NUZZO COURSE DESIGN

On site - all the time - always making improvements

We hear our clients’ needs and goals. From building a top-100 course on what some have called a “nothing site” in Texas, to “hitting a home run” while repairing and improving a storm-battered 100-year-old club on Long Island, it is important to us that we get the most out of every site, budget, and set of constraints. Keeping to a strict budget and schedule, we managed the renovation at an exclusive Houston private club. Using an innovative approach, we created a three-course complex on a 125 acre site. In addition, we led the redesign of a municipal course for Tom Doak, the Houston Open, and the Astros Golf Foundation. Through all of our projects, we have improved junior and inclusive golf. 

“How the ball interacts with the ground is at the soul of good golf. The natural, random land conformations found on links are ideal, but skilled artifice is needed for an inland course to enjoy the same playing attributes. In all the world, some of the most graceful man-made contours of the sort that are perfect for golf are found at Wolf Point, a Mike Nuzzo design in Texas.

The sooner the golf world embraces the lessons espoused at Wolf Point, the better."

- Ran Morrissett / Golf Club Atlas

SELECT PROJECTS

Nuzzo and Mahaffey create model for future

"Wolf Point ought to be a model for private and public golf-course operations of the future, and Nuzzo, and Mahaffey, are lone rangers who ought to become Texas stars. Their message is straight forward: Sustainability is not just an environmental issue, it's a financial issue, too. The result is maybe the greatest golf course you've never heard of. Improbably built during the height of the recession, the layout near Port Lavaca, Texas, surrounds the home of cattleman Al Stanger. Yes, it's a rich guy's private playground, but what makes it great is that isn't not lush, opulent, gaudy and impractical. It's firm and fast, scruffy around the edges, tricky around the greens, a brilliant combination of simple presentation and complex strategy. It's maintained by a crew of only five, you can hardly lose a ball, it requires a full array of shots, and it's loads of fun to play. Every hole was shaped with undulations and swales that move water rapidly from playing surfaces and add interest and character to each shot. The greens are dramatically sculpted with lots of slopes and canted edges for surface drainage. The hybrid Bermuda is mowed at a greater height than most greens, running about nine feet on a Stimpmeter, still fast enough for enjoyable play. And there are no tee boxes: Players simply pick a spot from which to start play on each hole, which meshes nicely with the Tee it Forward movement. There is no rough." – Ron Whitten / Golf Digest