Dormer leads ‘quirky’ rebuild at Old Dane

Canadian golf course architect Trevor Dormer, a longtime Coore and Crenshaw associate, is set to embark on his first course design project, a total rebuild of the 9-hole Old Dane course in Dakota City, Nebraska.

Dormer has worked largely with Coore and Crenshaw for the last decade, including spending more than two years on the construction of the new Cabot Saint Lucia course. He is currently working for the firm on the new Torch Cay project in the Bahamas. He will work on Old Dane with course owner Will Andersen. Dormer met the Andersen family — which has farmed in eastern Nebraska for more than a century across the last four generations — when working on the build of the nearby Landmand course for architects King-Collins a few years ago.

“I had Trevor for two weeks, and I have been a fan ever since,” Andersen said. “Even in that short time it was obvious what a talent he was, both as shaper and as a human being. He was the real visionary behind Landmand’s fourth hole — he created a great green that really made the hole. When I thought about rebuilding Old Dane, I had a chat with Rob Collins, and he confirmed my thought that Trevor would be the right candidate to do the job.”

The Andersen family bought the course that became Old Dane in 2007 — it featured 18 holes at the time — and rebuilt it as a 9. But Andersen has been aware ever since that the job was not really complete.

“This project is about finishing what we didn’t completely do when we built the course originally,” he said. “We bought the course because my dad wanted a place to go and hang out with his friends, and we achieved that, but we didn’t do that much with the golf course. The irrigation system is 23 years old, and it’s falling apart.”

Dormer’s plan for Old Dane calls for the 93-acre property to be completely rerouted, creating a 12-hole course with six-, nine- and 12-hole loops. The course’s driving range will be eliminated, giving space to build the extra three holes. The almost entirely flat site — there is a total of five feet of elevation change on the entire property — will be reshaped using fill from the excavation of a two-acre lake.

Courtesy of Trevor Dormer

“When Will asked me to look at the property, I did so and said to him, ‘I’m not sure there is anything out here that is really worth saving,’” Dormer said. “To his credit, he told me just to propose what I thought was the best solution, and that’s what I have done. There will be quirk out there — the 11th green is going to be elevated by about 15 to 20 feet — and the fairways are going to be significantly wider than what is out there now. I don’t want 80-yard fairways, but I do want people to have enough room that they’re not always worried about losing balls. The third and eighth will play on a shared fairway. The third green is going to be like a loaf of bread — it will roll off on all sides.

“There will be different ways to play the course. I just wanted to get as much golf on the property as I could. It’s a dead flat site, so I’m trying to do some different, quirky things — a tee shot over the previous green for example. I think it will be significantly more fun and more interesting, and I hope it raises some questions among those who play it. I want people to get out there, families and kids, and experience the game. Removing the range is a brave thing for an operator to do, but Will gave me carte blanche, and I thought, ‘The more room there is to play actual golf, the better.’”

The golf course will be completely rerouted. “There will not be a single square yard of ground on the property that is untouched by the plow,” Dormer said.

And the new-look Old Dane will be a walking-only course. “I’m turning it into what I want a golf course to be,” Andersen said. “It’s flat, it’s easy to walk and that’s how golf is meant to be.”

Old Dane will close its 2024 season on October 1, and then Dormer and his crew will move on to the property.

“We will hit the ground running hard,” Dormer said. “October and November this year, we’re going to dig the lake and establish concepts for the greens. This fall I can probably get eight or nine greens roughed in, and we will finish construction next year.” Andersen said he expects the course to reopen late in the 2026 season, with green fees — currently $15 for nine hole and $25 for 18 — to remain substantially the same.

Dormer has worked for a variety of architects, including Ron Prichard, Rod Whitman and Nicklaus Design. He spent 18 months building the Ballyshear course in Thailand for Gil Hanse, an homage to C. B. Macdonald’s Lido on Long Island. In addition to his recent work with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, he worked on the reimagination of the Overton Park 9 in Memphis for King-Collins. He is, understandably, excited by this opportunity.

“I can’t wait to get started,” he said. “Will is a dream client, and this will technically be my first golf course. I’m not going to put in a safe, vanilla design. I want to do something interesting!”