A rendering of the new Hole 16 at Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City. (Rendering courtesy of Scott Hoffman)
IOWA CITY – Most golf courses, once planned and built, stay the same even as the game changes and golfers and their gear improve.
But because of an aging irrigation system and some generous donors, the University of Iowa’s
3. Finkbine’s third life
The UI’s first golf course was on 175 acres along Highway 6 in Coralville donated by William and Charles Finkbine. In the early 1950s, the
8. Native prairie
The UI has a
15. New bridge
A brand new feature of the renovated Finkbine will be a 30-foot-high, 12-foot-wide timber bridge crossing a ravine on the back part of the course. The bridge, designed for golf carts and golfers on foot, is made of pressure-treated pine by The Bridge Guy, from upstate New York, and is intended to last 100 years, owner Jason Sommerville said.
16. Big finish
When Scott Hoffman routes a new course, he plans the 18th hole first because he wants golfers to end their day “with a bang”, he told Derek Duncan, Golf Digest architecture editor, on the Feed the Ball podcast in 2024. Finkbine’s new Hole 18 will shift west so golfers finish within view of the Nagle Family Clubhouse’s chimney with a Tiger Hawk logo.
17. Where are the teams playing?
During the reno, the Hawkeye men’s and women’s golf teams will practice and play at area courses, including Brown Deer, in Coralville; the Cedar Rapids Country Club and Pleasant Valley, in Iowa City. The James M. Hoak Family Golf Complex, adjacent to Finkbine, has indoor-to-outdoor hitting stations as well as a 3,150-foot indoor practice green with Puttview, an augmented reality system.
18. Course will reopen in Spring 2027
Finkbine is scheduled to reopen to the public next spring. Whether that’s in April or May will depend, in part, on how much snow we get next winter, Clay said. “Snow’s a great thing,” he said. “It’s almost like a little blanket, and creates moisture so you come out of this into the spring a lot healthier.”