Trevor Dormer extends Nebraska layout from nine to 12 holes, and creates a new playing experience
By Kasturi Datta |
The Old Dane golf course in Nebraska is growing in ahead of a reopening in May 2027.
Architect Trevor Dormer has led work at Old Dane, which has included rerouting the original nine-hole layout and eliminating the driving range to allow the architect to create three extra holes, making it a 12-hole course.
“Will Andersen [owner of Old Dane] and I really wanted to reinvent the course,” said Dormer. “There were some contours from the original layout that were interesting, but not any notable features like greens or bunkers, so my routing approach was to not let the existing contouring influence the redesign. I started to lay the holes out over the blank contour plan and quickly found a fun 12-hole outer/inner loop routing that varies with the changing winds.
“Removing the driving range might seem a strange decision – they generally are seen as money makers for public courses, but it is my view that golfers want to play golf, not to stand on a range and beat balls into a field, so the more golf we can give them, the better.”
Trevor Dormer and Jeff Bradley have created a new bunker scheme for Old Dane (Photo: Bill Hornstein)
“I really focused on ‘not’ creating a theme or style at ‘The Dane’,” said Dormer. “We have a bowled green, lay of the land greens, slightly perched greens and then a 20-foot volcano green. Our bunkers are a combination of flashy, grassed faced and sod walls. We even have some sod wall grassy hollows. Infinite variety was in the forefront of my mind, always.”
Andersen added: “There aren’t many similarities between the old course and new course other than it’s on the same piece of land. The routing follows the old design for the first three holes and diverts from there.
“Our original set of green complexes were turtlebacked and round shaped. Now, they have interior contours, oblong shapes, front-to-back slopes and so on. The fairways were flattish and had no character. Trevor has given them ample enough movement to feel like you’re playing on true linksland. Jeff Bradley built all the bunkers, and they are absolutely spectacular with a couple of revetted bunkers sprinkled in.”
Greens have been redesigned to feature more contouring (Photo: Bill Hornstein)
Dormer notes that holes three, four and eleven encapsulate the playing experience at Old Dane.
“The third is a three-shot hole, with a large sandy waste area left off the tee, the strategy dictated by abrupt contour throughout the fairway to a bunkerless, lay of the land green,” he said. “The fourth is a shortish par three with the green fronted by a railroad tie bunker stolen from Royal West Norfolk. The putting surface is blind and falls away from the player rapidly.”
“The eleventh is a mid-range par four with the tee ball needing direction through a narrow gap of fairway between some ridges that we like to call ‘Thermopylae’. The second shot leads to the blind 20-foot-high volcano green, which will give you a 360-degre view of the golf landscape and the Nebraskan corn fields.”
Andersen added: “We have numerous holes I’m itching to play but hole four is probably at the top of that list. It’s a blind short hole that can be played from 100 to 165 yards. You will have to carry our biggest bunker on the course with a railroad tie wall framing the front of the green. The green runs from front to back with a rectangle shape. The width of the green is about 12 paces, and the length is over 36 paces. The sad part is you may never see your hole-in-one fall, but in my mind, it’s going to yield the most.”
The walking-only course is expected to open for public play in May 2027.
Read more:
Trevor Domer to extend Old Dane to 12 holes (April 2024)
Trevor Dormer begins construction at Old Dane in Nebraska (October 2024)