The International’s Pines Course Set to Open for Member Play
The International’s revamped Pines Course is set to open for member play.
The course, which was redesigned by Bill Moore and Ben Crenshaw will open for play on Friday, June 6.
“While the new Pines Course will still challenge players, it will do so without overly relying on sheer length. Instead, it will combine Bill and Ben’s classically inspired architecture with firm-and-fast course conditioning to create a playing experience that requires both creativity and skilled shotmaking,” said Jeff Kindred, Chief Operating Officer for Escalante Golf, owner and operator of the club.
The International is a private club located in Bolton, Massachusetts.
It consists of two courses, The Oaks and The Pines.
The Oaks course was revamped several years ago, now the Pines joins it this year.
New Look Pines Course
Known for decades as America’s longest golf course, The Pines was reimagined over the last three years by Coore & Crenshaw.
They created a totally new layout – not a single hole corridor or green site remains from the prior version.
The routing, a par 71 measuring just over 7,000 yards from the back tees, is now more artfully draped over the land’s rolling topography and reflects Coore & Crenshaw’s trademark emphasis on beauty, strategy and playability.
“We’ve failed, to be quite candid, if we have a signature hole. To me, that basically is saying that you spent all your efforts on that one hole. You grounded the entire golf course around one hole. Instead, we believe that every hole could be a signature hole to someone, and we are proud to say we’ve accomplished this on The Pines,” said Coore.
The Pines’ new look also consists of the strategic use of fescue grass on fairways, tees and in the rough.
This turf, most commonly found on seaside golf courses in the British Isles, encourages shots to bounce and roll more than the grasses typically found on other New England courses.
Fescue also requires less frequent mowing and lower inputs of water and fertilizer.
A lot of the greens are also canted from front-to-back, rather than the more typical back-to-front arrangement.
This will entice players to consider bouncing their approach shots into a variety of hole locations.
The greens themselves are fairly large, ranging from 4,200 sq. ft. (short par-3 16th) to 10,800 sq. ft. (long par-3 third).
Playing corridors are quite expansive, as the course features some 55 acres of fairways.
The holes are frequently framed by pitch pines, a species that thrives in the sandy pockets of soil sporadically found across New England, Long Island and New Jersey.