Feed The Ball

The contour of Wolf Point (photo: nuzzocoursedesign.com) Jim Urbina and Derek Duncan discuss George Thomas, Pete Dye’s par-5 holes, Riviera , the Ghost Tree at Old Macdonald , whether bunkers have become too sanitized, “reasonable” green speeds, Stimpmeter readings from the 1970s. Powered by cowin app download Then Don Mahaffey enters the salon to talk about the beautiful simplic...

The 17th at Streamson Red For almost 25 years, Jeff Bradley has been known as the preeminent builder of golf course bunkers in the U.S. Working primarily for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw , his artistic bunkering has helped define the strategies and style of places like Cuscowilla , Bandon Trails and Friars Head . In doing so, Bradley has influenced a generation of young shapers. And while he’...

Wilshire George Waters began his design career after spending a summer living and doing course maintenance in Dornoch, then getting an internship with Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design . He worked construction projects for a variety of designers, including Doak, then wrote the seminal book on sand based courses, Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game . Today he is the manager of educati...

Barton Hills Country Club (Title page photo from Jon Cavalier. Above photo from tylerraedesign.com courtesy of Andy Johnson) Tyler Rae is gaining a reputation as one of the most talented up and coming golf course renovation and restoration specialists in the business. He’s worked with noted designer Ron Prichard for most of the last decade and now has embarked on his own, with an impressive...

The Mark Bostick Course at the University of Florida Designer Scot Sherman began his career working for the Dye family before joining Bobby Weed as an associate. He’s now the lead designer for Love Golf Design , the firm of brothers Mark Love and Davis Love III . In addition to overseeing new projects for them, he’s currently helping prep the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island for the 2021...

From the upper tee at Sand Hills’ 5th hole (the 4th green in the foreground). As superintendent of Sand Hills Golf Club for the last 13 years, Kyle Hegland has one of the most unique jobs in golf. The world-renowned course is located in one of the most extreme environments for golf — an arid climate ripped by savage winds and brutal winters. Yet Hegland’s expertise in creating an...

The Gunnamatta Course at The National (photo: renaissancegolf.com) Brian Schneider joined Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design in 2002. For the last 17 years he’s played a vital role creating some of this generation’s greatest golf courses around the world: Ballyneal , Old Macdonald , Cape Kidnappers , Rock Creek Cattle Company and others. He was the lead design associate on Barnbo...

Old Elm (photo: jdrewrogers.com) Drew Rogers hung out his own design shingle in 2010 after working 18 years with the firm of (Arthur ) Hills & (Steve) Forrest . While working for Hills he gained extensive expertise building new golf courses, albeit it to the specifications of Hills and his clients. Today, Rogers’ own architectural point of view is evident at a slew of remodel projects ar...

Sebonack When the story is at last written about the current era of neoclassical architecture, Jim Urbina is certain to be featured as a star character. He represents a distinct branch of the Dye architectural tree having begun his career working on projects for Pete and Perry Dye . Later, Tom Doak hired Urbina at Renaissance Design , where he played a major role creating blockbusters like Pacific...

Rockwind Community Links Over the last 15 years, Andy Staples has created his own space in the field of golf design by pioneering sustainability and efficiency in course construction and operation. He’s also helped create and popularize the concept of “ Community Links ,” a way to better integrate public golf into the lifestyle of the surrounding communities. His practice is hitt...

Giants Ridge Quarry Course Jeff Brauer began his career in 1977 working for Dick Nugent and Ken Killian in Chicago and represents a vital link to a previous generation of architecture. Since opening his own design firm in Dallas in 1984, he’s specialized in building public and resort courses in all parts of the country. In the last 20 years Brauer has found particular success in the central...

The smooth surface of Kingsbarns. Dave Wilber , aka the Turfgrass Zealot , is one of the world’s foremost authorities on golf grasses and soils. Agronomist to the stars, Wilber has consulted with and been instrumental in developing grassing plans for some of the world’s greatest courses, including places like Kingsbarns in Scotland and Friars Head . He’s also been a pioneer in th...

Tripp Davis is arguably the most skilled amateur player among active architects. He helped the University of Oklahoma win a National Championship in the 1980s and has been a ranked amateur for most of his adult life, even reaching the quarter finals of the 2009 U.S Mid-Amateur. Fluent in both original design, remodels and historic restoration, Davis has created notable new courses ( Grand Elk Ranc...

