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Issue 48 | Spring 2020
BY DESIGN
Excellence in Golf Design from the American Society of Golf Course Architects
Back
from the
brink
Also: Distance research • Pete Dye, ASGCA Fellow • Routing a concept course
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FOREWORD
Design ingenuity CONTENTS
G Digest 4
olf course architects require a great degree of ingenuity for design and
renovation projects. There will always be challenges and obstacles to The issue opens with the latest in the
overcome, and it is our obligation to help clubs find a solution that distance debate, following the USGA
will benefit the club and its local community. and R&A’s publication of the results of
I recall ASGCA Past President Erik Larsen’s words: “Golf courses benefit its Distance Insights project. We also
communities as revenue and tax sources, green space, wildlife and plant learn about an ‘art of the golf course’
sanctuaries and aid in water filtration, among other uses. There is an inherent exhibition, golf facility trends and
goodness to the community that comes from the positive financial, social and ASGCA member projects.
environmental impact of a golf course.”
Erik walked this talk when helping to bring a course in Jacksonville, Florida, A golf architecture great 12
back from the brink. Atlantic Beach Country Club features in this issue’s cover ASGCA members share their stories of
story, which begins on page 18. Golf writer and ASGCA Donald Ross Award ground-breaking golf course architect
winner Joe Passov looks at this and other examples of golf courses that have Pete Dye, ASGCA Fellow, who
been reborn, and the positive impact that ingenious work by ASGCA members passed away in January 2020.
has on clubs and their communities.
Also in this issue of By Design, ASGCA members pay tribute to one of the Back from the brink 18
most ingenious architects in the history of golf. We were all saddened to It’s not just golfers who suffer when
hear that Pete Dye, ASGCA Fellow, passed away at the start of the year. Pete, a golf course closes. Joe Passov
a Past President of ASGCA, was responsible for many of modern golf’s most considers the impact for the entire
ground-breaking and celebrated designs, including TPC Sawgrass, Whistling community, and finds out about the
Straits and The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. ASGCA reinvention of courses in peril.
members reflect on Pete’s impact in the article that
begins on page 12. The art of routing 26
There’s plenty more in this issue too, including Golf course architect Richard
distance research, member project news, and an Mandell, ASGCA, talks to By Design
interview with Richard Mandell, ASGCA, on the concept about his concept course design, The
course he created for a site close to his office. Sandhills Club.
Jan Bel Jan, ASGCA Five to finish 30
President A. John Harvey, ASGCA, answers our
American Society of Golf Course Architects five questions to finish the issue.
COVER
Editor and Publisher: Toby Ingleton Issue 48 | Spring 2020
Editorial contributors: Richard Humphreys, Joe Passov BY DESIGN
Design: Bruce Graham, Libby Sidebotham
Excellence in Golf Design from the American Society of Golf Course Architects
ASGCA Staff: Chad Ritterbusch; Mike Shefky; Aileen Smith; Marc Whitney
Photography: Ahwatukee Foothills News; ASGCA; Atlantic Beach CC; Black Diamond Ranch; Daniel
Burke; A. John Harvey, ASGCA; Raymond Hearn Golf Course Design; Chip Henderson; Istockphoto/
Dmytro Aksonov; Istockphoto/sonyae; Kemper Sports; Kohler Co.; Larry Lambrecht; Larsen Golf; Tim
Liddy, ASGCA; Richard Mandell Golf Architecture/Jim Ryan; Nicklaus Design; Brian Oar; Forrest
Richardson & Assoc.; Sanford Golf Design; Art Schaupeter, ASGCA; Scot Sherman, ASGCA;
USGA Golf Museum; David Spencer/Palm Beach Post/ZUMA Press Back
from the
Subscribe to By Design at www.tudor-rose.co.uk/bydesign brink
© 2020 American Society of Golf Course Architects. All rights reserved. www.asgca.org Also: Distance research • Pete Dye, ASGCA Fellow • Routing a concept course
By Design is sponsored by:
Cover photography courtesy of
Atlantic Beach Country Club in
Jacksonville, Florida.
3
DIGEST A round-up of recent golf design
news in association with:
ASGCA supports conclusions
of latest distance research
Image: Istockphoto/ Dmytro Aksonov
The ASGCA provided information and data to the
USGA and R&A for its Distance Insights Report
T
he executive committee of the this conclusion, our focus is forward- areas and expanding ranges. I hope
American Society of Golf Course looking with a goal of building on strategic principles, and need to
Architects (ASGCA) agrees with the strengths of the game today while conserve natural resources, are
the initial conclusions reached by the taking steps to alter the direction and stronger through the study’s results.”
United States Golf Association (USGA) impacts of hitting distances in the The report’s findings also serve to
and the R&A in the recently released best interests of its long-term future.” reinforce the value ASGCA members
Distance Insights Report. ASGCA President Jan Bel Jan said, place on forward tees and multiple
The report concluded that “the “We look forward to reviewing with all tee options, stating “that many
inherent strategic challenge presented ASGCA members the complete report recreational golfers are playing from
by many golf courses can be findings, which appear to confirm longer tees than necessary. We have
compromised” and “the overall trend what ASGCA members have seen from a particular concern that the forward
of golf courses becoming longer has their work for some time: increased tees at many courses are very long for
its own adverse consequences that hitting distance can lead to golf course the hitting distances of many of the
ultimately affect golfers at all levels lengthening. This cycle may have a golfers who play them.”
and the game as a whole.” negative impact in a number of areas, Bel Jan said, “Golfers of all skill
It said that golf would flourish including economic sustainability of levels should be encouraged to play
best if the continuing cycle of ever- facilities, their environmental footprint, from tees that provide the most
increasing hitting distances and golf the strategic challenge of playing the enjoyment and the best opportunity
course lengths is “brought to an end.” course as designed by the golf course for them to score well. We are thrilled
“Longer distances, longer courses, architect and the pure fun that comes to see continued promotion of the
playing from longer tees and longer from playing the game from tees that benefits of moving forward.”
times to play are taking golf in match a player’s skill level.”
the wrong direction and are not Forrest Richardson, ASGCA, added, Download the USGA and R&A
necessary to make golf challenging, “Discussions have gone on for over Distance Insights Report at: usga.
enjoyable or sustainable in the 100 years. Designers responded org/content/dam/usga/pdf/2020/
future,” read the report. “In reaching by adding tees, widening hitting distance-insights/SOC-FINAL.pdf
4 | By Design
Industry news
Sharp rise in master
USGA showcases the plan and short game
developments
art of the golf course
Photo: Lohmann Quitno
Photo/image: USGA Golf Museum
According to the 2020 Golf
Facility Market Trend Watch
report, master plan and short
game developments are now the
two most popular types of projects
for golf architects.
