How this long-forgotten classic from the Golden Age was reborn in Georgia

Architect Brian Ross has been in the golf business long enough to have worked with many talented designers on many courses. But when he and his partner, Jeffrey Stein, were presented with the opportunity to revive a long-forgotten Walter Travis course in the dunes of coastal Georgia, he didn’t hesitate.

“That was one of the main motivations for taking on this course,” Ross said at the recent grand reopening of the Great Dunes Golf Club, which bears the same name as when it debuted in 1928; the design was the last by Travis, a three-time U.S. Amateur champion, completed shortly after his death.

“Travis hasn’t taken many courses, and certainly not many courses for the public,” Ross said. “He worked mainly for wealthy private clubs – Garden City Golf Club was the best known – so bringing back one of his few public designs felt like both an honor and a heavy responsibility. We think we did him proud.”

The original Great Dunes stretched through rugged coastal terrain, with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean. But like many courses of its time, it did not last. Storms in 1942 and 1954, combined with constant beach erosion, reduced the beach to nine holes. After decades of further wear and tear, even that remnant was eventually folded into another local layout and later acquired by the state of Georgia.

The restoration—a job that cost more than $6 million and began in 2024—relied heavily on archival photos to recapture the original Travis look: the bold dunes and scruffy sandscapes, the rolling contours and ocean vistas. The team also redesigned the course with paspalum grass from tee to green, a choice that suits the island’s climate.

The result is not a Lido-like recreation of the 1928 design, replicated to within a fraction of an inch. But Ross and Stein say it bears an unmistakable Travis imprint, on a scale most public golfers have never experienced.

“It was a big challenge and a big responsibility,” Ross said. “It was also a lot of fun.”

To guide the work, the duo consulted the Walter Travis Society and local historians on Jekyll Island, which is owned by the state of Georgia. In their research, Ross found that Travis – an Australian who also won the British Amateur – designed only three public courses: Great Dunes, Potomac Park East in Washington, DC, and a layout in Buffalo, NY.

The island’s historic hotel, with its distinctive round turrets, opened in the early 20th century and once catered to some of the country’s wealthiest travelers. The Travis course followed soon after, with signature features like towering dunes, sandbursts and long views of the ocean.

The new Great Dunes retains the old-world feel of the layout, with modern improvements. For example, it is the first course in Georgia to irrigate with a brackish water system designed to reduce freshwater use, curb chemicals and minimize environmental impact. A new wildlife corridor, built along a former railway line near the trail, has also brought new species to the site.

Now open to the public, the course plays 7,014 yards from the back tees and 4,818 yards from the front markers, a par-72 that roughly mirrors what Travis envisioned for the oceanfront playground a century ago.

“We want to host college tournaments, community events, public games and local island memberships,” said Mark Williams, executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority. “We feel like we have gone back to the future with this layout.”