Brambles An Unpretentious Experience In California Wine Country

(From left) James Duncan, Eric Berridge and Chris Hauswirth survey the property at Brambles. Courtesy James Duncan

MIDDLETOWN, CALIFORNIA | After building golf courses all over the world as an associate of Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and Tom Doak and crafting several layouts of his own, James Duncan has taken on a different role in his latest project, a golf club in the Northern Californian wine country called Brambles. That would be as impresario. For the past decade, Duncan has been making a longstanding dream of creating an association that embodies what he loves most about the royal and ancient game come true. As for designing the golf course, he is leaving that task this time around to his friends, Coore and Crenshaw. And the expectation is that with just a few more greens needing to be grassed, preview play will commence sometime next year.

Sheep grazing at Brambles

Duncan’s latest job comes with significant responsibilities, to be sure, and it requires pondering such big-picture issues as the ethos he and his partners wan...