Sometimes the best design move is knowing what the landscape is telling you. When the RTJ II team first explored the 290-acre site for PGA Riviera Maya, the jungle was so dense that they had to navigate it on foot to understand where the course should go. The process was aptly described as a “landscape tango with rhythm.” That philosophy remains visible today, from a natural cenote incorporated into the challenge of the 6th hole to Yucatán limestone becoming a defining feature of the 14th. The result is championship golf that feels inseparable from the jungle around it.

How do you modernize a classic without losing its character? The West Course at Dorado Beach recently reopened following a renovation by RTJ II, which restored and modernized the Robert Trent Jones Sr. original while adapting the course for how the game is played today. Green complexes were repositioned to improve sunlight and air movement, while the overall design became wider and more strategic, offering players more options from the tee. It’s a reminder that thoughtful renovation isn’t simply about preserving the past. It’s about making good architecture work for the next generation of golfers.

What happens when you let the landscape do most of the designing? RTJ II is transforming Iceland’s Oddur Golf Club into a 27-hole facility, adding 11 new holes while working carefully with the site’s extraordinary lava formations. Rather than moving large amounts of earth, the design follows the natural topography, incorporating lava canyons, ridges and ledges into the routing. The project also includes a new nine-hole short course. When the expanded club, located just outside downtown Reykjavík, is ready for play in 2027, it will be golf that feels discovered rather than constructed — a philosophy that reflects RTJ II’s belief that the best courses respond to the character of their surroundings.

Golf doesn’t always have to mean 18 holes. At RTJ II-designed Costa Palmas on Mexico’s East Cape, golfers can take on the championship course with stunning coastal finishing holes or opt for a family-friendly six-hole experience. A 30,000-square-foot social putting green creates another way for golfers of different ages and abilities to enjoy the game together along this secluded stretch of the Sea of Cortez. It’s part of a broader idea behind RTJ II’s approach to golf: create experiences that are strategic and memorable, but also flexible, welcoming and engaging. Because sometimes growing the game starts by giving people more ways to play. Photo credit to @Evan_Schiller

A different way to play golf in the tropics. RTJ II recently unveiled plans for a new 18-hole members’ course and practice facility at Thai Country Club, with construction beginning this year. The club selected RTJ II for its “long-standing design legacy and global reputation for creating courses that stand the test of time,” according to Chairman Prasong Phataraprasit. Rather than relying heavily on bunkers and artificial hazards, the design emphasizes wide, strategic fairways, natural contours and the ground game, encouraging golfers to think creatively and use the terrain to their advantage. It’s a forward-looking approach rooted in some of the game’s oldest principles: strategy, variety and imagination.