Even the most well-mannered among us can have a determined mission in life, and retired pro golfer Ben Crenshaw—so polite he earned the nickname “Gentle Ben”—has two. Masters champion in 1984 and 1995, the member of the World Golf Hall of Fame works to design elite golf courses around the world—while fighting to save a more modest 18 holes in his hometown.
His latest creation with design partner Bill Coore is the long-awaited Point Hardy Golf Club at Cabot St. Lucia. Now ready for play, the championship track stuck out its chest before it opened as a challenger for the title of finest course in the Caribbean. Laid out along hills rising above the Atlantic, Cabot’s newest golf destination is a cathedral for the game. Its closing holes from 15 to 18 invite the player to shoot over cliffs, bays, and canyons sunbathing in one of the world’s most consistently warm-weather climates.
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While the first players walk their way through Point Hardy and Crenshaw celebrates the completion of his latest masterpiece with Coore, the winner of 19 PGA Tour events also has an eye on Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin, Texas. More than a mere municipal course option in one of America’s hippest and fastest-expanding cities, the muni is an important venue in American civil rights history.
Opened in 1924, Lions Municipal is recognized by the National Parks Department as the first desegregated golf course south of the Mason-Dixon Line, breaking down the game’s racial barrier in 1950. Occupying the Greater Brackenridge Tract near the Colorado River, the 503-acres was bequeathed to the University of Texas at Austin by Col. George Washington Brackenridge in 1910.
Today, the golf course is run by the city, but its location makes it prime real estate for development by the 50,000-student university. The struggle among the school, Austin officials, and the course’s supporters has one of golf’s significant social justice landmarks and a destination for Texas players of more modest means under constant threat of extinction.
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While interest groups, lawmakers, and the university try to find a solution, the school said in a statement that it “will continue to strive to be good stewards of the Brackenridge Land for the benefit of the current and future generations of students we serve.”
During a media event unveiling Point Hardy earlier this month, Crenshaw took a moment to talk about the importance of both golf courses in his life.
Penta: You’re consistently involved in efforts to save Lions Municipal. What does that course mean to you?
Ben Crenshaw: Since I grew up three blocks from Lions and played there form when I was 8 years old through my college years at [University of Texas at Austin], it means a lot to me. Living in Texas today, I still play there occasionally and enjoy going over there to watch the kids learning at the Austin Junior Golf Academy.
What do you think the course means to Austin and the state of Texas?
The place simply has a long legacy of entertaining the public. It means so much to the community—not just to golfers, but to folks living there because it’s a big source of green space. Austin is growing like wildfire, and that green space can be harder to find.
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How do you see the status of the struggle to save the course today?
It’s at a stalemate. We’ve tried a lot of different means to settle it. It’s important to note that it’s not contentious right now. There’s this idea that it’s war going on among the university, the city, and the golf course. The sides are actually sympathetic to each others’ views and positions.
The University of Texas usually does not give away or entertain the sale of their vast property holdings. But since the course has been operating for 99 years, there’s a strong sense of civic pride about it. The university and community also know a lot of the college students come there to play.
We understand the issue is where the course is located. That’s valuable terrain there. While I don’t think it would ever really be a dangerous political hot potato if the university chose to develop it, I do believe there would be a lot of public opposition.
Would any entity really want to be responsible for tearing down the first desegregated golf course in the American South?
I would think it’s important to recognize how far-sighted that was by the mayor [Taylor Glass, 1949 to 1951]. There were Black workers on the crew who built the golf course, and they caddied once it was finished. They couldn’t play, but they wanted to get out there. It became a controversial issue at the time, but the mayor stepped forward and said, “Let ‘em play!”
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It was just that simple, but that changed the picture down there and for the game of golf. When you really think about how early that was, well before the Civil Rights movement began, it really did start opening some doors.
Will the work continue to save the course?
Yes. We’re working with the United Black Golfers Association and other groups who stepped forward to get involved. I can’t believe how people from 8 years old to 90 still play that course every day and love it. You’ll find so many stories like that about the course from the people who want to preserve it. Lions gives them a reason to get out there on one of the most sociable courses in the world.
A good distance across the hemisphere, your creation of Point Hardy Golf Club is now open. When you first looked at a piece of land as naturally beautiful as the Cabot St. Lucia stretch, what were your first thoughts?
It’s daunting. The landscape is so spectacular, and your job is to pound playability into that area while thinking of everybody who wants to play. We felt we had to make it spacious for that playability because the sea and terrain allow for wind and slope that a golfer has to deal with there.
Would it have been easier to create a very difficult golf course at Cabot St. Lucia?
Definitely. I’ve always contented—on any terrain—that it’s easy to create a hard golf course. A designer can make any layout extremely difficult, and, even in the beautiful environment at Point Hardy, it makes playing the game less appealing.
Cabot St. Lucia and its golf course were under construction during the Covid lockdowns. What were your feelings during that process?
The worst part was not being able to get out there in person and see how the work was progressing—how the place looked. Obviously, there were labor and material shortages because of the pandemic. Now, to play the course out there and see how beautiful the place is, compared to how harsh it looked when it was just dirt and bulldozers, it’s amazing to see how it all came together.
Does the dramatic setting for Point Hardy Golf Club make it an example of “adventure golf”?
To play the course, you’ll see that there’s a lot of help out there, even while you’re hitting your drive over the bay or across the cliffs. We included slopes that help bounce the ball back into play, and we avoided bunking the approaches. It was all about making the round as fun to play as the setting is gorgeous.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
