Questions: Ben Crenshaw
On the silver anniversary of his second of two Masters titles, the pride of Austin talks about golf courses, golf books, and his life today. This year marks the 25th anniversary of your second Masters victory. What is your fondest memory from 1995? I was proud of the way I held myself together that week […]
Template Holes: Golf’s Most Mimicked Designs
“But don’t let famed holes…such as the ‘Alps’ of Prestwick and ‘Redan’ of North Berwick, lead you into attempting to reproduce them. In trying to make your course fit certain famous hole treatments, you are certain to be doomed to disappointment.” —DONALD ROSS, Golf Has Never Failed Me Sorry, Don. They didn’t listen. The idea […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: Green Design
Having navigated one year of writing about the importance of finding, organizing, and identifying the best set of golf holes to comprise a full golf course, it is now time to turn to the components of those holes—which bring holes to life, add flesh to the bones, and ultimately are what the vast majority of golfers […]
Jack Nicklaus at 80
Jack Nicklaus is telling stories. He’s seated on a makeshift stage for the reopening of the Great Waters course at Reynolds Lake Oconee, a design he originally built in 1992 in the picturesque, golf-mad community between Atlanta and Augusta. Back then, Nicklaus convinced the ownership that instead of building a string of McMansions along the 90 miles of lakefront, they should take […]
LINKS Exclusive Q&A: Course Architect Keith Rhebb
By Adam Stanley What a life it’s been for Keith Rhebb. A life, he says, he couldn’t even imagine in his dreams. Rhebb got his start in 2002 after working for a construction company in his hometown of Lincoln, Neb., and has made a name for himself working alongside Bill Coore and Ben […]
Dumbarnie Links
On a trip to Scotland last fall I had the opportunity to play a sneak-preview round at Dumbarnie Links. Clive Clark, a member of the 1973 Great Britain and Ireland Ryder Cup team, has taken a relatively undistinguished landscape and created 18 fun, testing, and memorable holes. About nine miles south of St. Andrews on […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: The Land
Whether you’re designing a building, a road, or any structure, every good design starts with a solid foundation. In the case of golf course architecture, that foundation is the land. There are relatively few great golf courses that do not sit on great pieces of land. The exceptions rely on features created by golf course […]
What’s Tougher: Renovating a Course or Designing New?
When asked if they’d rather build from scratch or renovating existing courses, most architects say they prefer to build new. Some pause a moment, however, before adjusting their response. “Actually, it depends.” There’s a lot to think about. Before taking on a new course, the architect must consider the quality of the site, how far […]
The 5 Classic Public Courses Most in Need of Renovation Love
By Adam Schupak We are in the Age of Renovation in golf course architecture. So the title of this piece—choosing only five public courses in need of work—is highly subjective and ripe for debate. (Let the games begin in the comments section!) But we can all agree that many municipal and public courses would […]
The Essential: Dick Wilson
These days, many define the post-war period in golf design as the “Robert Trent Jones Era,” but it’s sometimes forgotten that for nearly 20 years he had a rival matching him course for course. Louis Sibbett “Dick” Wilson, born in Philadelphia in 1904, dropped out of the University of Vermont (which he had attended on […]
