
Are there any architects who design golf courses?
May 07, 2021 · Listed are the architects and the number of their courses on either Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Classic Courses list or Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Modern Courses list. The line beneath each architect is...
Who are the most famous golfers who are artists?
Steve Smyers – Steve Smyers Golf course architects, golf course design. Svein D. Olsnes – Svein D. Olsnes : Arkitekt. Thomson Perrett – Thomson Perrett Golf Course Architects and Designers is one of the world’s premier golf course design companies with an enviable track record of over 250 successful projects around the globe. Based in Melbourne, Australia.
How many golf courses has Frank Ross designed?
Few courses are more beautiful than Old Tom’s Royal County Down Stanley Thompson Becoming a golf course architect after the First World War was perfect timing for Stanley Thompson. Canada’s golf courses numbered around 130 in 1918, rising to more than 350 seven years later. Built in 1928, St George’s is perhaps Stanley Thompson’s finest design
What are some of the most famous golf courses in America?
GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTS Photos, Biographies and List of course each designed SEARCH ALPHABETICALLY BY LAST NAME ... Off the Fringe, “Golf’s best short read.” The award winning newsletter, sent twice monthly, that provides an unconventional perspective on the golf world. Subscribe. About us

Who is the greatest golf architect?
Donald Ross As one of the preeminent golf course architects of the early 20th century, he designed such notable courses as Oakland Hills Country Club, Oak Hill Country Club, Seminole Golf Club and Inverness Club.Apr 28, 2014
Who is best golf course designer?
Discover the Top Golf Course Designers in the CountryPete Dye. Born into a family of golf course designers, Pete Dye followed in his father's footsteps to become one of the most famous golf architects in the country. ... Arnold Palmer. ... Jack Nicklaus. ... Tom Fazio. ... Tom Watson. ... Gary Player. ... Ben Wright. ... Tom Jackson.Mar 12, 2021
Who is a golf course architect?
Golf course architects are responsible for the topography and layout of a golf facility's playing surface, and they may also design the club facilities. They perform site evaluations and oversee construction work. Many golf course architects complete a landscape architecture bachelor's degree program.Oct 20, 2021
What golf course architect has the most top 100 courses?
Appropriately for the most prolific architect on the list, Colt had a hand in designing the top-ranked course on the list, Pine Valley in New Jersey. The head designer, Harry Crump, enlisted Colt's help with the routing. His next highest-ranked course in the Top 100 is Open Championship host Muirfield.Nov 25, 2019
What is the most prestigious golf course in the world?
What Is the Most Prestigious Golf Course?Old Course at St. Andrews. ... Augusta National Golf Club. The home of the Masters, Augusta National was voted the PGA Tour's best course in a “Golf Digest” poll of tour players in 2012. ... Pebble Beach Golf Links. ... Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Do golf courses make money?
The most common income streams are green fees, membership fees, pro shop sales, and food and beverage sales. While increasing membership fees or green fees might seem like a good way to increase revenue, it might put off more golfers than the additional income earned.
How do you become a golf course architect?
Golf course architects come from varying backgrounds, with training in landscape architecture, civil engineering, environmental studies, agronomy, golf course construction and professional golf, to name a few. The most common degree amongst golf architects is landscape architecture.
What is a golf course designer called?
Golf course architecture is a specific discipline of landscape design, with many architects represented in the United States by the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Some architects are highly successful professional golfers who went on to design golf courses.
What is the difference between a landscape designer and a landscape architect?
In short, the differences between landscape architecture and landscape design are: Landscape architect needs a degree while landscape designer does not require any certifications. Landscape architect works on more public and larger projects while landscape designer works on residential and smaller projects.Jul 15, 2020
How many courses did Donald Ross design?
400 coursesAlthough an exact number is not known, Ross designed roughly 400 courses in the United States with more than 40 of those in North Carolina alone. A total of 31 states and four Canadian provinces can boast of Ross creations.Jun 11, 2014
Is Pete Dye alive?
January 9, 2020Pete Dye / Date of death
Who designed Pebblelaw?
Pebble Beach Golf LinksClub informationDesigned byJack Neville and Douglas Grant (1919) Arnold Palmer & Thad Layton (2016 renovation)Par72 (71 - U.S. Open)Length7,075 yards (6,469 m)Course rating75.5 (U.S. Open)16 more rows
Who is the best golfer of all time?
Jack Nicklaus. While the Golden Bear is arguably the best golfer of all time, his course designs are a constant subject to criticism -- especially his earlier designs. They were described as too hard and demanded players to play a number of high fades -- Nicklaus' trademark shot.
What is the best golf course in the world?
