13 minute read
A Conversation With Dana Fry & Jason Straka
YAS ACRES GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB, A FIRST MIDDLE EAST CREATION FOR FRY/STRAKA GLOBAL GOLF COURSE DESIGN, HAS OPENED TO RAVE REVIEWS. SO WHAT’S NEXT? WHERE WILL GOLF DEVELOPMENT LEAD THE AWARD-WINNING DUO? (SPOILER ALERT: IT’S BACK TO THE MIDDLE EAST.)
BY HAL PHILLIPS
think of course designers in the Middle East and famous names such as Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Greg Norman and Colin Montgomerie roll off the tongue. ▶ Aficionados will connect Karl Litten with the pioneering Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club and Gil Hanse to Trump International Golf Club Dubai, while Kyle Phillips has a legion of fans courtesy of his desert-links gem, Yas Links. ▶ Lesser known are Dana Fry and Jason Straka of Ohiobased Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design. That is about to change with the opening of their first Middle East design Yas Acres Golf & Country Club, a thus-far nine hole sister course to Yas Links Abu Dhabi.
The first foray into the region has only emboldened the award-winning architects who particularly like what they are seeing in Saudi Arabia — developments at sites with “Crazy ridiculous topography with massive vertical rock formations and canyons and reefs and coastline — with no permitting issues” as Fry says.
“I’m confident Jason and I will get the opportunity to work there, and we frankly cannot wait to get our hands on one or two of those sites. I’m quite bullish on Saudi design prospects in general because there are so many unbelievably dramatic settings already set aside for golf there. I predict that when those projects are up and running, it will change the way the world thinks about golf in this region.”
The duo sat down with veteran journalist and GOLF magazine course-rating panellist ▶ ohio to the world Hal Phillips to discuss Yas Acres, Jason Straka and Dana their work elsewhere around the Fry have made their first world and the future of course foray into the Middle architecture in Saudi and beyond. East on Yas Island —with kent gray When were you last in Abu Dhabi, Dana? Dana Fry: I was last there in February of 2020, just after the PGA Show, in Florida, and just before the pandemic hit. But I’m headed back this coming January, 2022. Aldar, the developer at Yas Acres, has asked me to come over — at the request of Troon Golf, who will manage the facility. I will make this trip and take my stepson Noah with me.
So you enjoy the work overseas? Jason Straka: That is the understatement of the century. Dana has never spent this much time in the U.S. without an international break. DF: That is very, very true. Much of that travel, in the last 10 years, had been to China, Vietnam, Brazil and, of course, the UAE. Our firm has six finished projects in China alone. We used to have seven, but we lost one in Shenzhen, when it was plowed under.
Another victim of the Chinese government’s crackdown on “illegal” golf courses? DF: I guess that’s what you’d call it. What a shame. We were very proud of that course. Thankfully, Qizhong Garden GC in Shanghai, among others, is still thriving. The LPGA has played an October tournament at Qizhong Garden for the last three years.
What is the state of the Yas Acres project? DF: The ceremonial first tee shot was Nov. 23 and I’m told the course is now officially open. Troon has asked me to come visit the site because they’re about ready to open and have questions about some grass lines, changes to some native areas, adding more turf in some areas, creating more native in others, etc. I’ll attend to those matters when I visit those last two weeks of January, during the two European Tour events, one at Yas Links and the other at Emirates GC.
What can you tell us about when the second nine at Yas Acres will get underway? DF: I’ll know more after this visit. The travel situation in the last two years has made overseas work more difficult. Luckily, we’re about as busy in the United States as we’ve ever been. But international projects are traditionally a big part of our business, and we have several projects emerging from different stages of hiatus. We’re ramping back up at a very exciting and high profile job in Cabo del Sol, for example, in Mexico, at the southern tip of Baja California. That project is finally moving again and it’s really going to be something special. JS: We have designed and are now building a new course in Vietnam. That project is scheduled to open in 2022.