Respondents to the study—
commissioned by the ASGCA and
conducted by Sports & Leisure
Research Group (SLRG)—included
hundreds of golf course architects,
superintendents, general managers,
facility owners/operators, golf
professionals and industry leaders.
Eighty-eight percent of architects
reported that in the last two years
that they have been employed
to develop a golf course master
plan—the most popular type of
project the recent study finds.
Jon Last, SLRG founder and
president, said: “It is interesting
to note the continued increase in
T
he USGA has created a new Curated by Rand Jerris, the general managers thinking their
exhibition that examines golf USGA’s senior managing director of golfers would welcome enhanced
courses through art. ‘The Art of public services and former director short game areas and practice
the Golf Course’ will be on display at of the museum, the exhibition ranges; it’s a full 20-point increase
the USGA Golf Museum until the end showcases a variety of perspectives over two years.”
of August 2020. through paintings, prints, drawings, The report notes that short game
“Visitors to this exhibition will draw photography, sculpture and the area developments that architects
parallels between the choices made museum’s fine art collection. have been involved with has
by artists and those of golf course The exhibition features panoramic jumped from 75 percent in 2018
architects, whether to create playing images by photographer John Yang to 85 percent in 2020.
interest and challenge, or visual and bronze sculptures of green
interest
HERE and
ARE beauty, enhancing
LINKS TO their “TARTAN
OTHER RECENT complexes
TALKS,”byNOW
HenryFEATURING Download the highlights of the
Whiting II,OVER 20 EPISODES:
appreciation and understanding of as well as artwork by golf course report at: asgca.org/wp-content/
the golf course as a work of art,” said architects, including a rare watercolor uploads/2020/02/2020-Market-
Hilary Cronheim, director of the by A.W. Tillinghast and a selection of Trend-Watch-FINAL.pdf
USGA Golf Museum. drawings by Desmond Muirhead.
5
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DIGEST
Renovation
Reversible nine for Martin County
C
onstruction work is in
Image: Sanford Golf Design
progress at Martin County
golf course in Stuart, Florida,
as part of a transformation that
is being overseen by ASGCA Past
President John Sanford.
The facility will be reduced from
36 to 27 holes, with a new reversible
nine-hole layout created.
“We are honored to team up
with TDI Golf to transform Martin
County’s 36 holes into a unique and
modernized golf and entertainment
complex,” said Sanford. “This is a
cutting-edge approach to gain interest
and grow the game on a local level.”
The first phase includes creating ASGCA Past President John Sanford will introduce a reversible nine-hole layout at
the new nine-hole layout that will Martin County in Florida
use portions of the existing Red and
White nines. Each hole will have five practice facilities to be built. There The Blue and Gold nines will be
sets of tees and the course will be will also be covered hitting bays with rebuilt and re-grassed in phase two.
playable in both directions. ball tracking technology and there Greens will be expanded, bunkers
The range is being relocated with are plans for a new short game area rebuilt with new drainage and
a new clubhouse, allowing for new and a large putting green. forward tees added.
“Pete Dye was magical when it came to be talking
with owners. He always got his way.”
B R I A N C U R L E Y, A S G C A
In the latest podcast from Golf to succeed in the business of golf when play had already started,"
Course Industry’s “Tartan Talks” course architecture, you need to be said Curley.
series, Brian Curley, ASGCA, able to sell your ideas and concepts “He was so fun to be around. He
reflects on the life of Pete Dye, to owners. Pete was magical when it was unique. Of all the people I
ASGCA Fellow, and the impact he came to be talking with owners. He have met in my life, I can’t think of
had on those he worked with. always got his way.” anybody who was so uniquely suited
“Prior to his career as a golf course Dye was known by many as a giant to do what he did. He would draw
architect, he was one of the best friend of the superintendents. “He the best out of everyone around him.”
insurance salesmen in the business,” would spend a significant amount of
said Curley. “One thing that struck time with the superintendents during Listen to the full “Tartan Talk” at
me early on was if you’re going construction and grow-in, and even golfcourseindustry.com.
HERE ARE LINKS TO OTHER RECENT “TARTAN TALKS,” NOW FEATURING OVER 20 EPISODES:
• Nathan Crace, ASGCA, provides a golf architect’s perspective on the past decade and looks ahead to the next 10 years.
• Jason Straka, ASGCA, and Kenwood Country Club’s Kent Turner offer insight into the architect-superintendent relationship.
7
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DIGEST
Renovation
Renovation under way at Sequoyah National
A
SGCA Past President Robert Trent Jones, Jr.,
Photo: KemperSports
ASGCA Fellow, has returned to Sequoyah National
Golf Club in Whittier, North Carolina, to oversee a
bunker renovation and regrassing project.
According to the club, the renovations will provide
better playing conditions for year-round playability on
the layout, which was originally designed in 2009 by
Jones, alongside professional golfer Notah Begay III.
“We’re investing in the future of the golf course by
upgrading the playing surfaces and bunkers,” said
Sequoyah National golf board chairman Curtis Wildcat.
“With these improvements, Sequoyah National solidifies
its place as one of the best mountain courses in the
southeast.”
Capillary Concrete will be installed in the bunkers,
while the fairways, tees and green surrounds will be
converted to Zeon Zoysia turf.
