BallenIsles Country Club, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, will construct a new 10-hole short course and putting course, both designed by Rees Jones. The short course complex will be located in the southwest portion of the BallenIsles community and is expected to open for member play in fall 2026.
“We are so proud of the work that Rees [Jones] and Bryce [Swanson] did with us in 2019 that we could not wait for the opportunity to work with them again,” said Jeff Fitzherbert, BallenIsles Country Club’s director of golf. “The short course land abuts the South course that is so popular with our members, so the fit was natural. We are eager to get to work and see what the Rees Jones design team will come up with this time.”
In December 2024, BallenIsles’ members voted on and approved the $6 million project, which includes the short course with holes ranging in distance from 80 to 160 yards and a nine-hole putting course and skill green. The short course will enable members to enjoy a fun golf format from multiple tee locations, distances and angles, each providing varied levels of difficulty and targets.
“The new short course and putting course will be great additions to BallenIsles for our members and their families to enjoy,” Fitzherbert said. “With the informal nature of the two courses, we expect they will appeal to a wider audience of potential users, while further beautifying and enhancing the BallenIsles community.”
The project adds to BallenIsles’ remarkable array of golf amenities that includes three championship golf courses — the East Course, site of the 1971 PGA Championship and renovated by Nicklaus Design in 2022; the South Course, redesigned by Jones in 2020; and the North Course, designed by Kipp Schulties when redone in 2013.
The club’s innovative ’71 Golf Learning Center provides members with a 3,000-square-foot central location for custom fittings, club repairs and golf instruction. The state-of-the-art practice grounds has a 65-bay, two-sided, 12.5-acre long game area, complete with Toptracer technology and Flagd Golf digital yardage boards, an abundance of aiming targets for all types of long shots, a practice putting green, rough, uneven lie and fairway bunker practice areas, along with a wedge range with targets from 30 to 105 yards. In addition, BallesIsles’ four-acre short game area features the 25,000-square-feet Snead Green putting course, five pitching and chipping greens, warm-up green and, reportedly, the world’s flattest putting green.
CE GOLF DESIGN, RON WHITTEN SWOOP IN ON SWOPE
Swope Memorial Golf Course, a municipal layout in Kansas City, Missouri, that was redesigned by A.W. Tillinghast in 1934, is undergoing a sympathetic restoration by CE Golf Design and architecture scholar Ron Whitten.
CE Golf Design’s Todd Clark and Brent Hugo will direct the work, with Whitten acting as historical consultant. Conceived under the auspices of the Kansas City Parks & Recreation Department, the project was originally tied to a bunker renovation, but every aspect of the course needed attention.
"The bunkers have seen better days and the irrigation system is antiquated," Doug Schroeder, director of golf services for Kansas City Parks & Recreation told the Kansas City Star in 2024. "The cart paths are made of asphalt, and most don’t allow for proper drainage. The greens are being invaded by poa annua, which is a bluegrass that can’t survive in the heat. One thing led to another, and finally, it was like, it’s time. This is a prized asset of the Parks Department, and we need to spend some money to get it back to the gold standard it should be."
The catalyst for the project was a set of bunker renovation plans from 2006 that Schroeder discovered during his early days in his Parks & Rec position in 2009. Tony Bertels, then the superintendent at Swope Memorial, created the documents.
"Tony had carefully studied historical photos and drawings to develop a detailed plan that aimed to bring the course’s bunkers closer to their original form," Schroeder recently told Golf Course Architecture magazine. "It captured my imagination, but unfortunately the timing was not right — we were just beginning to recover from the effects of the financial recession. Fast forward to the early 2020s: golf, along with many outdoor activities, experienced a resurgence. Simultaneously, the debt service on Shoal Creek Golf Course — built in 2000 — was finally being retired. With financial pressure easing, we saw an opportunity to reinvest in our courses, particularly the bunkers at both Swope Memorial and Shoal Creek."
Grassing at Swope is expected to be completed at the end of August, with an anticipated reopening in spring 2026.
"The scope of work includes new greens, bunkers, tees, cart paths, drainage, irrigation, tree removal and a new irrigation lake and pump station," Clark told Golf Course Architecture. "While we are trying to be true to Tillinghast’s original design, we also have to consider the changes to the game of golf since the course opened in 1934. Tees are being extended where possible, and sand bunkers are being located accordingly to make the course play true to its original design."
Whitten’s research uncovered routing plans from 1934, hole photos from 1935 and an aerial image from 1940, among other artifacts. Not much of Tillinghast’s work from that period survived, so the process involves instilling as much Tillinghast as can be restored, as opposed to preserving what is there currently.
"This course will play totally differently from what golfers have played for the last 35 years," Clark said. "Hopefully it will be closer to what Tillinghast had envisioned for this property."
STONEYCROFT HILLS GETS THE GREEN LIGHT
Stonycroft Hills Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, has greenlit a renovation masterplan from Chris Wilczynski of C.W. Golf Architecture. Construction work, under the direction of King Village Golf & Landscape, will begin in August, with an expected completion at the end of October.
One of the older courses in the region, Stonycroft Hills dates to 1928, when local advertising executive Theodore McManus built the course on his 72-acre farm. The public course went fully private in 1958 and was purchased by the members, who founded an actual club in 1960. The master plan as approved is intended to improve playability and aesthetics for players of all skill levels.
The scope of the renovation will include strategic tree removal to improve sightlines and open playing corridors, along with the introduction of new specimen trees to strengthen landscape character and long-term course sustainability; tee renovation, including new and expanded tees, with particular focus on middle and forward tees; putting green expansions to enhance play options; short grass fairway connections between greens and adjacent tee complexes; a new putting green and complete renovation of the green complex at the ninth hole; new and renovated bunkers featuring the Better Billy Bunker liner system; and fairway realignment to improve strategy, flow and aesthetics.
"This project represents a significant step forward for Stonycroft Hills," Wilczynski said. "Our goal is to elevate the golf experience while preserving the charm and integrity that have always defined this club. The improvements will enhance strategy, improve course conditions, and provide a more enjoyable round for all."