Jason, as of September, you are the new president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. What is involved there, and what do you hope to accomplish during your term? JS: Well, I have some administrative goals for the Society that your readers would probably find pretty boring, but my biggest goal is to promote a better understanding of what our organisation actually does to promote and strengthen
the sport. Let me give you an example of what I mean. The Miami, Florida area is dealing right now with local legislation that, if passed, will hugely affect the golf course design and maintenance business. They called ASGCA to come in and educate the legislators on what this will mean to golf, which, of course, is a huge industry in Florida worth billions and billions of dollars
It seems as though architects and ASGCA are seen as neutral and honest brokers when it comes to a wide range of golf matters? JS: I think that’s right. ASGCA is called into the meetings of so many sister organisations: the PGA, the various tours, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. We have an upcoming meeting with the USGA where we’ll participate in a truly hardcore discussion about how to handle the distance issue. It’s an honour and a huge responsibility — to have that sort of role and influence. The Society frankly hasn’t done as good a job as we could have through the years explaining that role, of marketing that role, to the rest of the golf business, to golfers themselves.
Dana, I know that architects don’t necessarily feel comfortable comparing their work to that of fellow architects, but would you care to compare and contrast the Yas Links and Yas Acres projects? DF: Well, it’s the same developer but that’s about all that connects the two. They are so different. And I have no problem acknowledging that Yas Links is without question the best course in the Middle East. In all honesty, I don’t know who’s second, but it’s not even close. It’s a great piece of land where one whole side of the property hugs the sea, leaving a great corridor for golf that Kyle Phillips used very well indeed.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard an architect speak quite so glowingly of a competitor’s work... JS: Dana makes an exception for Kyle. They went to high school together. ▶ night life DF: Kyle is a very old friend of mine. Yas Acres Golf & We played high school golf together Country Club’s in suburban Kansas City, Missouri. opening nine is We also played with Tom Pernice, now in play. who spent many years on Tour. But Kyle does great work and Yas Links is special. I don’t know that any architect will ever get such a great site, in this particular part of the world, again. The stars aligned there. That said, while Yas Links is an excellent golf course, it does not feature the elevation we have at Yas Acres. The other factor that makes Yas Acres special is the size of our property. We had 156 acres to work with there — for just the first 9 holes alone! Merion Golf Club has 18 holes on 108 acres, just to put it in perspective.
So we have incredibly wide corridors of pure sand. We’ve been able to create some really compelling contours and hole environments because of the unique space we have. All the holes interact directly with an enormous man-made ridge that runs through the property — what we call the Big Dirt. We’ve designed tee boxes, fairways and green sites that all interact with the Big Dirt. That sort of elevation also allows for lots of running water and streams that also interact with this ridge in various ways. Naturally, our design called for substantial desert vegetation of the entire course, but especially the ridge. Without that, it’s difficult to make a landform that big look natural.
Where do you two see golf development growing most meaningfully in the next 10 years? DF: I don’t think there’s much question: the Middle East. We’re already working here, of course, and it’s impossible to miss the concerted effort — from the Saudis, from decisionmakers in the UAE and others — to make this part of the world a viable golf destination, especially for Europeans. JS: That’s true, but I think golf has entered a new phase when it comes to development — starting with the U.S. recession in 2008. New course development has given way to the renovation of existing course properties, in all the major markets. And that slowdown was only magnified by the new-development ban in China. DF: Yes, and the Middle East is the glaring exception to this trend. That’s part of what makes the region so intriguing to developers and to us, as architects.
What’s your opinion on the current standard of course design in the Middle East today? I know you like Yas Links but what about all the other courses that have been built here? DF: I think the overall quality of golf is pretty darned high. It’s way better than the southern half of Florida, for example, because you can cut and fill in the Middle East and not worry about the high water table.