The course will remain open during the project, with
the renovations impacting play on a few holes each day. A bunker renovation and regrassing project is in progress at
Work is scheduled for completion in July 2020. Sequoyah National Golf Club in North Carolina
New golf course Renovation
New Vietnam course Black Diamond Ranch
to open next year completes bunker rebuild
C D
onstruction work is in progress on a golf course avid Whelchel, ASGCA, has completed a bunker
designed by Jack Nicklaus II, ASGCA, at Royal Golf rebuild on the Quarry course at Black Diamond
Club near Hanoi, Vietnam. Ranch in Lecanto, Florida.
Nicklaus Design’s Jim Wagner, ASGCA, said: “One of “There are almost four acres of sand on the course and
our tasks was to create a unique and challenging golfing after 32 years, they were starting to need a facelift,” said
experience that would have significant contrast to the Whelchel. “Many of the bunkers have been changed over
existing course.” the years, and some have even been taken out. We are
The Queen’s Course, which is expected to open in June trying to put some of those back and make others more
2021, will become the second course at the club, joining playable and maintainable as they have got very steep as a
the King’s Course, designed by Peter Rousseau. result of major drainage issues.”
Photo: Nicklaus Design
Photo: Black Diamond Ranch
9
DIGEST
Social update
My friend Gene Bates renovated the
@bbhgolf property from overgrown to
Great running into my old friend from awesome! Bayonet Black Horse is well
Kansas City Kyle Phillips on our new Rees Jones is progressing with a
worth playing and great value in Monterey.
project in Abu Dhabi. Kyle designed bunker renovation project on the layout
the original course on Yas Island called at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich,
Yas Links. We sure came a long way Connecticut, created by his father brianoar
from Kansas. Robert Trent Jones in 1966. Brian Oar
Fry Straka Golf Golf Course Architecture
@FryStrakaGolf @gcamagazine
Hard to believe that par-4 7th
at California Golf Club of San
Francisco wasn’t a part of A.V.
Macao’s original design, as
this true Cape hole, added by
Kyle Phillips a decade ago, We are excited to announce the completion
fits so perfectly amidst this of the master planning work at Chautauqua
terrific design. Drama, strategy, Golf Club, New York and the Donald Ross
beauty: an instant favorite. designed Lake Course.
LinksGems Golf Photos chriswilczynski1
@LinksGems CW Golf Architecture
The 12th hole at Chickasaw, showing
our recent renovation to this 1922
William Langford gem!
Golf Course Architect of the Week: Chris Lutzke, @ASGCA. 2
ASGCA decades w/Pete Dye started at Whistling Straits. Architectural
Bergin Golf Designs
Home Offices education & creativity has enabled Chris to manifest some of
@bergingolfdesigns
@ASGCA the most dynamic forms in the golf world (Pic: Eagle Eye, Mich.)
To stay up to date with the latest news and updates from ASGCA, via social media, visit:
www.twitter.com/asgca www.linkedin.com/company/
american-society-of-golf-course-architects
www.instagram.com/asgca1947
www.facebook.com/pages/ASGCA-American-Society-of-
www.asgca.org Golf-Course-Architects/117859318239338
11PETE DYE, ASGCA FELLOW
Photo: David Spencer/Palm Beach Post/ZUMA Press
The
ground
breaker
In January 2020, golf lost one of the most influential course
architects of the twentieth century. Pete Dye, a Past President
and Fellow of ASGCA, left quite a legacy. Not only did he
create ground-breaking designs like TPC Sawgrass, but he
also mentored many of the game’s top golf architects.
“I
first met Pete in the 1970s at be more enduring. The stories and as well as all of those other things
Amelia Island Plantation,” says memories are plentiful but seem I did growing up as a farm boy in
Bobby Weed, ASGCA. “That was insufficient. We all have someone Indiana” says P.B. Dye, ASGCA. “The
the start of a 45-year relationship. who took hold of us and set us on construction business was an integral
We built Long Cove together in 1981, our life’s path, maybe without our part of my life. Building these golf
and I’ve been building golf courses even knowing it. For me, that was courses, not just being the architect’s
ever since. I can hardly approve Pete. Everything I hold dear in golf son, but to physically work with
a feature without feeling Pete’s took root from my relationship with everybody and to learn and build
influence. Pete was always ahead of him. Not bad for someone that lived these golf courses with my dad.
his time. How many golf designers to be half of 188!” “Our family always had white
could that be said about? German shepherds and when we
“As much of a legacy as his courses The memories were going to work, us children would
will be, the impact he had on those “I can remember when my dad put always ride in the back of the pickup
fortunate to work with him may me on a tractor for the first time, truck with the dogs while someone
12 | By Designelse drove—you’re not allowed to do with a client on site, walking the site, the driver, him and 60. I gladly rode in
that today! looking at drainage and always editing the open bed of the truck in 10-degree
“Driving around in trucks with him the visual aspects of the golf hole. weather knowing I was working with a
was always a lot of fun. Neither my They were normally long, dirty days Hall of Fame architect.”
dad nor I have worked a day in our and always his dog ‘60’ accompanied ASGCA Past President Lee Schmidt
lives because we have had too much us. One time, traveling out to the site says: “Upon graduating from Purdue
fun. We have gotten really dirty and from the airport at Kohler to Whistling University in 1970, I contacted Pete
really muddy, but it’s never been Straits, the small front cab of the for an interview and was fortunately
work to us.” pickup truck allowed room only for hired to work on a golf project near
Tim Liddy, ASGCA, who worked very
Pete was always ahead of his time. How
closely with Pete until the last years of
his life, describes what a workday with
Pete was like: “It was always fun but
with much work involved. Meeting many golf designers could that be said about?
