Quick turnaround
Jonas Woods has been a Dallas resident since 1989. Yet when a friend approached him 10 years ago about the possibility of building a course in the Trinity Forest area, Woods had one question.
Where?
It’s doubtful many residents could tell you the exact location of Trinity Forest, the forgotten 11-mile piece of property in south Dallas that follows the Trinity River, one of the state’s longest rivers that runs all the way out to the Gulf of Mexico.
Trinity Forest had mostly been neglected, and efforts to transform it into a wildlife oasis with nature trails and other facilities struggled to take off. The Dallas Observer, a local weekly, once ran a story with this headline: “The Great Trinity Forest Ain’t So Great.”
But Woods was intrigued. In 2007, he had founded his own Dallas-based integrated real estate investment firm called Woods Capital. Previously, he had worked for Hillwood Development Corporation and had just completed a successful golf club community in Westlake, Texas, called the Vaquero Club.
Besides being involved in a dozen or so golf development deals, he’s also a self-described “golf junkie” and has always been intrigued by the thought of the local PGA TOUR event moving to downtown Dallas. Once he realized where Trinity Forest was located, his curiosity was piqued.
“I thought, you know, maybe I should spend a little time thinking about that,” Woods said.
The initial draw for Woods was the opportunity to build a similar community to Vaquero, but it didn't take long to realize such a project would not be feasible, due to the protected hardwoods that surrounded the property, as well as the floodplain that existed in the area.
Nearly five years went by before a brief conversation with AT&T president Randall L. Stephenson — who was interested in looking at the feasibility of building a course in downtown Dallas that could potentially host a TOUR event — led Woods to take another look at the Trinity Forest and the land he had initially ruled out.
The second trip produced an entirely different result. Thanks to a friend who was looking at aerial photos of the forest on Google Map and spotted the 400-acre landfill, Woods pinpointed the piece of land he thought could work.
"It was right in the middle of the forest, but I had no idea what was really there the first time I drove across it because I was fixed on the forest way in the distance," Woods said. "This time around, I'm driving across the field looking at the field, and thought this would be an interesting place for a course.
"I was quickly struck by how incredible the meadow was and that it had all these undulations and was surrounded by all these hardwood trees and a few kind of mixed trees on the property. It was elevated and had beautiful long waving grass that made it look like a links golf course."
Working directly with City of Dallas officials, AT&T and the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, Woods managed to get all parties on board with the idea of creating a course near downtown that could help put Dallas back on the golf map. Although Trinity Forest Golf Club -- which opened in October of last year -- serves a private membership, the development should benefit the community along with bringing prestigious golf championships to Dallas.
"You have to remember that this was a landfill that we had to remediate," Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings said. "On top of it was built a nirvana of a golf experience. So when people push back on private-public partnerships, this is a great example of how it works."
In preparation for next year's TOUR event, Trinity Forest will go through a test-run in August when it hosts the Texas State Open. The event will give tournament officials a better idea of how the course plays in tournament conditions, and what, if any, tweaks need to be made in the run-up to the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson.
"The Texas State Open will essentially provide a dry run for many areas that will apply to our tournament," said Jon Drago, tournament director of the AT&T Byron Nelson. "During the conduct of the Texas State Open, we’ll look at things like the walking patterns of the players, where they drive the ball for positioning of spectator crossings, corporate hospitality and television towers and the like. Not to mention we may have the PGA TOUR rules staff on-site to evaluate potential tee and hole locations that will likely be used during the AT&T Byron Nelson.
"We’ll evaluate the scoring averages for each hole and monitor the pace of play and any potential challenges with certain holes. There are so many positives for this partnership with the Northern Texas PGA, and we are excited for the opportunity.”
Along with building a course that will eventually host a TOUR event, Trinity Forest will also have space for the First Tee of Greater Dallas, as well as a brand new facility on one side of the driving range that will house Southern Methodist University men's and women's golf teams.
"We want this place to reflect our excitement in bringing golf back to Dallas," Woods said. "That starts with becoming the home of championship golf in Dallas, and to that, I think we've been very successful. Beyond that we're trying to create special private club for our members, as well as looking at the charitable aspect.
"I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish in such a short time."