DISCOVERY LIFE MAGAZINE 2013Makena Beach and Golf Club: Maui’s New Jewel EXCERPT…. GOLF, OF COURSE…. is a major part of Makena’s future, too. The routing of the North Course had good bones, but it would require both capital and imagination to bring it up to Discovery’s lofty standards. That job fell to Dennis Wise. His name may not be well known to most golfers, but it’s a very familiar one within the Discovery family. Over the course of nearly 30 years as a senior designer in the office of noted golf architect Tom Fazio, Wise has produced scores of highly regarded layouts around the country, and, beginning with the Estancia Club in Arizona, he has played a significant role in almost every one of the company’s golf projects. Wise embarked on a complete renovation of Makena’s North Course. His first action was to study the land and identify its major assets. The property’s strong points were pretty apparent: “The first thing I noticed was the relief in the land,” he says. “There’s over 400 feet of elevation change from the lowest hole on the course to the highest. The second asset was the ocean and the vast views of the Molokini Crater and the West Maui Mountains. I asked myself, ‘How can I show off more of these vistas?’… Read Full Article At Right… |
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Category Archives: Golf Course Architect
Makena Golf and Beach Club: Maui’s New Jewel
America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses
GOLF DIGEST’S ANNUAL LIST FOR 2013-2014For more than 28 years, Dennis Wise led and managed a design team from Tom Fazio’s only satellite design studio. He was personally responsible for over 100 golf courses with 7 of those currently ranked in Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. In 2013, Dennis Wise Golf Course Design opened their doors and currently have several projects in various stages of development. AMERICA’S 100 GREATEST GOLF COURSES: For complete list of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses 2013-2014 (visit website) | |||||||||||||||
Maroon Creek Club
EXECUTIVE GOLFER April 2013Maroon Creek Club: Excellence on the Western Slope of the Continental Divide Background: Dennis Wise was Fazio’s senior designer at Maroon Creek 17 years ago. In September 2012, Dennis rebuilt 22 new green complexes and numerous surrounding bunkers. Because of the short window of time before winter, the project was fast paced and completed in less than two months. During his long hours at Maroon creek, Dennis earned the nickname ‘Picasso of Dirt’ from Project Director Scott Irwin. Read Full Article At Right… BELOW: The greens and various bunkers were remodeled on all 18 holes at Maroon Creek. Photos show Dennis Wise with Project Manager, Scott Irwin and 5 sequence shots of the #11 green remodel. |
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Dennis Wise: Fazio’s Ace In The Hole Is Quite a Wise Guy
GOLFILLINOIS.COM October 2002Fazio’s ace in the hole in quite a Wise guy EXCERPT: CHICAGO — We’ve all heard the great parables of turning water to wine, a loaf of bread into a thousand fish. The newest legend is that of The Glen Club, an Air Force base turned elite golf course. When the magic wand stopped waving, Kemper Sports Management and Tom Fazio Designs had altered a military stomping grounds into a golf stratosphere yet unreached in the Chicago area. Tom Fazio, along with senior designer Dennis Wise, have hit home runs before. Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Butler National in Oak Brook, IL, and Wade Hampton Golf Course in Cashiers, N.C., to name a few that consistently rank in the top 100 golf courses in the United States. Those are the landmarks that allow many to fancy Fazio as the preeminent designer of modern golf courses. Wise is his ace in the hole, a right hand man with credentials to steer alone but an immeasurable degree of respect and admiration for the captain that he hasn’t and will not jump ship. “If there is or was a better teacher, I’d be working for him,” Wise said. Read Full Article At Right… |
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Estancia Golf Club: The Pinnacle of Golf
GOLFINC November 1996Estancia Golf Club: The Pinnacle of Golf: Excerpt… Dennis Wise says he couldn’t label a signature hole at Estancia. “That’s like saying which is your favorite kid,’” he says. “I became emotionally involved with each hole,” Wise says. He lined up with a group of journalists to play on the club’s media day and every hole was named as a favorite one by at least one of the golfers. Some like the long-range views, others liked seeing Pinnacle Peak. Unlike some other desert courses, Estancia does not penalize a player if he makes a good shot. “It’s forgiving but challenging from the back tees,” Lang says. The 6th hole is a good example of risk-reward golf. If a golfer plays up the swale that runs the length of the right side near a fairway bunker, he or she is rewarded with the best approach into the partially blind green. However, if the hole is played to the safe left side, the approach requires a shot over bunkers to a green slope that fades away. “The course shows the vision that John Lang had in developing Estancia,” Wise says. “He allowed us to route the golf course where we felt it would naturally fit in with lots.” Wise described his toughest task: “Once we got permits, it was trying to find places to put cart paths. We went through great expense to hide the paths,” he says. Read Full Article At Right… |
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