13PETE DYE, ASGCA FELLOW
Columbus, Ohio. I always joked with “I first met Pete at Crooked work when he came to town for a site
him in later years that he paid me Stick, where our family had a visit. His passion for golf and design
below slave labor. He would respond, membership,” says Muirhead. were unmatched. He was truly a ‘field-
‘I think I overpaid you!’ Thus, began “He and Alice both counseled me architect’, continuously modifying
my long and wonderful relationship regarding a career in golf architecture what had been shaped until he had
with Pete. Not a single word can while I was in high school and what he wanted…and then changing it
accurately describe him. He was fun, throughout college. Golf design is a again during his next visit!”
a maverick, innovative, home spun, very small business that has always
quick witted, a great storyteller, and been very difficult for a young A test of skill
most importantly, my friend.” person to break into. Like several “His courses were a great test for
professionals, but I believe he also
pushed the envelope, always
He
gave higher handicapped golfers
options on how to play the hole,”
trying different things to bring a says Schmidt. “Leaving open entries
to greens, safe routes of play from
uniqueness to his designs the tee and various options on
how to play the hole were design
philosophies he would instill.
Greg Muirhead, ASGCA, began of today’s designers, my career is “He loved testing the skills of
his career in golf architecture by directly related to Pete and Alice professionals through his designs.
completing two internships with generously giving me an opportunity Angles of play with increasing
Pete before assisting him with and helping me along. They were difficulty, varying green shapes and
the construction of a course in both great players, designers, and contours, using grass types to add
Colorado. Pete and Alice then helped most importantly, people. contrast and creating half shots
Muirhead secure his current position “My fondest memories of Pete are were other traits of his designs we
with Rees Jones, Inc. remembering how he went about his learned to love.
14 | By DesignPhoto: Chip Henderson
Photo: Tim Liddy, ASGCA
“I think TPC Sawgrass is his most creative project,” says Tim Liddy, ASGCA, pictured
above on site with Pete. Left, the fourth hole at the world-renowned Florida course
“Detailed plans were minimal, playable. And even though he built “One of my best memories of Pete
often they were drawn on napkins the hardest golf courses in the world, was in 1974 while I was working
from dinner the night before or on they are still fun and playable for the in the Dominican Republic on the
the back of a paper placemat from higher handicap players.” Links course at Casa de Campo,” says
breakfast. He truly loved getting a Schmidt. “We were about two months
feel of the land and adapting his Memorable projects into the start of construction with
design to it. The more he walked the “I think TPC Sawgrass is his most several holes roughed shaped on the
site, yes, he loved to walk, the more creative project,” says Liddy. “He front nine. I was traveling home for
his imagination worked to come up had a very flat piece of ground. Pete a 10-day trip to get married, so Pete
with a unique golf hole. Many golf established four layers of horizontal volunteered to run the crews during
architects drew plans and expected planes almost like a birthday cake my absence. Knowing Pete is not the
the construction crews to follow the using: water, waste bunker, fairway, most organized person, I made a list
plans exactly, not Pete. Routings were and a green set off by vertical edges on top of list for what I wanted done
done, but that was just the beginning or railway ties or steep grass slopes. A and in what sequence. As always and
of a blank canvas to create something golfer is constantly looking over, down in Pete’s words, he said. ‘No problem,
special. He pushed the envelope, or around these planes as he plays. I got it.’
always trying different things to bring He took a flat boring site and gave it “When I returned with my new
a uniqueness to his designs.” spatial definition. It is pure genius. bride, I was anxious to see the
“He’s a little bit of Monet, a little bit “He was one of the first to use progress made during my absence.
of Picasso,” says P.B. Dye. “Dad, like classical elements of Raynor, Pete met me on arrival and said,
a lot of the great designers, did what Ross and Langford in modern ‘everything went great, I only
he needed to do to challenge the compositions, for it is not about style changed one thing.’ I was astounded,
golfer. The most important factor that or decoration but about articulation ‘Only one thing?’ ‘Yes, the more I
he always followed was that a golf of space. The strong geometry created walked the site, the more I felt the
course does not need to be fair, but the feeling of space—to look over course was better if we reversed the
it needs to be fun, and it needs to be and play around.” routing. Where we previously had
15PETE DYE, ASGCA FELLOW
greens, I shaped in tees and where
we had tees I started shaping in the
new greens.’ I was shocked, but the
course stayed that way and I will say
it was a better course because of just
one small change.”
Great rapport
“Pete had a better rapport with
superintendents than any architect
who has ever been in the business,”
says Liddy. “He liked them, he
listened to them and the result
is that his courses are easier to
maintain than they might seem at
first glance.
“The people who build golf courses
want to enjoy the process, but a
lot of times they don’t quite know
what their goals are. They have a
general idea, but I saw how much
Pete helped his clients refine their “Pete loved everything about the my life. Golf, golf architecture and I
mission. Many times, building a golf game of golf including building golf will miss him.”
course is a two-year process. When courses and the people,” says P.B. “His designs matched his
you get through it successfully, it’s a personality: strong, bold, smart
great feeling, and there’s a real bond Ground-breaking designs and creative,” says Liddy. “He was a
that forms. “Pete and Alice had made such an mentor to so many, a true legacy of
“In later years, Pete spent time amazing team in life and golf,” says his genius and compassion. He was
returning to projects that he Bill Coore, ASGCA. “Professionally, I my mentor and his love of golf and
finished 20, 30, even 40 years ago. would say that Pete Dye was one of golf design was infectious.
Part of this is because a course’s the most influential golf architects in “One of Pete’s most famous quotes
infrastructure naturally ages, but the history of the profession. was, ‘If you can get a pro thinking,
it’s also because he didn’t consider “He was the only golf architect who you’ve won the game.’ The interesting
anyone a ‘former’ client.” changed the course of golf architecture thing is that it applies just as much,
“He always treated everyone the twice, first with Harbour Town, an if not more, to a shot or hole that will
same whether you were the owner, old-world design with characteristics be played hours later as it does to the
shaper or laborer,” says Schmidt. “I totally opposite to the contemporary shot immediately at hand. The lesson
appreciated how he would involve is that every course should have
everyone in the design process. As
we were reviewing a specific hole, He was the only something that the golfer is already
thinking about before he or she steps
he would say to me and possibly the
shaper, ‘do you like it, what do you golf architect on to the first tee.”
