Bolton, Massachusetts | The international was opened in 1955 and was a course designed by Geoffrey Cornish with the help of amateur golf icon Francis Ouimet. The layout was called the pines and known as the longest course in the country, with a measurement of 8.040 meters from the rear t pieces. That was an amazing song, especially when one considers the Persimmon Woods and two -part, rubber balls that everyone played at the time. And the owners of this private club in Boerenland, about 30 miles west of Boston, praised that length as a point of difference in the golf course universe and promoted it as a reason to play the layout.
Another sales argument in their eyes was the overall toughness of a trail that also brought cave -like bunkers and steep Greenden.
But most golfers did not consider those functions as great attractions. As a result, the Pines never found its way to the most renowned top 100 lists, even after the club Robert Trent Jones hired in 1972 to add nearly 300 meters in length.
Fast forward to 2025, and suddenly the pines are surrounded by Buzz. This is due to a recent renewal by Architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw who made it one of the most interesting places to play in New England.
It starts with a completely different routing, which Coore made after walking through the well -colored feature. No hole corridor or green site is the same.
As often their habit, the architects also produced a pleasant mix of holes on the par-71 layout that test the skills of your tests with a variety of clubs.
There are also interesting design features, such as the gaping sand well that borders on the second, third and 13th holes and the quarry calls on the second gap in Garden City Golf Club on Long Island. The natural bunkering and parts of the field grass ensure that parts of the pines feel like Pine Valley, especially the short par-3-six. The fairways are fescue. The T pieces and also rough. And it is possible on most holes to approach the curved grass greens, most of which are endowed with both size and herbs. The soil, which is mainly composed of sand and gravel, ends well.
The goal throughout the entire process was to emphasize strategy and playability, not the length, and benefit from the many design options that the real estate offered, as well as a feeling of New England because of the rough rocks, stands of adult hardwood and pines, and terrain full of bumps, bumps and hills. Crenshaw was mainly under the spell of the country and fell hard for the architectural elements of this region after he participated as a 16-year-old in the US Junior Amateur of 1968 in the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. It also reminded him and his design partner of the site on which they made the only other course in Massachusetts that carries their names, in the celebrated old Sandwichgolf club in the historic Plymouth. So they were understandably enthusiastic about what they could make on comparable land at the international.
“The topography here is wonderful,” said the double Masters winner last June, touring the course on the day it opened for the game. “And the land forms are so conducive to really interesting wave.”
“It’s perhaps the best golf course routering I’ve ever seen,” added Crenshaw without the least Hyperbool. “Bill has done an excellent job to link the holes like a chain and to create such a beautiful rhythm and balance.”
You can be sure that no one has ever spoken about the original Pines course in such a way.
The story of that transformation began in 2021, then escalant Golf, A Fort Worth, in Texas in Texas, the club. At that time it included a second 18 holes, called the oaks and designed by Tom Fazio. The first step of Escalante was to hire Tripp Davis to renovate the oak, which was opened in 2001, largely by improving the T pieces and bunkering, repairing former sand -waste areas and improving drainage and irrigation. Subsequently, the company, which possesses golf properties and operates in 17 states, Coore and Crenshaw to do the pines again. The work on that project started in the spring of 2022, completed a year later a year later. Shortly thereafter the grass came from the first fairways and t pieces, and the syllable of the first greens. Growth -in took place until 2024 and in the spring of 2025, where Coore and Crenshaw made the last “in the field” design tweaks before the reopening.
All in all, business officials say that they have invested more than $ 40 million in the international. But there is more work to do, in the form of membership houses and a new clubhouse.
After touring the pines the day before that occasion, the designers spoke very satisfied with the results.
“I really enjoyed seeing today what we’ve been doing for a while,” said Crenshaw. “I am very proud of our crew and what they produced, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
Coore seemed just as satisfied as he thought about how the routing came together.
“We walked a lot on the building to get an idea of what was possible,” he said. “Of course there had been a course here, and there were many deleted areas. So we asked the club to eliminate all flags when we were walking around. That way we could just look at the country without real respect where the greens had been before and began to imagine several holes and how the routing could unfold.”
“More than whatever, it is a process to assemble pieces of a puzzle, slowly but surely, and let the site dictate the design,” Coore added.
“While the new Pines … will still challenge players, it will do this without trusting too much at pure length. Instead, Bill and Ben’s classically inspired architecture will combine with Firm-and-fast course conditioning to create a playing experience that requires both creativity and competent shotmen.” – Jeff Kindred
The people of escalante, whose characteristics have organized various important professional and amateur golf tournaments, seem to be very satisfied with the results of this Redo.
“In the past 20 years there has been a considerable change in the perception of what a ‘big’ golf course is,” said COO Jeff Kindred. “While the new Pines … will still challenge players, it will do this without trusting too much at enormous length. Instead, the Bill and Ben’s classically inspired architecture will combine with firm-and-fast course conditioning to create a playing experience that is both creativity and award shot-making and a new chapter in the international chapter.
A look at the new score card reflects that new approach. The rear markers now tick only 7,082 Yards, and the owners have made the Pines accessible for the widest range of golfers by installing five other sets T -pieces, ranging from 6,730 Yards to 4,651 Yards.
A tour of the again conceived courses does the same. And after I had made a cart around the pines on the day it was opened for members and played a round on it later in the summer, I started to understand how dramatic it is today – and how much the changes that Coore and Crenshaw have made were for the better.
The first tee gives a very good first impression. On a front mountain just below the vast clubhouse it has a sweeping, somewhat downhill views of the opening hole, a par-4 of medium length with a long, gaping fairway bunker on the right side and a distant greenery with a false front and is monitored on the left by another bunker. Although a large part of the hole is bordered by pines, the landing area feels just as spacious as it is picturesque, and I can’t wait to hit my drive.
Just as tempting are the other panoramas that I take from that location. According to my count I see parts of eight holes, including No. 1.
I think I like the most holes on the pines. The par-4 ninth, who hates left and then plays to an elevated green, brings the front nine to an exciting conclusion. I also enjoy how the rear nine starts, with a long 3 pear that measuring more than 200 meters in no. 10 and then no. 11, a par-5 that is perhaps the most difficult ride hole on the track, with water right and bunkers on the left. At 583 meters from the markers of the members it is not a cupcake in terms of the length, and I had to crush my t-shirt shot and then hammer a 3-wood to let myself in with a short iron.
The Par-3 16th is also Classic Coore and Crenshaw and ask golfers to hit a wedge to an elevated and well-connected greenery. And the following two holes offer a perfect coda for the round. No. 17 is a fleshy par-4 that left to left, with three fairway bunkers on the right and wetlands on the left, as well as a two-fold green that just begs to become three. And I enjoy how the PAR-5 18th offers a chance for a round-end Birdie, which of course foresaw that you avoid the Fairway bunker on the right with your drive and holds the Green with your approach.
Everything I can think of when I come in from my round with my Caddy is what a great addition This version of the Pines is to New England – and how it improves the already fantastic golf course portfolio of Coore and Crenshaw.
I would play it again in a second.
Photos: Matt Hart
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