Ask any of the designers at Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects (RTJ II) how things are going and the answer is sure to be “busy.” Even though the team is used to traveling to all corners of the globe, the past few years have been especially active. And there’s no sign of letting up in 2025.
“We’re not complaining. Far from it,” says Trent Jones, COO, RTJ II. “We have projects on almost every continent, new layouts, renovations, championship courses, shorter experiences, and various combinations of those. We’re also doing a lot of ‘destination golf,’ giving people new reasons to go somewhere special, as well as public golf. It’s an exciting – and yes, busy – time for us.”
From California to Quito, Eleuthera to Iceland, and throughout Asia, it’s hard to keep up with the Joneses. Here are a few highlights of their current projects.
The Bahamas. Ground has been broken, and construction will soon begin on the course at Cotton Bay on the island of Eleuthera. It’s a complete reimagining of a course Robert Trent Jones Sr. built in the late 1950s that put The Bahamas on the map for sophisticated travelers. The site is unusual for Eleuthera, as it’s “an entire canvas of sand,” says lead architect Mike Gorman, while the rest of the island is coral rock formations.
The course will be somewhat unusual, too, as it’s “core golf,” with no homes or roads near play and designed to encourage numerous intimate golf experiences of different lengths and number of holes. That means different groups can play the course at the same time, with everyone starting and ending at the same central hub, called “Carousel,” which will also be the perfect before-golf, after-golf, or even no-golf hangout.
The 100 percent sand, easily walkable course will be joined by The Ritz-Carlton Reserve at Cotton Bay, each just a half-hour flight from Miami.
Ecuador. RTJ II has begun designing its second new course in the country after the recent opening of Guayaquil Country Club in the southern lowlands. At the other end of the country – ,in the northeast foothills of the Andes – sits the capital city of Quito, where plans are underway for a new 18 holes for Quito Tenis y Golf Club. Surrounded on three sides by giant cliffs and chasms, the land is like a tabletop dropped into the mountains.
“It’s very dramatic, with the course out on a peninsula of land with nothing around it but nature,” says Bruce Charlton, President, RTJ II. “The cliffs are like Pebble Beach around the ravines, so we’ll make extra-wide fairways away from the cliff to make it fun and offer the chance to get around by playing strategically. Like most clubs in South America, there’s a huge social and sports aspect, too, with equestrian facilities, soccer fields, tennis courts, and a huge clubhouse. But the course will be all by itself, with the towering Andes above.”
Iceland. Planning is underway on another dramatic site, this one just outside of Reykjavik at the Oddur Golf Club. An 18-hole course already exists on land leased from the Brotherhood of Oddfellows, and RTJ II will be adding 9 all-new holes and reconfiguring the resulting three 9-hole loops.
“Parts of ‘Game of Thrones’ were filmed right here,” says Trent Jones, “and they referred to it as “the land of fire and ice.’ Well, that fire and ice left these incredible contours and landforms defined by lava outcroppings that the government of Iceland wants exposed and utilized.”
Many of the new holes will lay in the lava, as do some of the existing holes; once all the work is done, the holes will be tied together uniformly.
California. A new town is being built on the I-80 corridor about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. Called Lagoon Valley, it will have housing, a downtown village, office buildings, schools, municipal buildings, and a new public golf course.
The course, which is still in planning stages, is meant to look like rural, native California, helped by the fact that a good portion of it will butt up against natural open space that will never be developed. Charlton expects the course will wind around the community on the front nine and then climb into the foothills on the back.
Puerto Rico. The long-planned reopening of the renovated West Course at Dorado Beach is set for later this spring. The second of two RTJ Sr. courses at the famed resort on the island’s north shore close to San Juan, the West will be a little shorter than the already renovated East Course, but with water on several holes and some significant elevation change, it will offer many challenges.
China. Three original RTJ II courses in China are undergoing renovations and some modernization, most notably Enhance An’ting, west of Shanghai,
RTJ II is working with the owner and DP Tour to refine the course for tournament play, while also making it more flexible for members and guests. That will involve tree management and other agronomic updates, as well as making room for grandstands and galleries, and reworking some bunkers and tees.
The Lake Course at Spring City Golf and Resort in Kunming has long been considered one of the top courses in China. Open for 26 years, RTJ II architects are making some changes to the master plan as well as updating the irrigation system, completely re-grassing the course, and cutting back trees to bring back the long-range views of the namesake lake.
On China’s Hainan Island, the resort course at Yalong Bay in Sanya is also being spruced up with trimming to the bunkers and turf, improved maintenance options, and a new master plan.
Plus: New courses at Thai Country Club in Bangkok; Three Bridges (residential development) south of Salt Lake City; Four Seasons Sharm El-Sheikh Golf Club, Egypt; Can Gio Island, Vietnam; Buenaventura GC, Panama; updates at Palmares in Portugal, and a new course in Grenada.
Photos Courtesy of RTJ II Golf Course Architects