Award Winning HF Designs

Click on Course Name for Description

Annbriar Golf Course
Waterloo, Illinois
     Golf Digest: 7th Best Public Course in Illinois - 1995

Baker National Golf Course 
Medina, Minnesota
     Maximum Golf: Top 100 Best Value Courses in the U.S. - 2001

Blackthorn Golf Club
South Bend, Indiana
     Golf Digest: Top Places to Play - 2002
     Golf Digest: Top 10 Best New Public Course - 1995

Blue Ash Golf Club
Blue Ash, Ohio
     Golf Digest: Top 75 Public Course - 1996

Bully Pulpit Golf Club
Medora, North Dakota
     Golf Digest: Best New Affordable Public Course - 2005
     Golf Magazine: Top 10 You Can Play - 2005
     Golfweek: 3rd Best Public Access Course in North Dakota - 2005

Calusa Pines Golf Club
Naples, Florida
     Golfweek: Top 100 America's Best Modern Courses (28) - 2006
     Golf Magazine: Top 100 Courses (92) - 2005
     Golf Digest: 6th Best Course in Florida (public or private) - 2005

Club at Bond Head
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
     Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine: Top 10 Best New Course - 2005
     The Golfer Magazine: Top 10 Best New International Course - 2005

Cobblestone Creek Country Club
Rochester, New York
     Golf Digest: Top 10 Best Private Course in New York - 1995

Cooks Creek Golf Club
Ashville, Ohio
     Golf Digest: Best Places to Play in Ohio - 2004, 2005
     Golfweek: 7th Best Public Access Course in Ohio - 2005

Country Club of St. Albans   (Tavern Creek Course)
St. Albans, Missouri
     Golf Digest: Best Golf Course in Missouri (public or private) - 2005

Desert Willow Golf Resort (Firecliff & Mountain View Courses)
Palm Desert, California
     Golf Digest: Best Places to Play in California - 2004, 2005
     Golf Digest: Top 10 in Course Conditioning - 2004, 2005 (Mountain View)
     Golf For Women Magazine:  50 Best Courses for Women (18) - 2003

Devil's Paintbrush Golf Club
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
     Score Magazine:  Top 100 Courses in Canada (13th) - 2004, 2005
     Golf Almanac:  Top 50 in the World - 1994
     Golf Digest: Best New Course in Canada - 1992

Devil's Pulpit Golf Club
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
     Score Magazine: Top 100 Courses in Canada  (29th) - 2004, 2005
     Score Magazine: Best Private Course in Canada - 2002
     Golf Digest: Best New Course in Canada - 1991

Dundarave Golf Club at Brudenell River Resort
Cardigan, PEI, Canada
     Score Magazine:  Top 100 Courses in Canada (63rd) - 2004, 2005
     Score Magazine:  Top 6 Best Golf Resorts in Canada - 2003

Eagles Landing Golf Course
Ocean City, Maryland
     Golf Digest: Top 75 Affordable Golf Courses in the U.S. - 2005
     Golf for Women Magazine:
                    Top 100 Women-Friendly Courses in the U.S. - 2005
     Golf Digest: 7th Best Course in Maryland - 2004

Eaglesticks Golf Course
Zanesville, Ohio
     Golfweek:  5th Best Public Access Course in Ohio - 2005
     Golf Digest: America's 100 Greatest Public Courses  (100th) - 2003

En-Joie Golf Club 
Endicott, New York
     Golfweek: 23rd among America's 30 Best Municipal Golf Courses - 2000
     Home of the PGA Tour's BC Open
     Soon to be home to a Champions Tour event

Fieldstone Golf Club 
Greenville, Delaware
     Golf Digest: 2nd Best Course in Delaware (public or private) - 2005

Farm Links at Pursell Farms
Sylacauga, Alabama
     Golfweek:  4th Best Public Access Course in Alabama - 2006
     Golfweek:  Top 40 New Courses in America (29th) - 2005

Georgian Bay Club
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada
     Golf Digest: Best New Canadian Course (2nd) - 2006
     Fairways Magazine: Best New Course in Ontario - 2004

Gibson Bay Golf Club
Richmond, Kentucky
     Golf Digest:  16th among America's 30 Best Municipal Golf Courses - 2000
     Golf Digest: 6th Best Public Course in Kentucky - 1995

Glenmaura National Golf Club
Moosic, Pennsylvania
     Golf Digest: 20th Best Course in Pennsylvania (public or private) - 2005
     Nationwide Tour: Home of Northeast Pennsylvania Classic

