Ribbon-Cutting Day At Trump Ferry Point!

Stephanie Wei files a WSJ preview for Wednesday's sure-to-be lively ribbon-cutting at Ferry Point Park, New York City's pricey public course pushed through by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, designed by Jack Nicklaus and to be managed by Donald Trump.

The three will be on hand to commemorate the completion of construction.

Priceless quote from Nicklaus:

"We had half a golf course out there before Mr. Trump got involved," said Nicklaus in an interview at the Presidents Cup earlier this month. "The problem was finishing it. They kept working at it. We spent this ridiculous amount of money for environmental issues—on a dump!"

The course is not actually opening for a while...

That finish line won't officially arrive until the spring of 2015, when the course is slated to open to the public. (Ferry Point will be used for some public programming, primarily junior golf, in conjunction with the city's Parks Department starting next summer.) Only 14 months ago, the site contained little more than dirt—millions of tons of it.

The Donald Names Second Course After Mom

The "MacLeod" course at Trump International Scotland will feature six holes in the dunes and a name invoking Donald Trump's late mother, reports Frank Urquhart who attended a public unveiling of plans by architect Martin Hawtree.

What it lacks in dunes golf it makes up for in length, stretching to 7.400 yards.

Dr Hawtree said: “This will be a golf course for all, ranging in difficulty and challenge depending on which of the four or five tee positions is selected, spanning a range of lengths up to 7400 yards. Fairways will be generous in width but tighter where the longer player will be challenged with bunkers, dunes and rough.

“The rough will be a particular feature of the course, changing in character through the course from wild meadows in the arable parts of the site, through wetlands in the central areas, to marram roughs in the southern dunes, and heathland vegetation in the areas immediately to the back of the sand dunes.”

The Donald Honored, Not Thrilled With Ranking Debut

He also tells Josh Sens that Pine Hill is better than Pine Valley and that he settled on architect Martin Hawtree because R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson ranked him first, second and third when recommending architects.

Hawtree, you may recall, carries out Dawson's Open venue "Treatments" to mask regulatory abstinence.

DT: I got Dr. Martin Hawtree to design it. I went to Peter Dawson of the R&A and I asked him who his top architect choices were. He said his first was Martin Hawtree, and that after that he’d go with Martin Hawtree, and Martin Hawtree. He’s just been incredible. When you see the work he did there, you can’t believe it. It’s set in these giant dunes, but the course is very easy to walk, which is difficult to do in land like this. There are beautiful footpaths that wind through the dunes and they’re surrounded by these incredible high grasses, but you don’t have to go up and down a lot of hills. The purpose of the dunes is to protect you from the weather, so when you’re playing the course, it can feel still even though there are 50 mph winds swirling just above you.