“Pete’s midwestern background
think?’ Various comments would be
exchanged, and I remember often I that changed showed in his personality,” says
Schmidt. “He was a great storyteller,
would say ‘it just doesn’t look right.’
He would then counter saying, ‘what the course of golf worked hard, loved to learn about
people and gave generously to many.
would you do?’ After a back and forth
open discussion he would take our architecture twice My alma mater, Purdue University,
benefited greatly as Pete remodeled
comments and say, ‘let’s try this.’ two of the university’s golf courses for
“He had a basic concept before golf architecture then in vogue. one dollar each.
designing a hole, but his true talent Then, he and Alice redirected golf “He lived a full and wonderful life
was modifying, adjusting and architecture again with the creation and touched so many lives. The legacy
tweaking the work on the ground of TPC Sawgrass, a course that would he left through his courses, other
until he liked it. He made everyone dictate the direction and style of golf architects he mentored and the impact
feel a part of the process and architecture around the world for the he left on the game of golf is a life well
because of that I sincerely believe next two decades. played. I will miss you, Pete.”
everyone gave their best effort to “Personally, I can say Pete Dye was “Pete was a generational figure in
improve the design.” one of the most influential people in architecture and golf,” says Muirhead.
16 | By DesignPhoto: Kohler Co.
Photo: Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Photo: ASGCA
The 2017 ASGCA Annual Meeting in Jupiter, Florida, saw Pete and Alice Dye joined by some of the many golf course architects they
have influenced. From left, Tom Doak, Brian Curley, Scot Sherman, Perry Dye, Pete Dye, Bobby Weed, Alice Dye, Tim Liddy,
Greg Muirhead, Lee Schmidt, Taylor Zimbelman and P.B. Dye. Top left, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina and,
top, Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin
“He was a visionary designer who about each shot, which often led to “I’ve always said that Pete is my dad,
made every architect re-assess his or ‘doubt’ and poor execution.” but I have shared him with a lot of
her own philosophy and style. His “There are so many highlights of other people. All those people who
landforms, design angles and often my dad’s career,” says P.B. Dye. “Our have worked with him—that is his
intimidating visuals transformed family is very blessed. The game of impact on golf. The Bobby Weeds,
professional golf, perhaps like no other golf has been very good to my family. Bill Coores, all of these guys have
architect before him. He challenged Because of my mom and dad, golf worked with my dad, and learned
Tour players and made them think has become part of my life. from him…that’s the legacy.”
•
17GOLF REBORN
Back
from
the
brink
When a golf course
N
o good golf course deserves to diminished. So, too, there’s a cost
disappear, though many do— to repair aging, failing golf course
closes, there can and for many reasons. Among
them are fiscal mismanagement and
infrastructure. Key items that need
replacement on a 20-year-old course,
often be a string of natural disasters, but in most cases,
the demise of a golf course is tied to
from the irrigation system to cart paths
to broken drainage pipes can add up.
negative effects on the simple macroeconomic fundamentals. It’s not unlike needing to put a new
Perhaps the raw land is worth more roof on your house. Ignore it for too
community. Bringing being used in some other capacity, long and your entire house is in peril—
typically for residential and commercial but what can be done if you don’t have
back the golf, maybe real estate; the golf may succumb. the money for that new roof? You sell
in a re-imagined Within a course’s lifespan, the
warning signs toward abandonment
the house or else do nothing and face
the consequences later.
form, is often a far pulse intermittently in red. Start with
the scenario where the golf course
In the case of many municipal
courses facing decommission, the
better solution. Joe operation costs consistently exceed
income. In a retirement community,
blame can be similar to private sector
woes: rounds are down and so are
Passov considers some for instance, when members are dying revenues. Yet, there has also been a
off or quitting the game faster than philosophical change among some
rebirth stories they can be replaced, revenues are municipalities, that no longer should
18 | By DesignPhoto: Atlantic Beach CC
A new design from ASGCA Past President Erik Larsen brought Jacksonville’s Selva Marina course back to life
golf courses be subsidized recreation, in the community. It influences the safety concerns plague many
but instead may be treated as sink-or- town or city which benefited from abandoned tracks, from utility lines to
swim cash flow assets. the resulting commerce. crumbling cart paths to underground
While some locales became Horror stories from abandoned golf sprinklers. There’s virtually no end to
overbuilt during the real estate courses crop up all too frequently. the potential menaces.
boom of the 1990s and early 2000s, Copperhead snakes, bikers and meth Not every course is destined to live
with golf often merely a means—an
amenity—to push home sales, these
excess courses in most instances Horror stories from abandoned golf
can and should be preserved.
This is especially true given the courses crop up all too frequently
huge negatives associated with an
abandoned golf course. cookers took roost at a lost South forever, but many of them don’t have
When a course is decommissioned, Carolina course. Feral pigs took over to go under, either. With persistence
it affects more than merely the another. At a fallow Philadelphia- and creativity—and the assistance
golfers who once enjoyed it. It area course, a marijuana-growing of a golf course architect—even
impacts wage-earners who made operation prospered until being a struggling golf property can be
their livelihood from that golf discovered. A decommissioned layout reimagined into something that
course. It affects the property values on Florida’s Gulf Coast was choked benefits the greater good, in many
of homeowners on the course or with weeds 12 feet high. Countless cases with some form of golf playing
19GOLF REBORN
Photo: Atlantic Beach CC
The newly-named Atlantic Beach Country Club was cleverly reworked to accommodate
some housing lots and a new design aesthetic that is authentic to the area
a significant role. Here are three Enter Erik Larsen. A Past President improvements and because of that,
examples, each at a different stage of of ASGCA, Larsen had spent nearly we would attract even more members.
the process, of a golf course that was 30 years designing courses for And that’s exactly what happened.
either abandoned or nearly so that is Arnold Palmer, ASGCA Fellow, so it’s And it only took us two years to do it.”
