23 said Crace. “Mr Jim called me and said, ‘I’d like you to come look at this golf course I have and the 100 acres of land around it as I would like to make it an 18-holer’. At some point it became evident that money was not a major concern – he just wanted to do something nice for the community and to a high quality.” In September 2025, Crace and Mississippi-based Sports Contractors Unlimited began construction and tree management work. “Mr Jim didn’t want to do just another Louisiana-style golf course. The goal when we are done is for False River to look and feel like we completed a sympathetic restoration of a 110-year-old course that no one knew was hidden here. At False River, because we were essentially starting from scratch, we wanted to incorporate some elements of the Golden Age with some nods to different design theories. There are no true ‘template greens’, but we do have a modified Redan that goes left to right, an Alps hole, a really nice Punchbowl green, a Lion’s mouth and what I believe to be the only course on the planet with two Biarritz greens – on the long par-four second and parfive sixth that back up on one another with a low-cut area of turf in between. It’s a unique spot and fun.” All bunkers are being lined with Better Billy Bunker, irrigation will be Rain Bird, while all the short grass areas, fairways and tee surrounds will feature Laser Zoysia from Bladerunner Farms. Green surfaces will be TifEagle and rough will be TifTuf bermudagrass. The first plays as it was originally routed but with Crace renovating all features and shifting the tees for a new angle. He has lengthened the second hole by building a green in a new location, flipped the direction of the seventh, completely reworked the eighth and moved tees and the green on the ninth, which will play as the eighteenth. “There are only three corridors that still remain,” said Crace. “I almost hate to call it a renovation because we have completely blown the entire place up and created something new.” Read more about the False River project on the GCA website. Above, a visualisation of the new False River course. Left, Crace’s design for two adjacent Biarritz greens. Top, the new par-three third with a Lion’s Mouth bunker fronting the green Images: Golfgraffix
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