EarthGolf

Sagebrush is the dream child of PGA Tour player Richard Zokol. Located in remote British Columbia, Canada, the Zokol and Canadian architect Rod Whitman are designing a course that Zokol hopes to be on par with some pretty lofty courses - among them Augusta National, Sand Hills and Pacific Dunes.

“There’s nothing like it in Canada, nothing,” Zokol says. “Conventional golf we are not. This is a complete 180. There’s only about, at best, 10 golf courses like this in the U.S. This is a minimalist golf course.”

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Zokol hopes Sagebrush can become something of an Augusta North.

“It’s going to be a corporate retreat and a personal retreat,” Zokol says. “The exclusivity is important. In order to keep this demand that I want, you can’t walk in off the street and play it or even apply for membership. I’m taking a page from Augusta National.

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Zokol was adamant the course — in addition to being exclusive — be like some of the so-called minimalist designs that have sprung up in recent years, layouts like Sand Hills in Nebraska and Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast.

“The main prerequisite is you need a great piece of land,” Zokol says. “Mother Nature must already have built the golf course and you discover it and then unfold it. You don’t get in there and excavate the side of a mountain.”

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Whitman has very quietly established a reputation as a golf course architect who does brilliant work. And unlike so many of the big names in the golf architecture game, Whitman does most of his work on the site.

“He spends 95 per cent of the time on site and he’s the guy on the ‘dozer,” Zokol says. “The typical way it works at a conventional course is the architect draws it up and passes on plans to the contractor. It’s kind of paint by numbers. The difference is Whitman designs while he’s on site. He’s not following blueprints and … that leads to the magic. It’s also cost-effective. It’s a significantly cheaper way to go and better.”

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