most stunning homes in Phoenix. The Lehman-designed Estates Course and the Bill Johnston-designed Links Course are open to public play, with limited membership opportunities available. Established in 1928, the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club has been a destination for Phoenix residents, tourists, corporate leaders, U.S. Presidents, celebrities, and dignitaries for nearly a century.
DESIGN TRIO TO REDO FRENCH CLASSIC
CDP, the international firm comprised of Australian Mike Clayton, American Mike DeVries and Dutchman Frank Pont, has signed on as consulting course architect to venerable Golf de Fontainebleau in suburban Paris, France. Annually ranked among France’s top five courses, Fontainebleau opened in 1909 and enjoyed a comprehensive makeover by Tom Simpson in 1920. As with another Paris-area Simpson masterpiece, Morfontaine, Fontainebleau resembles the finest heathland courses around London. It twists through forested fairways — primarily beech, oak and pine — on a sandy base, making for firm and fast conditions. The slender fairways are hemmed in by heather, bracken and Scotch broom and lead to undulating, well-bunkered greens.
"We are honored to have been asked to assist Golf de Fontainebleau," said Frank Pont, partner at CDP. "The course sits on a truly beautiful and special site. In the first instance, we shall be undertaking a full audit of the bunkering."