Paul Cowley has worn many hats in his golf career: land and landscape planner, structural architect, superintendent and construction engineer. The majority of his golf architecture career, however, was spent running projects and designing courses for Mark and Davis Love III . Known inside the industry as one of the most creative and original thinkers, Cowley helped the Loves build some of the most...

Bandon Trails Tom Dunne founded the independent golf journal McKellar in 2017. Featuring alluring artwork with a playful point of view and stories from the best writers in the business, McKellar has become one of the brightest stars of a much welcomed revival of boutique publishing. In the course of traveling extensively to explore different courses and cultures, Dunne has cultivated an original,...

Dutch architect Frank Pont made a dramatic jump from the diverse worlds of engineering, corporate banking and mergers into golf course design in the mid-2000s. Since that time he’s become one of Europe’s most active and respected practitioners in historical restoration and remodeling. Through his work at some of the most prominent old courses on the continent and in the UK he’s b...

Eric Iverson has worked with Tom Doak at Renaissance Golf Design since 2001. He’s widely viewed by his peers as one of the business’s most skilled and creative shapers and construction specialists. He helped craft such instant classics like Ballyneal , Cape Kidnappers , Barnbougle Dunes and Streamsong Blue . He also ran the Stone Eagle , Rock Creek Cattle Company and CommonGround proje...

Canadian Trevor Dormer has been in the golf construction business since the early 2000’s and has become a prominent member of the industry’s talented “under-40” (for now) group of construction specialists and shapers. He’s worked around the globe with, among others, Nicklaus Design , Rod Whitman , Ron Prichard , Bill Coore , and Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner . Dormer has s...

Bruce Charlton joined Robert Trent Jones II in 1981 and the two have been building courses across the globe for nearly 40 years. The firm has earned considerable acclaim for their entire body of work, but their undisputed masterpiece is Chambers Bay near Seattle, site of the 2015 U.S. Open (won by Jordan Speith ). Built on an abandoned sand and gravel mine on the shore of Puget Sound, the course i...

Dave Axland and Rod Whitman , two of modern golf’s most skilled and admired construction men, met in the 1980s through Bill Coore . Axland has been an associate and project manager for numerous Coore-Crenshaw courses since the mid-1990s including Sand Hills , Talking Stick , Friars Head , Old Sandwich , Chechessee Creek plus numerous others, and has designed Wild Horse and three more courses...

Rees Jones has spent nearly 35 years preparing, modifying and remodeling golf courses for major championship events. In addition to the 100 original courses and dozens of renovations he’s orchestrated, he’s infused his vision into such venerable American tournament courses as Pinehurst No. 2 , Oakland Hills , Medinah No. 3 and The Country Club for the staging of nearly 25 U.S. Opens an...

Kye Goalby , one of the most accomplished design and shaping specialists in the construction business, is at the top of the call list of just about every A-list golf architect when exceptional feature work is needed. For the last 20 years he’s worked on some of the world’s most unique projects alongside Gil Hanse , Brian Silva , Tim Liddy , Dan Hixson and Tom Doak , with whom he’...

David Marcucilli’s first passion is his hometown of Newtown, CT, where he’s attempting to orchestrate the funding and design of a new all-season public green space that will include his conception of innovative, non-traditional golf. He hopes it will become a place of sociability, togetherness and pride for a town that is still suffering from the unspeakable trauma and loss of the Sand...

Matt Dusenberry opened his own design firm in 2013 after years of building courses all over the world at Greg Norman Golf Course Design . He’s demonstrated incredible range in renovation work ranging from the flat Florida coast at Sandhill Crane in Hobe Sound to the magnificent mountain setting of the Cornerstone Club in Colorado. Particularly inspiring is his Golden Age-inspired remodel of...

Canadian designer, author, artist and historian Keith Cutten returns ( Episode 15 ) to discuss his new book, “The Evolution of Golf Course Design.” The book traces how golf course architecture has morphed and changed through time, and, more importantly, examines the underlying societal and economic forces that continually shape the way golf has historically been created. Keith talks to...