Trinity Country Club

The Trinity Club, developed and operated by Shinsegae E&C, is one of the leading private golf clubs in Korea, with both the course and the clubhouse designed by world-class architects in their particular field.

The club was constructed for Lee Myung-hee, daughter of the man who founded Samsung, and it’s the second course she's had built, after the one at Jayu Country Club opened a couple of years earlier (also managed by Shinsegae).

The owner and team carried out years of research before taking on this endeavour. I was asked to design a tournament-calibre course that considered the higher handicap player as the second priority as the brief was, ‘We want a world-class, difficult, masculine course’.

The holes were routed through a forested, hilly environment and with no development it allowed me to take advantage of the varying topography and existing features. To preserve natural aesthetic characteristics, almost 10,000 giant trees were relocated during a massive earthwork project to ensure the work appeared indigenous.

The most elaborate drainage system was engineering to handle the rainy season. Golf course construction techniques to USGA specification were used under greens, tees, and fairways, along with a fully automated sub-air system under greens and tees to monitor moisture and temperature.