Massachusetts makeover

The International in Bolton, Massachusetts, announced the reimagined version of its Pines course will welcome limited member play this fall.

Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are concluding the project they began in 2022. Over the last two years, they have created a new golf course utilizing the land’s interesting topography, unique landforms and mature vegetation. No hole corridors or green sites remain from the prior version of The Pines, which was known for decades as America’s longest golf course. This emphasis on length has been replaced by Coore & Crenshaw’s preference for natural looking courses featuring strategic options for players of all skill levels.

“Bill, Ben, shapers Ryan Farrow and Zach Varty, and the rest of the Coore & Crenshaw team have worked their magic, taking an exceptional site and crafting what we strongly believe will be considered one of the country’s best new golf courses,” said Paul Celano, director of golf at The International. “Their deep admiration for courses built during the early 20th century, the so-called ‘Golden Age of Architecture,’ is an ideal match for our vision of a golf-first experience at The International that preserves and honors the club’s 120-year history.”

The Pines is only the second course Coore & Crenshaw have designed and built in New England; the first is Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which opened in 2005.

The Pines will be one of the region’s few courses to feature fescue grass on tees, fairways and in the rough. The turf conditions, when combined with Coore & Crenshaw’s architecture, will allow for greater shot diversity and foster an engaging golf experience on holes framed by sandy waste areas, wispy fescue and pitch pines.

Sodding and the grow-in of the fescue playing surfaces will continue throughout the summer led by director of agronomy Michael Galvin and his team. Other final project tasks include installing new bunker sand, edging bunkers perimeters, trimming and clearing trees, establishing fairway and rough lines, seeding the practice putting green, and initial mowing of tees, fairways and bentgrass greens.

The Pines was originally designed by Geoffrey Cornish with help from legendary amateur golf champion Francis Ouimet. When it opened in 1955, the course measured 8,040 yards from the back tees and combined steeply pitched greens with challenging bunkers. Nearly two decades later, Robert Trent Jones Jr. was hired to soften several greens and bunkers, but he also lengthened the course to 8,325 yards.

Designs trends have shifted from emphasizing length to producing strategic and walkable courses enjoyed by the masses.  

“The Pines will check all of these important boxes,” Celano said. “With our recently renovated Oaks course, we now combine 36 holes of exceptional golf with a welcoming club environment and culture rooted in a deep respect for the game and its treasured traditions.”