The Carlton Woods Invitational

In his many CWI appearances over the years, Shane Heise (The Woodlands, Texas) had performed well but had yet to contend for the championship.

Until this year.

Heise survived a furious final stretch to finish 3 under for the tournament and win the 2024 Carlton Woods Invitational by one shot at The Club at Carlton Woods.

Heise was immersed in a five-way tie with three holes remaining, but a birdie on No. 16 gave him a one-shot lead over the field, and pars on the final two holes saw him secure the win. Heise carded rounds of 68-72-73.

Domenic Maricocchi (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Kristoffer Marshall (Scottsdale, Ariz.) were joint runners-up at 2-under, while Kyle Maxwell, Kenneth Cook, and past champions John Hunter and Justin Kaplan finished the tournament at 1-under and T4.

In the Senior Division, Mark Strickland (San Diego, Calif.) and Doug Dvorak (Windermere, Fla.) battled all day for the title, separating themselves from the field and challenging the senior CWI scoring record. Both players shot rounds of 66-70 and were still tied with four holes to play. Dvorak would fall one behind with a bogey on the par-4 16th, and though he’d put the heat on Strickland with a birdie on the par-5 final hole, Strickland answered with a birdie of his own to take the title.

Billy Joe Tolliver finished in solo third place at 6-under, and John Pierce, Jon Valuck, and Mike Lohner finished at 3-under and T4.

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Dear Invitational Competitors and Friends,

The committee thanks you for your support over the years. We are proud and grateful for the quality of field our competition has attracted. We are dedicated to showcasing our Club by providing our competitors with a wonderful test of golf, and overall tournament experience.

With that, we are excited to announce that, beginning May 1, 2023, Chris Cochran from Nicklaus Design and Cole Sanders from Sanders Golf will be executing a complete restoration and modernization of our Nicklaus Signature Course. We are excited about this project and expect completion in October of 2023. This project comes with the bittersweet announcement that we cannot host the Carlton Woods Invitational in 2023.

To excite you for the 2024 CWI, the project includes new greens from the cavity up utilizing USGA specification method and Tiff Eagle surfaces. Tee boxes will be laser leveled, many enlarged and a few added. Bunkers will be renovated with new lining, drainage, and Pro Angle sand, strategic bunkers will be enlarged, and a few will be added. The course will get a new direct wire irrigation system, and additional drainage will be added throughout the course. A process called fraze mowing will occur inside the tree lines leaving the original strain of Bermuda but establishing a new canopy. The end result will be a recognizable course leaving our years of memories intact while subtlety making the design even stronger.

We look forward to hosting the CWI in 2024 on our traditional date and hope to see all of you then!

Best wishes for 2023, and Play well!

The Carlton Woods Invitational Committee