Every course is unique and has its own set of unique attributes and challenges to solve. The following is a list of some of our favorites over the years.

Agalarov Estates - Moscow, Russia

Cal Olson is currently designing the Agalarov Estates Golf Club in Moscow, Russia.  This premiere course will be adjoined by approximately 250 multi-million dollar dachas ranging from 15,000 to 35,000 square feet. The challenges on this course include the short window open for construction with temperatures below freezing approximately 170 days per year and only 85 days with temperatures 65 degrees or warmer.   Agalarov Estates Golf Club will also include a beach club, equestrian center, firing range, an indoor soccer arena, hotel and shopping complex.    See photos of the course in its developmental stages in our Photo Tour.

Sierra Star - Mammoth Lakes, California
Elevation 8000. This project had no soil with mostly rock. We buried rock on each fairway to generate soil for the fairways. Each fairway had trenches dug 50’ deep the length of the fairway to bury large boulders. This ultimately gave us fairway soil coverage and the ability to take the fairway to the tree edge to appear natural. The selection of grasses and attention to the five month season for maintenance at an elevation of 8000' was paramount in the design process.

Award Winner: Sierra Star, Mammoth Lakes, CA - Preservation of native forestland and wetland areas.

Coyote Hills - Fullerton, California
This project had 35 oil wells that were randomly on the site. We had to relocate some, retire some and provide access roads to all that remained and the ability to service the wells on a regular basis without disrupting the golf play. In addition we had to reroute all pipelines on the site to avoid golf, be serviceable and work with golf grading. The extreme elevation changes on the existing topography not only presented engineering challenges but greatly increased the golfer‘s aesthetic experience.

Award Winner: Audubon Society for achieving excellence in Environmental issues and receiving the section 10 National conservation award.

Casablanca - Mesquite, Nevada
Casablanca was a combination of farmland and river frontage. The challenge was to create a golf course that had interesting grade changes and contouring and to bring it near the meandering Virgin River. The river was armored to help prevent the river changing its’ natural course. While this protected the course for many years, the river has visited the old riverbed occasionally causing some disrepair but overall has been very successful in preventing damage and providing an exciting closeness to the river when playing golf.

Award Winner: Casablanca, Mesquite, NV. - Recognition for restoring the Virgin River wetlands

Skylinks at Long Beach - Long Beach, California
The challenges at Skylinks were to upgrade this municipal course and stay within a pre-set budget. The site was dead flat and needed to create contour interest. This was achieved by consolidating the need for earth to provide mounding with the need to provide drainage to localized spots. The combination of these two elements solved the problem of drainage, mounding and the exclusion of the need to import soil to achieve the goals.

Winner: Golf Inc's "Renovation of the Year" for the Daily Fee / Muni Classification

New Springville Country Club - Ichon, South Korea
This 27 hole private course was set in the steep mountains South of Seoul and required 10 million cubic meters of grading to achieve a design that had some natural appearing features. The grading was mostly rock and took three years to complete the grading. Each hole had two greens and the challenge here was to balance the grading, have the greens appear natural with two per hole and allow the golfer to be able to always have line of sight and provide generous playing areas while keeping the costs in line with the budgets.

Reidy Creek - Escondido, California
The challenges here were to create very different and exciting greens and to work closely with the agencies in environmental issues which governed the site development. The site was flat and needed to be contoured and create positive drainage which challenged the balancing the dirt with the engineered drainage issues.

Award Winner: Reidy Creek, Escondido, CA. - Recognition for environmental preservation of wetlands

Mountain Falls - Pahrump, Nevada
This resort course was extremely flat. The challenge here was to create some contour excitement and keep the residential units well above the course. Underground drainage was initiated allowing the course to be graded to course standards yet have exciting grading concepts far from a flat look.

Hamilo Cove, Philippines - Philippines

Award Winner: Hamilo Cove, Philippines - Environmental stewardship and water conservation and water management programs for golf and residential development.

Butterfield Golf Course, Banning,CA - Banning, CA

Award Winner: Butterfield, Banning, CA. - Water conservation and environmental leadership

Links at Summerly -

Award Winner: Links at Summerly, - Recognition for providing environmental wetlands, water management and ecological areas.

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"A good player does not just strike the ball, they string together shots from specific locations. A good designer must plan for that player and those locations."
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