now on the rebound. likely he knew a thing or two about Larsen’s plan was shepherded
heroic recoveries from the man who through the process by his friend and
The beach is back practically invented them on the golf fellow club member Pete Rodriguez
In 2012, the premier private course. In the case of Selva Marina, it and also by then club president
equity country club in suburban was personal. Larsen was a member. Mike Carlin. Entitlements and
Jacksonville’s Atlantic Beach, Selva “By the early 2000s, the golf course financing complications slowed the
Marina, was running out of gas. was literally dying from within,” process, but in time these issues were
Conditions had been spiraling said Larsen. “Simply, the club had overcome. Eventually, 178 new single
downward for years and the poor irrigation water. It was drawn family units emerged of mostly high-
membership rolls experienced a from Sherman Creek, which cuts end homes. By 2014 Selva Marina
similar plunge. Needed maintenance diagonally across the property and began morphing into Atlantic Beach
was deferred again and again. The it was almost brackish. You really Country Club.
club was having trouble making needed a new irrigation source in The developer was also required
payroll. In 2012, bankruptcy was order to resurrect the golf course.” to provide a golf course of at least
tap-tap-tapping at the door. What the club did have, Larsen 6,900 yards, and contribute to a
Site of the only double eagle that Jack noted, was remnant land. “I proposed new clubhouse. The community
Nicklaus, ASGCA Fellow, recorded selling the extra land, and letting me rallied behind the project and Larsen
in his PGA Tour career, at the par-five re-route the golf course. A developer delivered a superb golf course. “It had
72nd hole in the 1966 Jacksonville would build new homes and to be a wow!” says Larsen. “It had
Open, Selva Marina prospered from mandate membership purchase on to look like something authentic to
1958 until early in the 21st century, the new homebuyers, which would Atlantic Beach. It couldn’t look like
when it was drenched with water create guaranteed revenues through anything else in Jacksonville.” It didn’t.
woes. Things began sinking fast. dues. That would let us make more Most distinctive were the dunesy-
20 | By DesignPhoto: Atlantic Beach CC
Waters Edge
Golf Course
Fremont, Michigan
Golf course architect:
Raymond Hearn, ASGCA
Image: Raymond Hearn Golf Course Design
Image: LarsenGolf
Waters Edge is a ‘small town
USA’ golf course that has long
been a significant part of the
fabric of the idyllic town of
looking bunker features that among the finest in the south and Fremont in western Michigan.
resembled the beach dunes of the had benefited from a subsequent In 2015, the course was
nearby Atlantic Ocean. With lips Donald Ross tweak. That final week auctioned off due to upkeep
ranging from four to eighteen inches in May, native Virginian Sam Snead, issues and declining revenue. A
and Bahia grass on the backside, the current Masters champion, was decommission was contemplated
it yields the sensation of playing bidding for back-to-back majors as with a plan for golf to give way
a course sculpted right from the Hermitage served as venue for the to real estate. Instead, new
beach. All he kept was the old par- PGA Championship. Snead downed investors hired Ray Hearn to
five eighteenth hole, for sentimental Johnny Palmer in the final, 3 & 2, to develop a long-range master
reasons—where Arnold Palmer’s capture the Wanamaker Trophy for plan and ultimately to refurbish
chief nemesis, Jack Nicklaus, made the second time. and repurpose. Two new holes
history. It was hard to fathom that exactly opened in 2019 and a third is
Larsen is proud of the golf, but seventy years later, the only course on tap for 2020, together with
freely acknowledges that what ever to host a major championship in a new Player Performance Area
preserved his club was the land the state of Virginia faced extinction. (range, practice green, chipping,
itself. “This was basically a real Then things changed dramatically. short game and sand practice).
estate deal that saved it,” he said. “As After Henrico County bought When the tee is closed, the
of 2019, there wasn’t one lot without Hermitage Country Club in 1977 range can be transformed into
a home on it. It’s completely built and changed the course name to a three- or six-hole par-three
out and sold out.” Belmont, it enjoyed a long, healthy course. More improvements are
run operating the historic spread. slated over the next four years,
Snead’s sacred ground However, by March 2018, ominous including clubhouse upgrades
In late May, 1949, Belmont Golf warning signs had emerged. Belmont’s and a new training center. Play
Course in Richmond, Virginia, sat operations had turned a profit only is up, revenues have increased
atop the golf world. Known then once since 2000 ($5,429 in 2008). and the course once again is the
as Hermitage Country Club, the The county explored their options. pride of Fremont.
1916 A.W. Tillinghast design was By October 2018, six proposals
21GOLF REBORN
Wynn Golf Club
Las Vegas, Nevada
Golf course architect:
Tom Fazio, ASGCA
Photo: Brian Oar
When Steve Wynn built his
eponymous sequel to Shadow
Creek, he knew it might not be
a forever proposition. In 2005,
he said of his soon-to-open, Tom
Fazio-designed Wynn Golf Club:
“My property is worth 10 to 15 were being considered. None of On December 10, 2019, the First Tee
million an acre. I’ve got a billion them retained a golf component. of Greater Richmond won the bid to
and a half dollars of real estate Most ambitious was a radical assume management of Belmont with
under that golf course. It better repurposing that would eliminate a $4 million plan that would alter the
become a top destination, or golf and substitute a massive mixed- makeup of the existing golf course
else goodbye golf course. There use project. It would have included and add significantly to the number
will be no more golf course. It’ll a multipurpose indoor arena, of potential users. The course closed
be filled with buildings.” Fast an outdoor whitewater park, an down in January and is expected to
forward to December 2017. adventure park and a blend of hotel, reopen in late spring 2021. Purists
Wynn’s prognosis was on target. office, retail and residential space. won’t be thrilled that the 18-hole PGA
His golf course closed to make In the spring of 2019, following a Championship course will be reduced
way for a planned hotel addition, series of public meetings, the Henrico to 12 holes, but there are other
convention space expansion and County Board of Supervisors agreed reasons to get them to smile.
