Built on what was at that time open, rolling farmland, the lush acres of Brook Hollow Golf Club have unfortunately become surrounded by housing...
Overall rating
4.5
Built on what was at that time open, rolling farmland, the lush acres of Brook Hollow Golf Club have unfortunately become surrounded by housing...
Back in the early 1920s, Cameron Buxton was the businessman who asked his friend A W Tillinghast to source a location for a course in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the trained eye of the esteemed architect chose the then rural setting, beside one of the Trinity River branches to the west of Dallas.
The Lone Star State is known for the generally poor quality of its earth, much of it clay, but the site selected for Brook Hollow Golf Club was not only slightly undulating in a relatively flat area, it was mainly made up of sandy soil, creating a wonderful, free-draining base for the fairways.
Built on what was at that time open, rolling farmland, the lush acres of the Brook Hollow course have unfortunately become surrounded by urban sprawl on all sides due to the inexorable outward spread of the city of Dallas.
Brook Hollow may be hemmed in somewhat as modern living continues all around at a relentless pace, but within its designated boundary, this classic parkland layout remains an oasis of peace and calm, a veritable golfing refuge from the hustle and bustle outside.
Shot-makers like Ben Hogan have always appreciated this course where, apart from the par threes, there are only two straight holes on the scorecard, the gentle par five 1st and the tough, par four 12th. Seven holes require a fade off the tee and six call for a draw.
One of the hardest holes at Brook Hollow is the slightly uphill, 449-yard 7th hole. This long, difficult par four veers right (with three huge fairway bunkers on the inside of the dogleg) toward a heavily bunkered green that’s framed by enormous pines trees. Little wonder that Hogan, with his ability to power fade, rated this hole as his favourite number 7 in America.
By all accounts, Brook Hollow was the first course to install complete fairway irrigation when it was built in 1921. Seventy-two years later, the course was renovated by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and later by Tripp Davis. However, in 2019 the course closed for a Keith Foster restoration with the express aim of returning the layout to its Tillinghast roots.
Brook Hollow reopened in November 2020 with plenty of 21st century technology underpinning this big budget restoration, including SubAir temperature controlled bentgrass greens.
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
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