FAIRWAYS
golf BY DESIGN
Modern Marvels and Bootstrapped Courses by Craig Sterrett
Internationally renowned golf-course architects Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier made detailed drawings for elevations and computer-designed color images for golf holes at Horseshoe Bay in 1993, but when operators moving earth and rock needed help understanding the vision, Lussier quickly made sketches in the field, such as this one of #6. Submitted.
D
oor County’s most prestigious clubs and the nine-hole tracks designed for leisurely family outings have one thing in common: Each was a labor of love for the owners and designers. MODERN MARVELS Horseshoe Bay Golf Club, part of the private resort south of Egg Harbor, traces its origins to 1922 and the construction of a “Horse Shoe Bay Country Club” clubhouse – but no golf course was built at the time.
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door county living / doorcountypulse.com
In 1995, descendants of farmer Frank E. Murphy hired former Nicklaus Golf designer and executive Rick Robbins and Brian Lussier. Robbins’ golf designs span from North Carolina to China, and Lussier’s extensive résumé includes The Tribute in Gaylord, Michigan, and the renovation of PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The luxury course opened in 2000 during a worldwide course-construction boom, but construction had a major setback from a tornado that mowed a path through the course in 1998.
Robbins and Lussier completely redesigned the par-3 fifth hole on the fly after the tornado. Robbins had planned to carve a chute from the tee to the green through a thick stand of pines, but the tornado shredded those pines. Lussier said that in addition to the tornado, limestone close to the surface complicated the construction of many parts of the course. However, he said building Horseshoe Bay was one of his most enjoyable experiences because of how well he, Robbins and staff found solutions to create a great course.