a 20-acre lagoon to be called to hold off implementing any plan When The First Tee approached
Paradise Park. Alas, as the course that involved repurposing Belmont Love Golf Design and proposed 12
sat abandoned, the buildings that didn’t include golf. As the holes and plenty of practice options,
never materialized. Fazio and Richmond Times-Dispatch reported: Sherman and the Love team were
his son Logan were summoned to “Belmont Golf Course is safe for now, engaged from the start. “We all
repurpose the course. Yardage but Henrico can’t promise it will chimed in very quickly and said that
was shaved from 7,042 to 6,722, always be a golf course.” not only does The First Tee aspect
eight entirely new holes were As always in life, Love is the answer. interest us,” said Sherman, “but you’re
constructed and ten others were Enter Scot Sherman, ASGCA, lead checking all of the boxes that golf is
remodeled. Modified contours, designer for Love Golf Design. begging for. Start with a fast-playing
wider landing areas, altered Together with Davis Love III and course—12 holes does that for you.
bunkers and a new 6,500-square- Davis’s brother Mark, Sherman has Lots of practice. Next, an entry-level
ft. putting green adjacent to the joined forces with the First Tee of facility—the putting course we’re
first tee have changed the layout’s Greater Richmond to take a course building is as entry-level as you can
look and playability. Wynn with the real possibility of being get. And the six-hole short course
reopened in October 2019. decommissioned and repurpose it we’re crafting is the very next step
Welcome back! into something that will benefit the up to the big course, which will have
greatest number of people possible. 12 Tillinghast golf holes. It’s a way to
22 | By DesignAn imaginative new design proposal from Scot Sherman, ASGCA, of Love Golf Design
could breathe new life into Belmont Golf Course in Richmond, Virginia. He plans to use
parts of the existing front nine for a short course and practice area (below), while twelve
Images: Courtesy of Scot Sherman, ASGCA Tillinghast-designed holes (including the back nine, left) will remain largely intact
impact the community, number one, has settled on is to create six replica of upscale homes that boast a
but it’s also a way to show there are green complexes of their favorite median sales price of $518,000. One
different ways to do this, rather than Tillinghast par-threes. home is on the market for $1.74
just an 18-hole experience.” For A.W. Tillinghast fans and million. The contrast is eye-popping
From the original 18 holes, students of golf history, it’s always and disheartening.
Sherman will keep holes seven disappointing to lose a true While many homeowners blame the
through 18 in the new Belmont championship course. What The current owner for mismanagement,
design. The holes won’t replicate First Tee of Greater Richmond, Love there was one undeniable culprit:
what Tillinghast originally crafted, Golf Design and Scot Sherman plan, water. Or, rather, it was the cost and
but will embrace his design tenets. however, is not only the next best availability of water. The backstory is
“Davis won his PGA Championship thing, it might even be a better thing. complicated, but the bottom line is
at Winged Foot,” said Sherman. The new setup will encourage a lot that there has been no water and no
“So he and Mark have quite a bit more people in the community to be playable golf course since 2018.
of affinity for Winged Foot, and able to use it. And yet, with 12 holes Potential buyers for Club West
of course Mr. Tillinghast’s work.” intact, folks will still get to walk in came and went. The cost to water the
The preliminary par is 48, with two those famous footsteps. golf course, estimated at $700,000
par-threes, eight par-fours and two per year and heading higher, is
par-fives and should now stretch to A modest proposal prohibitive. It proved to be the
4,500 yards. At Club West in Phoenix, the blight deal-killer every time. At one point,
The one-acre putting green will have is startling. As of January 2020, once a pipeline was proposed that would
the potential to contain an actual lush turf had turned weed-choked, transport water from the Gila River
putting course and the range will splotchy green in some spots, Indian Community, travel beneath
accommodate roughly 30 players parched dark brown in others. A the new South Mountain Freeway
and extend 300 yards. Perhaps most handsome lake at the clubhouse was and wind up at the golf course. That
intriguing, especially for architecture barely liquified, its shore rutted with idea, too, failed to launch.
buffs, is the prospect of the six-hole broken bricks and discarded trash. There is no happy ending in sight
short course, which will occupy the Coyotes, birds and rodents scurried for Club West and the concerned
plot that once housed the old fifth and fluttered in the clubhouse before Foothills Club West homeowners—
and sixth holes. The course features the caved in windows and doorways not yet, anyway. However, a proposed
holes ranging from 85 to 150 yards were finally boarded up. Not two plan is on the table. Enter Forrest
and the concept Love Golf Design minutes away stands a development Richardson, ASGCA. His firm is
23There is new hope for homeowners alongside the abandoned Club West course in Phoenix.
Forrest Richardson, ASGCA, has created a solution that will transform the landscape
(see visualisation above and, inset, the same hole as it is now) and is also helping to rebrand the club
part of a development team that will negatively impacted by an average of one, so the new course will be just as
endeavor to re-brand the community 9.5 percent. Thus, there’s certainly playable for everybody as the old one.”
and repurpose the decommissioned financial incentive for homeowners to Richardson recognizes that not all
golf course into a different facility, preserve a golf footprint. community members are on board
with golf as the primary feature. In Richardson’s solution is a USGA- with precision golf as a substitute
return, homeowners will have to rated, 18-hole, par-60 layout to for championship golf. “A par-60
confront a new reality. replace the existing par-72 tract. works because we’re giving people
The proposal is in its infancy. No Supplementing the precision course everything,” he said. “The plan is for
votes have taken place, no court will be a driving range, putting course 13 par-threes, one par-five and four
battles have been fought, no rezoning and a short-game area. In addition, par-fours. You can play in three to
hearings so far. But potentially, the the plan calls for a banquet/wedding/ three-and-a-half hours. That’s a good
plan represents a way forward. corporate hosting facility, restaurant, thing. But you still have those four
Without any sort of golf course, coffee shop, gathering area and par-fours, so you can whale away with
the negative effects are tangible. Not community area. your driver. And on the par five, you
only do locals lose a major aesthetic “The plan is to reduce the golf turf can take your chances for an eagle.
and recreational benefit, but research parcel from 162 acres to 110,” said You still have all the fun you want.”
shows that they lose community value Richardson. “It’s a precision course. To pay for all of this—new course,
as well. Upon the closure of a golf On the old course, 40 percent of the new state-of-the-art irrigation, drought-
course, the potential loss in value to land available for golf was covered tolerant turfgrass, new practice
homes in the development is between with turf—about 70 acres. The rest facilities and a new clubhouse,
four and 18 percent, even as much was natural desert and native. We’re homeowners would yield three
as 30 percent for a property located taking that down to 30 acres, so existing vacant parcels to a well-
directly on the course. Analysis of a roughly 30 percent of the 110 acres respected local homebuilder for the
nearby development which lost its will be golf turf. The new percentage development of 168 new single-family
golf course witnessed home prices of golf turf is pretty close to the old homes. The revenue generated from
24 | By DesignImages: Courtesy of Forrest Richardson & Assoc.
