Carmel Country Club (South)

The Carmel Country Club has sought to stay relevant since opening its first golf course during 1950. Perhaps the only architect more trendy at the time, apart from George Cobb the designer of the South course, would be Robert Trent Jones. Although the club may not have booked Jones then, they did when they overhauled the course between 2009 and 2011. More specifically, they hired RTJ’s son Rees to handle the redesign.

The result was a thoroughly modern course that both reworked the routing and added considerable distance to the back tees; the course now plays to more than 7,500 yards.

Two of the course’s most devious holes play around the lake from which the club draws its name: No. 15 is just 400 yards but requires an accurate approach across more than 50 yards of water. The following par five features lakefront property all along its left side, offering an opportunity for the bold to attack the pin early, or the conservative to take three measured shots before finding the green.

The North course at Carmel has also seen its share of recent work, as John Fought completed a redesign that has been in play since 2016.