The Golf Club of Dublin  
Dublin, Ohio
     Golf Magazine:  Honorable Mention: Top Ten You Can Play - 2003

Great Hope Golf Course
Princess Anne, Maryland
     Golf Digest: GCSAA Environmental Leaders in Golf Chapter Winner - 2002

Hamilton Farms Golf Club
Gladstone, New Jersey
     Golf Digest: 9th Best Course in New Jersey (public or private) - 2005

Harbor Links Golf Course 
North Hempstead, New York
     GCSAA: Environmental Steward Award - 2001
     Certified Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Course - 2000
     (1st municipal course and 2nd in New York State to become certified)

Heritage Golf Club at Westmoor
Westminster, Colorado
     Colorado Avid Golfer: Most Under-rated Golf Course in Colorado - 2004

Indian Springs Golf Course
Mechanicsburg, Ohio
     Golf Digest: 3rd Best Public Course in Ohio - 1995

Ironhorse Golf Club
Leawood, Kansas
     Golf Magazine: Picked by 7 time Cy Young Award Winner Roger Clemens
  as his favorite place to play when he's in Kansas City to play the Royals - 2005
      Golf Digest:  Best Places to play in Kansas - 2002
     Golf Digest: Best Public Course in Kansas - 1995

Keystone Resort  "River Course"
Keystone, Colorado
     Colorado Golf Magazine:  Top Ten Golf Resorts (2nd) - 2004
     Golf Magazine: One of the 75 Best Golf Resorts - 2004 (Silver Medalist)
     Golf For Women Magazine: 50 Best Courses for Women (9) - 2003
     Golf Digest: One of America’s Top 75 Golf Resorts - 2002

Lassing Pointe Golf Course
Union, Kentucky
     Golfweek: 2nd Best Public Access Course in Kentucky - 2005
     Golf Digest: 9th Best Course in Kentucky (public or private) - 2005
     Golf Digest & GCSAA Environmental Leaders in Golf Award - 2001

Le Diable Resort
Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
     Score Magazine: Top 100 Courses in Canada (67th) - 2004, 2005
     Score Magazine: Top 7 Golf Resorts in Canada - 2002
     Hosted Canadian Skins Game (Couples, Daly, Duval & Weir) - 1999

The Ledges
Hunstville, Alabama
     Golf Digest: 6th Best Course in Alabama

Little Mountain Country Club   
Concord, Ohio
     Golf Digest:  “Five-Star” rating  the highest possible...based on the
                          evaluations of 20,000 subscribers to Golf Digest.
     Golf Magazine:  'Now Playing' reader rating, Perfect 5.0
 

The Meadows Golf Club at Grand Valley State University
Grand Rapids, Michigan
     NCAA Division II National Championships - 2002
     Golf For Women Magazine: Top 10 Women Friendly Golf Courses
                                               in U.S. - 1998

Naples National Golf Club
Naples, Florida
     Golfweek:   Top 100 (69th) Best Modern Golf Course in the U.S. - 1999
     Golf Digest: Top 100 in the U.S. (100th) - 1996

Olde Stonewall Golf Club 
Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
     Golf Digest: America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses (55th) - 2005
     Golfweek: 3rd Best Public Course in Pennsylvania - 2005
     Golf Digest: 10th Best Course in Pennsylvania (public or private) - 2005

Philadelphia Cricket Club 
Flourtown, Pennsylvania
    
Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks 
Silverthorne, Colorado
     Golf Digest: 20th Best Course in Colorado (public or private) - 2005
     Reader's Choice Awards, The Best of Colorado - 2004:
           #1 Golf Experience  in Colorado
     Reader's Choice Awards, The Best of Colorado - 2003, 2004, 2005:
           #1 Colorado Mountain Golf Course
     Colorado Biz Magazine, 2004:
           #1 Best Place for a Corporate Tournament or Event in Colorado
     GCSAA: Environmental Steward Award - 2001

Royal Woodbine Golf Club
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
     Score Magazine: Top 100 Courses in Canada (85th) - 2002

Sand Barrens Golf Club
Swainton, New Jersey
     Golfweek: 2nd Best Public Access Course in New Jersey - 2005
     Golfweek: Top 100 (95th) Best Modern Golf Course in U.S. - 1999