The "good doctor" is famous for laying out three of the best golf courses in the world: Cypress Point Club, Augusta National and Royal Melbourne. One course that is often overlooked is Pasatiempo, where MacKenzie spent the last years of his life (he had a home right off the sixth hole). This par-70 layout might be the longest 6,500-yard course on the planet. A number of holes play uphill, and MacKenzie's trademark "finger" bunkers and undulated greens are featured throughout the round.
What golf courses did Tom Hanks design?
As one of the preeminent golf course architects of the early 20th century, he designed such notable courses as Oakland Hills Country Club, Oak Hill Country Club, Seminole Golf Club and Inverness Club. But Pinehurst No. 2, which will host the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women's Open in 2014, is widely considered to be his legacy.
Where is the Black Course?
His best layout accessible to the public is the infamous Black Course at Bethpage State Park in New York. Obsessed golfers regularly sleep in their cars to get a tee time for the next morning. Bethpage Black, which hosted the U.S. Open in 2002 and 2009, is a tribute to the "Golden Age" of golf course design.
When was Streamsong Red built?
Streamsong Red in Florida, built in 2012, has been lauded as one of the premier new courses.
Who is Tom Doak?
Tom Doak. Doak has been the talk of the golf world ever since his Oregon coast meisterwerk Pacific Dunes created worldwide attention. Golf is Bandon's "raison d'etre" -- and Doak's bona fide links course is the shining star. The unorthodox layout features back-to-back par 3s and only two par 4s on the back nine.
Who designed the Bandon Dunes?
David McLay Kidd. Kidd, a Sco tsman, gathered worldwide attention after his inaugural design at Bandon Dunes on the rugged Oregon coast. This seaside gem located on pure links land put the village of Bandon on the golf map and helped make Bandon Dunes a first-class golf resort.
Who installed the new hazards and greens on the golf course?
Hanse and Wagner installed new hazards and greens – and even several new corridors – making what Hanse has called “an entirely new course” on the same property. Hence, the course was placed on the Modern list even though golf began on that ground more than a century ago.
Who designed the original Sand Hills?
Other designers completed renovations to another designer’s original layouts. For example, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did the original design for Sand Hills, while Rees Jones’ work on Medinah No. 3 was part of a series of renovations to Tom Bendelow’s 1928 layout, with more renovations planned.
Why is it impossible to add less-prolific designers to any such shrine?
Likewise, it would be impossible to add some less-prolific designers to any such shrine because the influence of their work lacks scale – their courses might be incredible, but there simply weren’t enough holes built for some designers to reach the highest peaks.
Where was Ross born?
Born in 1872 in Dornoch, Scotland, Ross is credited with the design or renovation of more than 400 courses around the world. His lay-of-the-land style – before the advent of heavy, mechanical earth-moving equipment – has shaped the ethos for many of the best modern designers. And it wasn’t just volume for Ross.
Who designed Pinehurst No. 2?
Colt, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Tom Doak all appear in the design credits, with Doak working in 2011 to restore the course more closely to Alison and Colt’s original intent. Pinehurst No. 2 was designed by Donald Ross.
Is single design credit rare?
Singular design credit is more rare on these Classics than on the Modern tracks . Work has continued on many of the Classics since 1960, so even Modern architects might appear in the credits for several of the Classics.
Does Fazio make the top 200?
Fazio is just as interested in his courses that don’t make the top-200 lists as those at the top, believing many of them to be worthy of higher ranking. “I’ll also say one other thing, not a facetious thing but on the other side of that list that has many of those top golf courses,” he said.
Who was the first architect to design golf courses?
He is known as the first architect who sought to build beautiful golf courses. Additionally, Tillinghast employed a wide variety of design ideas to his courses and he had no self-imposed limits concerning golf course architecture and aesthetics.
What is Alister Mackenzie's greatest contribution to the world of golf course architecture?
Perhaps Alister Mackenzie's greatest contribution to the world of golf course architecture is his almost seamless blending of strategic golf course architecture with artistic beauty. Without question, Mr. Ross is the most prolific of the old school golf designers.
Where is Perry Maxwell's golf course?
Mackenzie has courses on the Monterrey Peninsula, the Sandbelt of Australia, and one that annually host a major golfing championship (The Masters), Perry Maxwell's gems are in northern Michigan, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Who is Tom Doak?
Tom Doak. Tom Doak is an architect that I think will continue to climb my Top Ten list as he builds more and more golf courses. He is already one of the greatest golf course architects of all-time with Unanimous Gems not only in the US, but on the international scene as well. Perhaps his landmark breakthrough was his design at Pacific Dunes, ...
Who is the old man with the long gray beard holding a golf club?
