Joins firm’s Old Course at Siam C.C., Vintage Course at Mission Hills Hainan as 2012 ladies professional tour venues
(SCOTTSDALE, AZ) – Schmidt-Curley Design – one of golf’s most active and innovative design firms – announces its Wildfire Golf Club at Phoenix’s JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa will host the LPGA’s RR Donnelley’s Founders Cup, March 15-18.
It is the third Schmidt-Curley course to host the world’s best female professional golfers in recent weeks, joining the Old Course at Siam C.C. (Honda LPGA Thailand 2012) and Vintage Course at Mission Hills Hainan (World Ladies Championship).
“Designing courses for players of all ages and abilities is a hallmark of our team,” says Brian Curley, firm co-founder and 30-year industry veteran. “We’re committed to producing fun and memorable courses that can challenge the world’s best, while also offering an enjoyable everyday playing experience for men, women, juniors and seniors.”
Set in the rugged Sonoran Desert, Wildfire Golf Club features two 18-hole courses. The back nine of its Faldo Course will be used as Holes 10-18 in a composite par-72, 6,568-yard tournament layout. Inspired by the famed Australian Sandbelt, the course features numerous bunkers with crisp lips and high, sand-flashed faces, as well as sloping greens.
Hemmed by lush, arching trees and featuring striking backdrops of pagodas and giant statues of Buddha, Siam Country Club’s Old Course re-opened in 2007 after an 18-month renovation project by Schmidt-Curley. While the routing mostly remained intact, new greens, bunkers and turf were installed. Nearly 30 percent of the course’s trees were also removed to allow for better air flow around greens and reclaim playing corridors. It has hosted four editions of the Honda LPGA Thailand dating back to 2007.
The Vintage Course at Mission Hills Hainan pays homage to the classic American golf courses built at the turn of the 20th century. The densely-forested site was left as undisturbed as possible and the course incorporates quirky features typically associated with revered layouts like National Golf Links, Chicago Golf Club and others. Abrupt mounding, deep pot bunkers, severe ridges, blind shots, geometric bunkering, an array of green sizes and wicker basket pins are highlights.
Founded in 1997, Schmidt-Curley Design has more than 100 course projects to its credit around the world. Principals Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley were named GOLF Magazine’s 2011 “Architects of the Year.”
For more information: www.schmidt-curley.com, http://twitter.com/SchmidtCurley, http://www.facebook.com/SchmidtCurley, 480.483.1994.
To view select project images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60163396@N04/.
About Schmidt-Curley Design
Founded in 1997 by partners Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley, Schmidt-Curley Design (www.schmidt-curley.com) is a full-service, international golf course architecture and master-planning firm. The tandem — leading fully-staffed offices in the USA (Scottsdale, Arizona) and China (Haikou, Hainan Island and Kunming) — has been named GOLF Magazine’s “Architect of the Year” and Asian Golf Monthly’s “Best Golf Course Architects.”
Schmidt-Curley has designed more than 150 layouts in 25 countries. High-profile credits include 10 of the 12 courses at storied Mission Hills Shenzhen — the “World’s Largest Golf Club” — and all 10 at Mission Hills’ new Hainan Island resort. Mission Hills Hainan’s Lava Fields Course is the only Chinese design ranked among Golf World’s “Top 100,” and was named GOLF Magazine’s “Best New International Course” of 2011.
Other award-winning results include Mission Hills Hainan’s Blackstone Course; Thailand’s Siam C.C. and Amata Spring G.C.; Southern Dunes G.C. (Arizona, USA); The Wilderness Club (Montana, USA) and French Lick Resort’s Donald Ross Course (Indiana, USA). The recently unveiled 54-hole Stone Forest International C.C. near Kunming is also garnering global acclaim.
Schmidt-Curley has worked extensively with golf’s biggest names — including Pete Dye, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples on numerous noteworthy projects — and boasts five ASGCA members (Schmidt, Curley, Grant Haserot, Andy Raugust and Shane Witcombe).
Producing demanding yet beautiful and enjoyable courses, Schmidt-Curley strives to create golf experiences that stir the senses and elevate golfers’ appreciations for the land and the game. By balancing classic golf course architecture with ever-changing contemporary technology, Schmidt-Curley places an emphasis on site-adaptive courses, memorable and satisfying for all levels of play and always designed for cost-efficient maintenance and operations.
Contact:
Stephen Reynolds
Buffalo Communications
703.891.3509
sreynolds@buffalocommunications.com
www.buffalocommunications.com
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