Shelter Harbor Golf Club
Cjarlestown, Rhode Island
     Travel & Leisure Golf: "Destined for Greatness" - 2005
     Connecticut Golf: "This course will quickly rise to the top of everyone's
     'Best' list"

StoneWater Golf Club
Highland Heights, Ohio
     Golf Magazine: Picked by 7 time Cy Young Award Winner Roger Clemens
     as his favorite place to play when he's in Cleveland to play the Indians-2005
     Golf Digest: America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses (29th) - 2005
     Golf Digest: Best Public Course in Ohio - 2005
     Nationwide Tour: Home of The Cleveland Open

Tallwoods Golf & Country Club
Forster-Tuncurry, Australia
     Golf Australia: Australia’s Top 25 Resort Courses (19) - 2003
     Australian Golf Digest: Top 100 Country Courses - 2003
     Golf World: “Australia’s Best New Course” - 1999

Troy Burne Golf Club 
Hudson, Wisconsin
     Golfweek: 8th Best Public Access Course in Wisconsin - 2005
     Golf Digest: Best Places to Play in Wisconsin - 2004, 2005
     Nationwide Tour: Home of the Scholarship America Showdown

Turner Hill Golf Club
Ipswich, Massachusetts
     Travel & Leisure Golf:
           One of the 10 best New Private Courses in U.S. - 2004

Valley View Golf Club
Fayetteville, Arkansas
     Maximum Golf: Best New Public Course in Arkansas - 2001

The Vineyard
Cincinnati, Ohio
     Golf Digest: Best New Public Course - 1987 (runner-up)

Wasioto Winds Golf Club at Pine Mountain State Resort Park
Pineville, Kentucky
     Golf Digest: 4th Best New Affordable Public Course - 2002
     Golf Magazine: Honorable Mention “Top Ten You Can Play” - 2002

WeaverRidge Golf Club
Peoria, Illinois
     Golf Digest: America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses (37th) - 2005
     Golfweek: Third Best Public Access Course in Illinois - 2005
     Golf Digest: 12th Best Course in Illinois (public or private) - 2005

Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
     Score Magazine: Top 100 Courses in Canada (34th) - 2002
     Golf Digest: Best New Course in Canada - 1995 (runner-up)

Widow's Walk Golf Club
Scituate, Massachusetts
     Golf Magazine: Top 25 You Can Play (ranked # 9 in Northeast) - 2000      
     Golf Digest: Top Ten Best New Affordable Public Courses U.S. - 1998
     Golf Digest: Environmental Leaders in Golf Award - 1997

Widow's Walk has received the Hole View Environmental Yardage Book, signifying it as an Audubon International prestigious certified cooperative sanctuary course.

Willow Point Golf Club
Alexander City, Alabama    

Fun Renovations Facts:
     200,000 cu. yards of earth was moved to create new features…
     1.8 billion Bent Grass seeds were installed on putting surfaces…       
     10,859 tons of sand was used to build bunkers and greens…
     6.5 miles of new cart paths…
     1,600 new irrigation heads…
     4.7 million square feet of sod or 1,753,731 individual pieces…
            ..... if placed end to end it’s enough sod to stretch to Lake Michigan

Golf Course Descriptions

Annbriar Golf Course     Waterloo, Illinois
Golf Course Web Site www.annbriar.com

The William Nobbe family loved golf and always thought their family farm would make a great golf course - and they were right. Dana Fry, worked with William and his son, Russ who in turn assisted the contractor, Niebur Golf, with the actual construction. Named for William and Nancy's daughter, Ann, who came up with the idea, but died before construction began, Annbriar is considered by many St. Louis golf critics to be the best in the region and #7 in the state according to Golf Digest. The course flows from artificially built but naturally looking undulating meadow holes to woodland and valley holes that look untouched by the hand of man. But all holes share a naturalness and environmental aura that makes this the hardest tee time to get in the area.

Blackthorn Golf Club     South Bend, Indiana
Golf Course Web Site www.blackthorngolf.com

South Bend used to only be famous for being home to the fighting Irish, but now it is for the magical qualities of Blackthorn, including its first warm-up hole called "The Blarney Hole." The course was designed in an Irish links style with minimum earthmoving, and maximum emphasis placed on routing holes to fit the natural contours of the land. The result is a golf course of unusual proportions in fairway placements and widths, green sizes and slopes, and variety in hazards that golfers must negotiate. One non-golf feature that golfers enjoy, is the cart path that goes through an old barn that Dr. Hurdzan insisted was "too good of an opportunity to miss." Blackthorn has been rated by Golf Digest  as the 5th "Best Public Course" in Indiana, and is sure to rise higher in years to come.