Tom Morris. Old Tom Morris is perhaps the most historic figure associated with the game of golf. He is that old man with the long gray beard holding a golf club in all the old golf pictures you've probably seen. He was the greens keeper at St. Andrews and has won the Open Championship many times over.
Who is Donald Ross?
Donald Ross is a genius in the field of golf course architecture and has left a lasting legacy that continues to entertain and confound avid golfers to this day. I think a strong case for making Mr. Colt the #1 golf course architect can be made. He, in fact, hired Alister.
Is Pinehurst #2 boring?
Pinehurst #2 maybe his crowning achievement, but you certainly can not overlook Seminole, Oakland Hills, Scioto, Plainfield, Oak Hill, Wannamoisette, or Inverness. His routing and strategic bunker placement seems to earn the highest of praise, yet his subtleness is often overlooked as boring by the novice golfer.
Where did Herbert Fowler play golf?
Herbert Fowler was introduced to golf at Royal North Devon when visiting nearby Bideford on banking business in 1879 and he became a club member, winning the Prince of Wales Medal two years later.
How many golf courses were built in Canada in 1918?
Becoming a golf course architect after the First World War was perfect timing for Stanley Thompson. Canada’s golf courses numbered around 130 in 1918, rising to more than 350 seven years later.
What degree did Hanse have?
Hanse earned a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University in 1989, achieving the William Frederick Dreer Award, which allowed him to spend a year overseas with Hawtree Ltd.
How long did Tom Simpson work as a barrister?
Tom Simpson spent only five years as a barrister before leaving behind the stifling offices at the Temple in London for a career as a golf course architect with Herbert Fowler in 1910.
Where was James Braid born?
James Braid was born in 1870 in Earlsferry, the adjoining village to Elie in the East Neuk of Fife. He became a member of Earlsferry Thistle aged fifteen and was off scratch by his sixteenth birthday.
Who is Willie Park Jr?
Willie Park Jr. Willie Park Jr. was born in Musselburgh, the second of four sons of (Old) Willie Park, four-time Open Champion. Young Willie won the Open twice himself, becoming one of five Musselburgh men to do so. Read More >>.
Who was the surveyor for Fishers Island?
Seth Raynor. Long Island-born Seth Raynor ran a successful surveying business before being hired by Charles Blair Macdonald in 1908 to inspect the property that would become The National Golf Links of America. Read More >>. In the 1920s Seth Raynor laid out Fishers Island in a links-like style.
What is the most influential golf course in the world?
National Golf Links of America and Pine Valley are two of the most influential courses ever built. Macdonald’s NGLA, an archetype of strategic design, has informed a distinct lineage stretching from protégé Seth Raynor all the way to contemporary creations.
Who is the golf course designer who beat Pete Dye?
Beating Pete Dye and TPC Sawgrass was a stunning achievement, and now he’s squaring off against Papa Jones, the legendary Robert Trent Jones, who pretty much made golf course design an actual money-making profession, and whose 50-years of accomplishments overshadows Collins’ by 49 years.
How many architects are there in March Madness?
The inaugural Golf Digest March Madness Architects of Golf tournament, born out of desire for the actual NCAA basketball tournaments never played and inspiration from a course-enthusiast on Twitter, Eric Hart, began last week—featuring competition between 70 architects or architectural teams, each represented by one golf course.
Where is Sweetens Cove Golf Course?
The Southeast is the most disrupted region, at least by seed. The story here is Sweetens Cove, a nine-hole course in Tennessee that many, including my colleague Ron Whitten, didn’t think should even be in the tournament. Clearly, in a Twitter competition, they should be.
Who is the architect of Sweetens Cove?
Tenth-seeded Sweetens Cove has become the darling of the tournament, but let’s face it—its architect Rob Collins is a great guy with a ton of imagination, but he’s still just a one-hit wonder at this point, with a nine-hole course no less.
Is Riviera Beach landlocked?
Riviera, however, is landlocked, and views are neither part of the architecture nor the experience—unless you count the scenic, elevated tee-shot at the first just outside the clubhouse door, or the climb toward eighteen with the iconic clubhouse beyond. Cypress Point vs. Pebble Beach is a battle for the ages.
Who is George Thomas Jr. versus Tom Doak?
Thomas Jr. versus Tom Doak, two literate designers who’ve written extensively and authoritatively on golf architecture when not producing stunning designs. This is another heart versus head struggle for me.
What is golf course architecture?
Golf course architecture is a specific discipline of landscape design, with many architects represented in the United States by the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Some architects are highly successful professional golfers who went on to design golf courses.
Who is Paul O'Brien?
O. Paul O'Brien, golf course designer & architect, and a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects - www.regolfdesign.com.
