Design Notebook: Lahinch Debrief and Saudi Arabia's Golf Struggles

Greetings, Fried Egg Golf Club members, and welcome back to Design Notebook, your regular rundown on what’s happening in the world of golf architecture.

In today’s edition, I chat with Keith Cutten — a partner at the firm Whitman, Axland & Cutten — about WAC’s recently finished design at Cabot Revelstoke in the Columbia Mountains. But first, let’s do some news and notes…

Chocolate Drops

To say that Lahinch Golf Club acquitted itself well at last week’s Walker Cup is an understatement. The great Irish links, the team match-play format, and GB&I’s comeback victory combined to make for one of the best events of the year. Kudos, also, to Golf Channel, which provided wall-to-wall coverage, anchored by strong on-course commentary from Emilia Doran and Sophie Walker.

The short par-4 13th hole, highlighted by my Fried Egg Golf colleague Matt Rouches before the tournament began, was an obvious standout. Most competitors had no trouble driving the green — Preston Stout nearly holed out during Sunday foursomes — but the humps, hollows, and hazards around the putting surface produced a variety of exciting recovery shots.

Stout also made news on the par-5 fourth hole, making the 360-yard carry over the famous Klondyke dune during a Tuesday practice round. Four hundred miles away, Old Tom Morris shuddered in his grave — and was probably relieved that no one attempted the same stunt during official play.

My biggest takeaway, though, is the way the Walker Cup’s format lets everyone relax and just enjoy the golf. If this had been an individual stroke play event, the weekend’s discourse likely would have revolved around the now-familiar themes of low scoring, course setup, and equipment rollback. It’s remarkable how quickly those topics fade to the background once score-to-par no longer matters.

So here’s where I land now: If I belonged to a club founded before World War II, I’d rather host an amateur match-play tournament than a men’s major. U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, and even Open Championships have become more about numbers on the leaderboard than the competition itself. At Walker Cups and national Amateurs, classic courses can simply be themselves.

Lost amid the discussion of the Public Investment Fund’s withdrawal from LIV Golf: Saudi Arabia’s golf-development efforts have slowed down, too. Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published a major report on the apparent collapse of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s dream of building a $500-billion megacity called Neom. (Non-subscribers can watch a well-made video summary here.) WSJ’s reporters discovered that the island resort of Sindalah, centered on a nine-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., was never completed. Recent satellite imagery shows that the course has gone fallow.

Elsewhere, the picture is more mixed. Shura Links, another island-resort course in the Red Sea, received a write-up from Golf Course Architecture magazine in February and evidently remains in operation. And promotional materials continue to promise that Qiddiya City Golf Course — designed by Nick Faldo and completed in fall 2025 — will open this year.

There’s no doubt, however, that Saudi Arabia’s bid to rival the UAE as a Middle East golf destination has hit some roadblocks. What was supposed to be a flood of course openings has turned into a trickle, at best.

Design Notebook is Presented By

This edition of Design Notebook is presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

GCSAA supports more than 21 thousand members worldwide – from superintendents and equipment managers to students and educators. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, GCSAA continues to ensure that its members are at the forefront of research, education, innovation, and advocacy through a range of programs and services.

As announced on the latest episode of the Yolk with Doak, Tom Doak has launched a new scholarship for aspiring golf architects. The Doak Award, funded by Doak himself as well as the Childress Hall club in Texas, will be granted every two years to individuals who have already demonstrated a commitment to pursuing a career in golf course design. Recipients will generally, but not necessarily, be under the age of 30.

The inspiration for the scholarship is Cornell University’s Frederick Dreer Award, which Doak earned in 1982 and used to fund his travels in Scotland and England. Other Dreer Award alums include current golf architects Gil Hanse and Dave Zinkand.

This is a tremendous opportunity for any young person looking for a leg up in the golf architecture industry. Here’s how to apply:

Send a proposal containing…

• A brief biography outlining your previous experience in golf and career path to date.
• Details of proposed travel and practical experience, and why you feel this experience is key to your education.
• Letters of recommendation from people in the world of golf.
• A rough timeframe and budget for completing the program as proposed.

Email your proposal directly to Tom Doak at doakgolf@aol.com by November 1, 2026, with the phrase “Doak Award Proposal” in the subject line.

This Friday, I’m heading off to the Scottish Highlands with my colleague Cameron Hurdus and a group of FEGC members. Our itinerary is Not Terrible:

September 12 – Nairn Golf Club
September 13 – Castle Stuart and Old Petty at Cabot Highlands
September 14 – Brora Golf Club
September 15 – Tain Golf Club and Royal Dornoch Golf Club
September 16 – Royal Aberdeen Golf Club
September 17 – Cruden Bay Golf Club

We’ll report back! (My audacious prediction is that we will like these courses.)

Let’s wrap up with a few quick hits:

→ Hempstead Golf and Country Club in New York hired Dave Zinkand and Joel Weiman to oversee a restoration of its A.W. Tillinghast-designed course. Zinkand and Weiman, who roomed together at Cornell University but never previously teamed up on a project, have begun the master planning process, and they plan to embark on a large-scale bunker renovation in 2028. Other course improvements are expected to be completed by 2033. “The master plan strengthens the course’s natural flow by capitalizing on Hempstead’s compact footprint and reinforcing the distinction between its spacious outward nine and more intimate inward journey,” Weiman said. “Expanded sightlines from the clubhouse will immediately draw golfers deeper into the property, while the routing creates ideal opportunities to resort classic Tillinghast features.”

→ Frontier Club, a new private retreat in Michigan that we reported on several months ago, made a publicity push in late August, with features popping up in Golf Digest and the Detroit News. Construction on the Gil Hanse-designed course is slated to begin later this year.

→ Some recent openings: Tom Doak’s course at Wild Spring Dunes in East Texas; Andrew Green’s Firefly, his first original 18-hole design, outside of Nashville, Tennessee; and Mike Nuzzo’s revamp of Club Walden in Aurora, Ohio.