Hale Irwin Designing Fourth Nine at Glacier Club


Hale Irwin is working on nine new holes at Glacier Club in Durango, Colo., giving the Rocky Mountain golf community 36 holes by the spring of 2016.

Irwin, who founded Hale Irwin Golf Design in 1986, is co-designing the project with architect Todd Schoeder (iCon Golf Studios), a long-time friend and associate. The new Hale Irwin-Todd Schoeder Signature Design will be known as the Glacier Course.

Situated in a dense forest of Ponderosa pines at an elevation of 8,000 feet, the layout features dramatic elevation changes, rock outcroppings and wonderful vistas.

"The views are absolutely spectacular," Irwin said of the site. "There's not one bad look anywhere. In the design process we wanted to make every hole a painting - each uniquely different, and pleasing to the eye. At Glacier Club we've had this great canvas on which to paint a beautiful golf course."

Glacier Club currently features three nine-hole layouts that are also being renovated. In combination with one of these nines, Glacier Course will boast an out-and-back par-72 routing that will play between 5,000 and 7,100 yards.

"When the nines are combined, you will have some flatter shots on the new nine," Irwin said. "We have made some of the uphill and downhill shots more friendly. But for the most part, it's hilly. I think we've made something that is uniquely different. It's beautiful. Once we get it grassed, I think people are going to be awe-struck with what's out there."

The Glacier Course will be reserved for Glacier Club members and guests, while the original Art Hills Signature Course will become a resort course, available for daily play.

Situated on nearly 1,000 acres beneath the San Juan Mountain Range and beside 3 million acres of national forest, Glacier Club features homes ranging in size from 1,200 to more than 6,500 square feet on half-acre to 2.5-acre lots. The community also offers various all-season amenities.

Irwin and his son Steve now have more than 30 courses in their portfolio. "We firmly believe that designing a golf course is not about building a monument to yourself," said Irwin, a 1992 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee. "It is about doing what is right for the project, right for the land, and right for the game of golf."

For more information about Glacier Club, visit www.theglacierclub.com.