The iconic third hole at Tralee Golf Club, photographed by Ian Cronin, features on the cover of the October 2026 issue of Golf Course Architecture. Graeme Webster has recently completed eight years of phased renovation work at the Irish club. His goal was to further instil links character to the front nine, while also to improve and harmonise the overall presentation of the course. What was already an enormously enjoyable golf course is now even more striking and strategic.

Brad Klein reports on the transformation of the legendary Donald Ross design at Seminole in Florida, which constitutes what he describes as “the single greatest sustained change in appearance since it opened in 1929”. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner have completed the work over 18 months – we reported on changes to the front nine in our October 2025 issue and turn our attention to the back nine this time.

For our main feature article, Adam Lawrence asks, is strategy dead? Statistical analysis is changing the way elite golfers are taught to manage their way to lower scores, and a key result is a rather different approach to course strategy than has been accepted for over a hundred years. Golf course architects Steve Smyers, Keith Cutten, Rees Jones and Tim Lobb share their thoughts.

Our feature interview for this issue is with Andrew Green, who has recently completed his first original design at the Firefly club in Nashville, USA. Adam Lawrence finds out how his career evolved, from his start at McDonald & Sons, to establishing his own firm, and now his position as one of the industry’s most in-demand names.

Elsewhere we hear from golf course architects Jim Nagle and Kari Haug, on the topics of restoration and forward tees respectively. We also report on plans for Purebred Farm, a King Collins Dormer design in Wisconsin, and the Caguas club in Puerto Rico, which has been redesigned by Bobby Cupp. And we spoke with Keith Cutten about the new nine holes by Whitman, Axland & Cutten at Blackhawk in Edmonton.

There’s much more too, including news from The Rose, a new Tripp Davis design in Georgia, USA, Caspar Grauballe’s renovation at Losby in Norway and The Hill Club in Florida, a new design by Tom Doak and Blake Conant.

Enjoy the read!