New Era in Golf Course Design with Reversible Routing
After two decades traversing the globe from New Zealand to China designing world-class golf courses, Traverse City resident Tom Doak is coming home to create a course at Forest Dunes Golf Club in northern Michigan, fashioning a one-of-a-kind golf course only a legendary golf architect would only dream of doing.
Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design team will design and build a reversible course – two distinct layouts using the same greens but playing clockwise one way and counter clockwise the other way. “This is a concept I have thought about for 30 years,” Doak said. “You need the right site and the right client to understand the appeal of it. At Forest Dunes we finally have both.”
Doak said when he first met Forest Dunes’ owner, Lew Thompson, an Arkansas-based trucking magnate, Thompson said he wanted a new course but it had to “wow” him. He wanted a second course that would keep golfers staying on property an extra night or two after they had played the club’s Weiskopf course, already ranked by national magazines in the Top 100 in America. The double dose of Doak should accomplish both goals.
“The appeal of a reversible course is people would want to play it both ways. You are getting two golf courses in one,” Doak said. With the tough competition from the great number of very good golf courses in northern Michigan Thompson wanted a course that would stand out.
Doak believed that the Forest Dunes site is perfect for the double dip course because the land has small undulations and isn’t hilly. The most difficult part of designing a reversible course is thinking about the greens. “They have to work from both directions,” Doak said. “You can’t have severe greens. Crowned greens or ones that fall away can work, as can tiered greens that go side to side.”
The idea of a reversible course may not be as revolutionary as it sounds. Many Scottish links, including The Old Course at St. Andrews were played in reverse in winter to spread out the wear and tear of divots. Architects including Tom Simpson and Alister MacKenzie designed private estate courses with a handful of reversible holes. But, as far as Doak is aware, there is no 18-hole course in the world today that is played in reverse on a regular basis.
Doak plans to begin shaping holes in late September and depending on weather, expects to have three to six holes ready for irrigation before the snow flies.
Nestled on 1,300 acres of heavily wooded land within the Huron National Forest, Forest Dunes features rugged native dunes, scruffy sand areas and abounding water. The property also boasts the beautiful Adirondack style Lake AuSable Lodge with 14-rooms and six lakeside cottages, as well as Sangomore’s restaurant. http://www.forestdunesgolf.com/
Leonard Finkel is the author of The Secrets to the Game of Golf & Life and former editor in chief of Golf Journeys Magazine. His work has been featured in almost 200 publications including Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Golf Illustrated, Golf Tips and Player Magazine. He has written more than a dozen cover stories for Golf Today Magazine. He has written extensively about golf and travel and has added poker to his writing repertoire. Finkel also works as a marketing and public relations consultant. His specialty niche is writing advertorial copy. Prior to his career in golf, Finkel owned a chain of retail stores and a consulting and import company based in Asia. He attended the University of Utah.