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Brauer: Mathews
Bluff Course Will Be Like C.B. Macdonald Were here
by Mark Leslie
TAWAKONI, Texas (Oct. 23, 2000)
- An "early American golf course," reminiscent of those
designed by C.B. Macdonald, the Father of American Golf Course
Design, will be built here as a feature of a new development called
Mathews Bluff.
Golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer/Golf Scapes thinks the
early American theme is appropriate since that is the setting
for this project built in the historical Rocky Ford area.
"When trying to capture the Dallas, Greenville and Tyler
markets, you have to give golfers something they don't have,"
said Brauer. "We will style this in Early American, following
characteristics of C.B. Macdonald, such as tabletop greens and
deep bunkers with very steep-banked walls. There will be minimal
irrigation, keeping the course on the edge of dryness, so it will
be fast-running.
"We will let it play like golf was played 100 years ago.
"Our measure of success will be the number of golfers who
think we restored this course, rather than built our ninth course
in the Metroplex from scratch."
Macdonald's Chicago Golf Club became the first 18-hole course
in the United States when its second nine holes opened in 1893,
and his National Golf Links ushered in the Golden Age of Golf
Design in 1911.
Developer Peter Malin of The Malin Group of Dallas, who built
Big Sky Texas, nationally acclaimed for its innovative architecture
and land planning, chose Brauer to design the 18-hole semi-private
golf course after playing Brauer's TangleRidge Golf Club in Dallas/Fort
Worth.
"I did not know it was a Brauer course but was certainly
aware of how it used the natural terrain," he recalled. I
was amazed at the variety of grass species in the rough. You could
tell someone had a keen eye to not try to manicure everything.
"
Construction on the front nine is expected to begin the first
of January, with grassing next fall and opening expected in 2002.
Phase One of Mathews Bluff will be called the Rocky Ford Development,
taking its name from the ford in the Sabine River where wagon
trains crossed on their way west. The area was later dammed up
to create the 55-square-Mile Tawakoni Lake.
The 200 acres set apart for the golf course has frontage both
on Lake Tawakoni and an old rock quarry. The front nine, said
Brauer, "is almost perfect for golf: mostly pasture with
scattered oaks. We will leave the pasture as a rugged outer rough.
The oaks provide definition but also allow recovery shots."
Some holes on the back nine will be heavily wooded, and the 14th
green will front directly on the lake.
"Working with Peter, it was obvious that he thinks out of
the box in his developments, with his low-intensity land uses,"
Brauer said, "I think the older style really works here,
while fitting our credo of making each of our courses in the area
a little different experience for golfers.
In keeping with Brauer and Malin's attempts to maximize environmentalism,
Brauer said: "The golf industry has talked about reducing
golf course irrigation through design. Although Lake Tawakoni
provides ample water for lush irrigation, now is the time to put
those words into action. The greens will allow roll-in shots and
be contoured for fast speeds to enhance the concept."
Jeffrey D. Brauer and Golf Scapes have designed 40 golf courses
and remodeled 80. Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., and
Giants Ridge are rated among the best affordable public courses
in the United States, while his Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation
in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a Golf Digest best new course winner,
Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Nebraska and TangleRidge
Golf Club is 12th in Texas. President of the American Society
of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in
1995-96, Brauer also designed Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas
State, which opened in June 2000 as the cornerstone golf course
for The First Tee program as well as the first collaboration between
the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association
of America.<< |
Mathews Bluff is
'Big Sky Texas Revisited,' Says Developer
by Mark Leslie
Mathews Bluff Is 'Big Sky Texas
Revisited,' Says Developer
TAWAKONI, Texas (OCTOBER 2, 2000) - Peter Malin of The Malin Group,
whose Big Sky Texas project earned him national recognition for
land planning, will develop a 1,000-acre property here that he
hopes will make the same mark on land and wildlife preservation.
The Mathews Bluff development will sit along the shores of 55-square-mile
Lake Tawakoni and border 1,300 acres of Texas Parks and Wildlife
land, said the Dallas entrepreneur.
Construction of a semi-private golf course, designed by Jeffrey
D. Brauer/Golf Scapes of Arlington, will begin this fall. But
Malin pointed out that the key to the project is to "maximize
preservation of the land and wildlife, while also maximizing the
lake for hunting, fishing and boating and the adjacent wildlife
refuge for horseback riding."
Malin and partner Jack Dowd, who owns land abutting Mathews Bluff,
bought the property from 96-year-old Paul Mathews of Greenville,
who in 1997 was named Land Steward of the Year for Texas for his
conservation efforts. A hunter and avid golfer, Mathews sold the
land with the strict stipulation that utmost care be taken in
areas of preservation.
"Big Sky had a lot to do with appropriate architecture and
land planning. Rocky Ford has to do with wildlife," said
Malin, who intends the project to work closely with the nationwide
Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System for Golf Courses. "We
have created a trail system and wildlife corridors, and we're
building lakes and new wetlands out in the valley. We have numerous
plans to preserve and protect birds and animals there."
For his part, Brauer said he expects only to move 90,000 cubic
yards of earth in building the golf course.
"Peter Malin was looking for a 'maximalist,' and that is
my forté," said Brauer. "My goal is always to
maximize the use of the land for golf while maximizing it for
the wildlife as well. This is a perfect property to accomplish
that aim."
Brauer pointed out that Malin, as he showed at Big Sky Texas,
will not sacrifice quality housing lots for quantity.
"He will have 100 homes where another developer will have
1,000," he said. "Peter individually designs the lots
for a view. He is a maximalist himself.