Tower Tee
Affton, Missouri
Golf course architect:
Art Schaupeter, ASGCA
Image: Art Schaupeter, ASGCA
Photo: Courtesy of Ahwatukee Foothills Newspaper
In July 2018, a south St. Louis,
family-friendly, golf-oriented sports
and recreation institution said
goodbye after more than 50
years. Two months prior, Tower
Tee owner Steve Lotz expressed
his sentiments: “I’ve been touched
by the outpouring of affection and
nostalgia. But I want to be clear,
there is no saving Tower Tee.”
At that time, the 27 acres were
destined for a new subdivision with
more than 150 homes. A year later
though, Lotz had to reach for his
fork, knife and salt shaker. He was
that, says Richardson, will help pay for golf course facilities would still be at going to have to eat his words.
the capital investment needed in the least two years away. After much pushback from locals,
golf course to turn it into something Richardson nods to the realities new investors Steve Walkenback
different. Without the housing, he of the reduced turf/water situation. and Mike Shamia decided that
says, no one is going to spend $9 He’s encountered it many times Tower Tee needed to stay put.
million making these improvements. and offers a solution.“In almost all They came to an agreement
For those existing homeowners who cases, it’s making the golf course with the developers, purchased
will lose their golf frontage because smaller in some fashion,” he says. the property and engaged Art
of the reconfigured design, the “Number two, it’s finding some Schaupeter, ASGCA, to repurpose
homebuilder will create enhanced other use for some of the land that the facility. Schaupeter is in the
landscape buffers and trails. is a much higher and better use in process of converting the old 18-
For any of these plans to come terms of revenue and capitalism. hole, par-three layout to nine holes
to fruition, it will take time. Right And the third component is trying to composed of classic replica and
now Richardson and the rest of the appease as many existing neighbors homage holes plus some originals.
development team are answering and constituents as possible. And Also on tap is a driving range with
questions from community residents. when all of those three things come grass and artificial tees, a short
Homeowners will have to vote to together and balance nicely, you have game area, precision chipping
change the deed restrictions in place, the possibility of creating something area, a 15,000-square-ft. practice
which would allow the new homes
to be constructed. If that happens,
•
really great.” green/putting course, miniature
golf, batting cages and footgolf.
then the process moves to the city ASGCA is always on the lookout for Further refinements include a
for rezoning meetings and hearings more golf courses that have been brought playground for kids, bocce courts
with the city council and planning “back from the brink.” If you know of and a patio area. Opening day is
commission. Even if every single step such a course, please email the project expected to be in the fall of 2020.
proceeded with a ‘Yes’ vote, the new information to marc@asgca.org.
25THE SANDHILLS CLUB
The art
of routing
Golf course architect Richard Mandell, ASGCA,
talks to By Design about a concept course project
M
ost golf enthusiasts will have really believe the architect should
found themselves, at some dictate specific paths from tee-to-
point, staring from their car green. Rather, I prefer to lay things
window at a stretch of land by the out and let the golfer figure it out.
roadside, and imagining the holes The strategy should be there and, if
that could be laid out there. Richard done well, there is more than one
Mandell, ASGCA, was so intrigued by answer from tee-to-green. That is As much as
the possibilities of one such site, that what strategy is all about. we all love the
he went a big step further: exploring I came across some ground a mythology of walking
the land, getting full topographical few miles outside of Pinehurst a site and ‘seeing the holes unfold
data, conceiving a full design and that seemed interesting. One day before our eyes,’ it really doesn’t
creating a routing map and hole I decided to walk the site and was happen like that. What really happens
visualizations. Since the start of 2020, intrigued by the variety of the is you walk a site, become giddy about
he has been releasing details of each ground. I asked Jim Ryan in my some very interesting landforms,
hole of this concept course, The office to find the topo of the site visualize a bunch of golf holes that
Sandhills Club, on social media. We so I could take a closer look. Once may or may not work together, and
spoke with him to find out more. I did, I started routing golf holes. then find the need to process it from
Each hole begat the following hole, overhead, unless you have the topo
What prompted you to develop this all of which were determined based map with you. On our first visit over
concept course? solely on the topography. It was the fence, we did not have any topo.
I think many people take for granted a very organic, fast-moving, and I had a good grip on the property
the art of the golf course routing and free-flowing process for me, and I from our visit and how it looked on
how the best golf holes are the ones was amazed at how each hole fit so paper, so the routing just flowed from
whose inherent strategy comes out of perfectly in the ground. there. Upon my return visit with a
the ground itself. The topography of a routing in hand, I fell in love with
hole should be the determining factor Tell us more about that site what I routed.
in how the hole should be approached. The routing is based on an actual
Routing from high point-to-high point, piece of property not far from the What has it been like to prepare a
utilizing angles of attack, usually office. I walked the property and we design without usual constraints,
reveals natural hazards along the covered the whole place. It never like land ownership, budget,
ground to challenge the golfer. stood out with dramatic views or environmental and client demands?
I don’t want to dictate ‘how it anything like that, but it did have The actual constraints of the site are
should be played’ because I don’t some great roll to it. what makes this exercise a challenge.
26 | By DesignYou can also read