What’s the connection between “cutting and filling”, and creating compelling course architecture? JS: It’s all about the Big Dirt. On a flat site, you need to find the material to create really compelling landforms. On a flat desert site, you essentially mine that material by excavating lakes and other water features. You can’t do that in a place like South Florida. In Dubai, you can. DF: That’s right, and it’s really one hallmark of how Jason and I work, as architects: On a flat site, we’re traditionally strong advocates of creating a giant man-made ridge that runs through a property. That’s what we did at Yas Acres. That’s what did at Calusa Pines, in Naples, Florida. That is what we’re doing outside Philly, where the Union League of Philadelphia owned a golf course in the famous pine barrens of southern New Jersey, near Pine Valley. We’re not just renovating there. We’re completely reimagining 27 holes, all of them interacting some really Big Dirt — a ridge that rises to 80 feet above sea level in some places. It’s going to be amazing.
When does that project reopen? DF: There are three nines there, so the course never really closed. We have managed to keep 18 holes open throughout reconstruction, working one nine at a time. But we’re close: 3.5 holes from finishing all 27 holes. Even then, though, we might be a couple years away from completing the job because re-vegetating the Big Dirt, this giant man-made ridge, is painstaking work. JS: But it has to be done, and done right, because a manmade landform will never look right, will never look natural, if it’s not married back into the ecosystem via all this native vegetation.
–dana fry
So that’s the exercise you’ll be undertaking at Yas Acres, as well? DF: Yes, but not on the same scale. The Big Dirt at Yas Acres is big, but not as big as Union League. Nothing is that big. The vegetation palette in Dubai is also quite different, of course. More spare. And here the delays in opening the first nine, and eventually the second nine, will work in Yas Acres favour. More time for that vegetation to mature.
You two designed a high-profile tournament venue at Erin Hills, where the U.S. Women’s Open will be played in 2025. JS: We noticed Golf Digest Middle East recently published a ranking of the top 100 public courses in the U.S. — and Erin Hills was no. 9 on that list.
Erin Hills has already hosted a men’s U.S. Open, and a U.S. Amateur. When did you recognise the USGA was so taken with the place? DF: David Fay [former executive director of the USGA] started coming to the golf course in 2004, a couple years before construction. He fell in love with it, the grand scale of it. There are 600 acres there. Perfect for galleries, for all the infrastructure required by modern Open championships. They became enamoured of it.
This explains how quickly Erin Hills was awarded important competitions. JS: Once a course gets the Amateur — and the championship goes well — the U.S. Open is the next logical step. The USGA was also looking for a Midwestern venue where it could take important championships. It looks to us like they’ve settled on Erin Hills for at least one of the courses in that role. The 2022 USGA Mid-Amateur will be held there, too, then the U.S. Women’s Open arrives three years later. DF: The USGA likes scale, but they also like topography and Erin Hills has tremendous topography. In my opinion, that’s another reason the Middle East holds such great potential as a golf destination.
What do you mean by that? DF: Well, most of the golf built in the region so far has been developed on flat sand sites where all the topography has been man-made. That is not necessarily a limitation. I’ve seen the Tiger course here, the Gil Hanse course [Trump Dubai]. These are really high-level resort tracks. The Els course at Jumeirah is quite good, too. The course that hosts the Dubai Desert Classic [the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club] is another amazing development. I don’t think Americans in particular have an appreciation for all this, because it’s so far away. But the hotels and restaurants — and the dramatic surroundings being created all around these golf courses — make these some of the finest resort destinations anywhere in the world. And like I’ve said, most of it has been very well done. But I’ve also seen some of the sites where they’re planning for courses in Saudi Arabia, and the settings are off the charts. Crazy ridiculous topography with massive vertical rock formations and canyons and reefs and coastline — with no permitting issues. I’m confident Jason and I will get the opportunity to work there, and we frankly cannot wait to get our hands one or two of those sites. I’m quite bullish on Saudi design prospects in general because there are so many unbelievably dramatic settings already set aside for golf there. I predict that when those projects are up and running, it will change the way the world thinks about golf in this region.
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