"I was so inspired by his vision for a unique community and
the history of this site, that I plan to give him a unique golf
course, a true 'country' club. A course along the lines the classic
country clubs built in the early 1900s would fit well with this
property."
The first phase of Mathews Bluff is the Rocky Ford development,
being built around the spot where wagon trains forded the Sabine
River on their way west. Construction on the second phase, The
North Hedgerow Community, will begin next spring; and phase three,
The South Hedgerow Community, will take shape when the North Hedgerow
is well under way.
Jeffrey D. Brauer and Golf Scapes have designed 40 golf courses
and remodeled 80. Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., and
Giants Ridge are rated among the best affordable public courses
in the United States, while his Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation
in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a Golf Digest best new course winner,
Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Nebraska and TangleRidge
Golf Club is 12th in Texas. President of the American Society
of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in
1995-96, Brauer also designed Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas
State, which opened in June 2000 as the cornerstone golf course
for The First Tee program as well as the first collaboration between
the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association
of America.<< |
Matthews Bluff
to have Traditional Feel
please note course
layout at end
by Bryce Molder
www.cybergolf.com
|
An “early American golf course,”
reminiscent of those designed by C.B. Macdonald, the Father
of American Golf Course Design, will be built in Tawakoni, Texas
as a feature of a new development called Mathews Bluff. Golf
course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer of Golf Scapes thinks the
early American theme is appropriate since that is the setting
for this project built in the historical Rocky Ford area.
”When trying to capture the Dallas, Greenville and Tyler markets,
you have to give golfers something they don’t have,” said Brauer.
“We will style this in Early American, following the characteristics
of C.B. Macdonald, such as tabletop greens and deep bunkers
with very steep-banked walls. There will be minimal irrigation,
keeping the course on the edge of dryness, so it will be fast-running.
”We will let it play like golf was played 100 years ago. Our
measure of success will be the number of golfers who think we
restored this course, rather than built our ninth course in
the Metroplex from scratch.”
Macdonald’s Chicago Golf Club became the first 18-hole course
in the United States when its second nine holes opened in 1893,
and his National Golf Links ushered in the Golden Age of Golf
Design in 1911.
Developer Peter Malin of The Malin Group of Dallas, which built
Big Sky Texas, nationally acclaimed for its innovative architecture
and land planning, chose Brauer to design the 18-hole semiprivate
golf course after playing Brauer’s TangleRidge Golf Club in
Dallas/Fort Worth. “I did not know it was a Brauer course but
was certainly aware of how it used the natural terrain,” he
recalled. “I was amazed at the variety of grass species in the
rough. You could tell someone had a keen eye to not try to manicure
everything.”
Construction on the front nine is expected to begin the first
of January, with grassing next fall and opening expected in
2002. Phase One of Mathews Bluff will be called the Rocky
Ford Development, taking its name from the ford in the Sabine
River where wagon trains crossed on their way west. The area
was later dammed up to create the 55-square-mile Tawakoni Lake.
The 200 acres set apart for the golf course have frontage both
on Lake Tawakoni and an old rock quarry. The front nine, said
Brauer, “is almost perfect for golf – mostly pasture with scattered
oaks. We will leave the pasture as a rugged outer rough. The
oaks provide definition but also allow recovery shots.”
Some holes on the back nine will be heavily wooded, and the
14th green will front directly on the lake. “Working with Peter,
it was obvious that he thinks out of the box in his developments,
with his low-intensity land uses,” Brauer said. “I think the
older style really works here, while fitting our credo of making
each of our courses in the area a little different experience
for golfers.”
In keeping with Brauer and Malin’s attempts to maximize environmentalism,
Brauer said, “The golf industry has talked about reducing golf
course irrigation through design. Although Lake Tawakoni provides
ample water for lush irrigation, now is the time to put those
words into action. The greens will allow roll-in shots and be
contoured for fast speeds to enhance the concept.”
<<
Matthews Bluff Course Layout
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Urban
Land, Seeking Sanctuary
Golf/Wildlife in Texas
Another location vying for sanctuary status
is a semiprivate golf coruse planned as part of the Matthews
Bluff development, which will sit along the shores of 55-square-mile
Lake Tawakoni and border 1,300 acres of Texas parks and wildlife
habitat. Development of its centerpiece, a golf course designed
by Jeffrey D. Brauer/Golf Scapes of Arlington, Texas, is now
underway.
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The golf course is next to a Texas
wildlife preserve, explains Peter Malin, Principal of the Dallas-based
Malin Group, Inc, developers of the Big Sky Texas Community on
an undulating prarie west of Denton, Texas. "We're going
to keep the land along the lake natural. We have wildlife that
comes through the area, and where there are fringes adn rough,
we are going to be following the guidelines of Audubon International,"
he adds.
"Obviously, when you are managing the rough, you are creating
depending on how you do it, shelter and habitat for birds and
small game. You don't want deer walking on your greens, but we
have heavywoods and then open meadow and, in that transition,
we can create a lot of additional food for the wildlife but might
be living in the woods. Biologists who work for Texas Parks and
Wildlife can help us in the design and in use of native plants."
Matthews Bluff came about when an associate of Malin, Paul Matthews,
who had donated a large amount of prairie land to the Nature Conservancy,
decided to do something with 600 acres overlooking the Sabine
River where it flows into Lake Tawakoni. The acreage sat about
65 miles from Dallas. "Everyone has flipped over the land
because it has these 70-foot bluffs, sandy soil deposits from
the river and such trees as a 150-year-old oak, eastern red cedar,
pecans, adn hickories," Malin says. "It was a thick
forest, and we sculpted it to create views overlooking the lake.
When you look south, there are seven-mile vistas." << |
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