The Club at Bond Head      Bond Head, Ontario, Canada
Golf Course Web Site www.theclubatbondhead.com

     Hurdzan/Fry Golf Course Design has been given many extraordinary design opportunities in Canada, and the result is we are credited with seven of their top 100 courses. This is owing in equal parts to great clients, wonderful sites and reasonable budgets.  The Club at Bond Head is no exception.  Our assignment was to design the highest quality, upscale, 36-hole public golf course, with each 18 holes being completely different from one another, playing out of the same clubhouse, and offering two extraordinary but unique playing experiences.
     On the “South Course” we suggested to the owners to make it an English heathland style, such as Sunnigdale or Wentworth.  This means it would be characterized as having fine fescue tees and fairways, bluegrass rough and bentgrass greens.  The fairways would be very wide to allow for the extra bounce and run of shots landing on fine fescue turf, the bunkers would be very free form like natural wind erosions, the bunker edges would be planted to native grasses to give a "whiskered" look to the bunker surrounds, and there would be a good mix of holes out in the open and ones with trees as design elements.  The bunker sand would be brown, river sand, the far roughs would be fescue and native grasses left to grow to their natural height.  Since irrigation water is in very short supply, using the drought tolerant fescue grasses would also reduce the total irrigation requirement. 
     Jason Straka  of our staff was the principal designer on the golf courses, and he made the most out of the challenges and opportunities he was given. The chosen clubhouse site had to be central to both courses, but was limited by engineering concerns such as access to major roads, utility availability, potential leach fields, zoning and drainage issues. 

Bully Pulpit      Medora, North Dakota
Golf Course Web Site Bully Pulpit Golf Course

     On the far western side of North Dakota, along I-94, is the small town of Medora where the Little Colorado River meets the start of the Dakota Badlands and the Grassland National Park.  It is a restored western town, that is today North Dakota's largest tourist attraction, and with a history that dates to the 1880s and includes such colorful people as Theodore Roosevelt, General Custer. It is a place of almost magical qualities that makes one feel instantly "at home" and wanting to spend more time in this relaxed atmosphere.  Bully Pulpit Golf Course has those same qualities, and many consider it to be one of golf's hidden treasure.
     We designed Bully Pulpit (voted Golf Digest’s Best New Affordable Course for 2006) in the minimalist style, which means moving the least amount of earth possible, building it for the least amount of money practical, and letting the site give the golf course personality by highlighting existing natural features. The site is 900 acres that included grazing land, a rare wooded area in this rain impoverished area, a mile or more of Little Missouri riverside, and of course the Badlands.  (For the uninitiated, badlands refer to a severely eroded landform, usually devoid of trees, occurring in the north plain states that look like mini-Grand Canyons, and are a collage of colors and textures.  Frontier Cavalry General Sully once described the badlands as "hell with the fires gone out.")   The badlands are home to bison, wild horses, bighorn sheep, antelope, mountain cats, coyotes, turkeys, prairie dogs, snakes and lots of other things.
     The Bully Pulpit golf course was designed to give golf playing visitors to Medora several distinct experiences.   Some holes were designed out on the open prairie lands, some along the Little Colorado River, others into the cottonwoods forest, and still others up in the badlands.  Each of these environments has its own specialness and in the spirit of minimalism, the golf course design sought to preserve and protect the plants and animals normally found there.
     But without question anyone who plays Bully Pulpit will rave about numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17, “the badlands holes.” 

It takes a very special golf course to attract much attention in south Florida mainly because there are so many built with high budgets, big egos, and on relatively featureless sites.  Calusa Pines distinguishes itself from its brethren because it goes to excess, some would say; but in such a subtle way that it becomes memorable.  Named among the prestigious “Top Ten Best New Private Clubs” in the United States according to Golf Digest, Calusa Pines features outstanding vistas generated by sweeping ridges that influences ten golf holes.  The landforms are so soft, and flowing that they blend in well enough to appear natural and unique.  Combined with extensive native plant vegetation it is difficult to imagine the golf course was built, instead of simply laid out on this superb piece of land.  Calusa Pines was founded to provide an exceptional golf experience for its members in a relaxed atmosphere that promotes camaraderie among those who truly love the game.  The club doesn’t release membership information, has no tee times, and features a strong caddie program as members and guests are encouraged to walk the course. 

