Chocolate Drops: California Dreams

Howdy, FEGC. Let’s power through our post-Open Championship hangover with a few tidbits from the world of golf course development and design:

→ Boy did I see some things in California last week. First we dropped by Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, recently renovated by Jim Urbina. Then we headed up to San Francisco for the U.S. Amateur media day at the Olympic Club’s Lake Course, which received a touch-up from Gil Hanse in 2023. That evening, we drove down to Carmel, where we got a good night’s sleep before the Walker Cup media day at Cypress Point Club. Finally, we spent the next day with Tim Jackson and David Kahn at their Dunes Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club.

A couple of things:

• I probably don’t say this often enough, but I am very lucky to do this kind of stuff. I’ll never take it for granted.
• I’m not (just) bragging here; I’m offering a preview of future content. I plan to write full course profiles for Pasatiempo and Cypress Point, as well as separate pieces on the renovation work at Pasatiempo and Olympic Club. Our video production crew is putting together some exciting things as well. I hope you enjoy all of it. We go on these trips with the express purpose of taking you along.

In the meantime, here are a few shots from the week:

{{chocolate-drops-california-gallery}}

→ The Galgorm Collection announced plans to build a new seaside golf course in Bellarena, Northern Ireland, about 30 minutes west of Portrush. The development has not yet received planning approval, but according to the Belfast Telegraph, “the intention is for work to start as soon as possible, potentially as early as next year, with an eye on a 2029 opening date.” No golf architect has been publicly linked to the project at this point, but I’m guessing that the Galgorm Collection will go for a recognizable name.

The Galgorm Collection—which owns Galgorm Castle Golf Club, host of the 2020 Irish Open—tends to deal in high-end resorts, stay-and-play packages, things of that nature. I would expect the facility in Bellarena to command high rates. But since tee times in Northern Ireland have become worryingly scarce in recent years, any increase in inventory is good news.

Plus, it’s really fun to say “Bellarena.” Try it.

→ TGR Design, Tiger Woods’s design outfit, released some in-progress footage of Marcella Club, a new private course in Park City, Utah. A pair of cliff-slide holes receive the lion’s share of the camera’s attention.

→ I didn’t get to see Pebble Beach Golf Links last week, but Golf Club Atlas’s Andrew Harvie stopped by and snapped a few photos of the renovated 10th green. Unsurprisingly, a significant amount of putting surface has been recaptured. (Over the past several years, Pebble’s maintenance crew has completed similar expansions of the sixth, eighth, and 14th greens.) More surprisingly, the bunkering is intricate and faintly naturalized—a look that Pebble Beach has shied away from for decades, even in recent renovations. Is the course making baby steps toward reinstating its vintage ruggedness?