Our Story
I. Background
"Say Goodbye to the Glen Course at Tenison” read the headline on D Magazine’s Frontburner blog on January 10, 2020. This article explained the latest change to the highly anticipated Loop project, which seeks to connect existing hike & bike trails around the City of Dallas with new trails, including the Trinity Spine Trail. The Loop, out of options, worked with the city to obtain right of way through the Glen course at Tenison Park as all other alternatives proved to be infeasible.
The Glen course sits mostly in a flood plain along White Rock Creek, which bisects the course. Subject to erosion, lacking in infrastructure, and suffering from poor design, the Glen had solidified itself as the City of Dallas’ least desirable golf options. Despite its low green fees, the cheapest of the city’s six golf courses, the Glen saw the lowest rounds per year of any course in the system.
When the City & the Loop announced that the new trail alignment would interrupt the course, the reaction, by and large, was a resigned one. Avid golfers and newcomers alike appreciated the Glen’s constant availability and price point, but almost everyone understood the reality that keeping the course open in its current form was a loss for the city and the people of Dallas. After all, the Highlands course, Tenison’s other golf course, is highly regarded and highly trafficked. Golf would at least continue to be played at Tenison park, even if the Glen were shuttered.
II. Master Plan
Spurred by this and other opportunities surrounding Samuell Grand Park, which encompasses Tenison, the City of Dallas’ Park Board initiated a process to master plan the park. The process included numerous meetings with neighbors and stakeholders and was led by local landscape architecture firm Mesa Designs. After multiple rounds of revisions and input, the master plan was officially adopted by the Park & Recreation Board on January 14th, 2021.
While the plan had options on it that would have eliminated golf from the Tenison Glen site entirely, the final plan called for the Glen to be reduced from an 18 hole course to a 9 hole course. The outer portion of the existing routing would be repurposed into a nature preserve, which would interact with the Trinity Spine Trail.
III. DGI
Dallas Golf Initiative was formed in the midst of the Samuell Grand Master Plan process in response to the danger of Tenison Glen being shuttered entirely. Our goal was to simultaneously address two concerns:
1) The potential closure of Tenison Glen, an important low-cost option within the Dallas municipal golf system; and,
2) The lack of non-traditional golf course amenities in the municipal system.
The opportunity that Tenison Glen presented within the Samuell Grand Master Plan was to create a golf course which could cater to new, inexperienced, and returning golfers. The way to do this is to create a course that was able to be played in a short amount of time and without a full set of clubs that still had the ability to engage a more regular player.
The challenge of leading a design like this was a thrilling opportunity, and to solve this puzzle we reached out to Don Placek and Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf (the former design firm of legendary golf architect Tom Doak). Don & Eric, who understand and appreciate the need for high quality municipal golf, immediately jumped on board with the concept and began working on ideas for the project.
IV. Working with the City
At the same time, DGI was working with the Dallas Park Department and Park & Recreation board to map a path forward for the Glen and DGI’s involvement. The city needed to act quickly to figure out how to rearrange the Glen course before the Trinity Spine Trail opened up to joggers and bikers and the master plan doesn’t come with any source of funding attached to it.
In order to move the ball forward, the city agreed that if DGI could raise the money to design and construct the new course via charitable donations, we could control the design of the course as long as it fit within the Samuell Grand Master Plan. A development agreement was agreed to on February 9, 2022.
V. Today
Having spent the past year putting together a preliminary routing, compiling due diligence on the site, and talking with stakeholders, potential donors, and like-minded organizations, we’ve made a few updates to the plan.
First, the response to the idea of a nine-hole course was overwhelmingly positive, but nearly everyone indicated that a par 3 course would be even better and more interesting. On that note, we’ve worked with the City of Dallas to amend the development agreement to incorporate the potential for a par 3 course on a similar acreage.
Secondly, many rightfully pointed out that while changing the course layout is an exciting change for the city, the ongoing programming and management of the asset is just as critical for success. While we are not presently equipped to implement changes on that scale, we’re committed to working with the city of Dallas to have a say in the ongoing operations of the course.
Lastly, we’re in the process of updating our internal structure to provide roles and responsibilities for those who wish to continue their involvement with DGI in a more official capacity. Stay tuned for more about these changes but please reach out if you have any interest in working with us to help Dallas golf reach new heights!