Cobblestone Creek Country Club     Rochester, New York
Golf Course Web Site www.cobblestonecreekcc.com

Although less than a decade old, Cobblestone Creek is building a heritage and tradition as rich as its brother courses Oak Hill and Rochester Country Club. It is ranked in the Top 20 in the state of New York and hosted several important tournaments including the New York State Amateur. Intended to enhance property value for golf course house lots, from the beginning the course was clearly one of the highest quality and destined to emerge as the new standard for country clubs in the area. The golf course traverses a series of glacial hills and valleys, allowing each hole to have its own unique character while always giving breathtaking 360° views of the serene countryside. Superb maintenance in a rural setting producing exhilarating golf is Cobblestone Creek.

Cooks Creek Golf Club     Asheville, Ohio
Golf Course Web Site      www.cookscreek.com

John Cook, PGA Tour star, and Ohio State graduate co-designed Cooks Creek on land his grandfather, Bert, farmed. The project was a true family affair with John's dad, Jim, coordinating the business aspects, sister Cathy, serving as director of golf, and grandpa Bert, doing tractor work to assist Niebur Golf. Most of the land was flood plain so that meant raising fairways, tees and greens by creating 72 acres of wetlands and animal habitat where none previously existed. The finished golf course is over 7000 yards strong to test tour quality players and forgiving enough to make it popular among daily fee golfers of any ability. Golf Digest  made it a runner-up in the "Best New Public Course" balloting and the 7th "Best Public Course" in Ohio. This rating will undoubtedly rise as anyone who has ever played it, agrees it is one of the best they have experienced anywhere.

Desert Willow Golf Resort     Palm Desert, California
Golf Course Web Site www.desertwillow.com

Firecliff Course - Not often is a church designed for the Easter crowds, nor is a golf course designed to host a major televised tournament. But the Firecliff Course for the City of Palm Desert has always been designated as a tournament course. John Cook, PGA Tour star, is our co-designer. Firecliff is not only one of the most fun courses on tour to play and compete on, but also one that is designed with spectators in mind, and the enjoyment of the public golfer for the other 51 weeks of the year. Some other unusual features are that it is the most environmentally friendly course in the Coachella Valley, with a good mixture of manicured turf and native desert plantings. It uses effluent water, and has large sandy waste areas. There is no housing associated with this golf course and very few water hazards except as required for irrigation water storage. The course seems more like an Arizona golf course that the traditional Southern California venue. Firecliff has won the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects award for Water and land conservation and reclamation. It is the first golf course in several years to win the overall "award of excellence."

Mountain View Course - This course shares the same clubhouse and driving range as the Firecliff course, and although it is more of the traditional Palm Desert resort style course, it has some significant differences. Mainly is almost a transition course, mid-way in presentation to its cross street neighbor Desert Springs, which has lots and lots of water features, and the more natural desert theme of the Firecliff Course. Mountain View has nearly equal proportions of flowing streams and lakes to desert scapes and sandy waste areas. In addition to the two golf courses, the 540-acre site will ultimately be home to resort housing, three hotels, a conference center, sports park and other amenities.

Devil's Paintbrush Golf Club     Caledon, Ontario
Golf Course Web Site www.devilspulpit.com

The name may sound intimidating, but the wildflower after which Devil's Paintbrush is named lends a more accurate clue to the personality of this magnificent golf course 35 miles outside Toronto, Canada. It is subtly beautiful, spread naturally over the landscape and, like its namesake, blends with the environment as if it had been there forever. Awarded Golf Digest 's "Best New Canadian Course" of 1992, Devil's Paintbrush is only three miles distant from another of my Canadian masterpieces, Devil's Pulpit. And though close in proximity, Paintbrush differs from Pulpit in concept and design quite significantly. Paintbrush harkens back to a more traditional Irish design concept. Fashioned after the classic links such as Ballybunion and Lahinch, Devil's Paintbrush required very little earth to be moved in its shaping.

Instead, it follows the natural flow of the terrain, utilizing fescue grass fairways which are kept hard and dry, allowing golfers quite a bit of bump-and-run play, as do the courses of the British Isles. The greens are bentgrass and generally very large, counterbalancing the abundance of sand bunkers on the course. Devil's Paintbrush is a course that golf purists will love.

It also has received a number of accolades from environmental groups as an example of just how environmentally friendly a world famous golf course can be.