Tag: golf architecture

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 26, ft. Greg Letsche

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 26, ft. Greg Letsche

Golf course architect Greg Letsche, lead designer for Ernie Els Design, joins Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina to discuss his early years working for Pete Dye, how running projects for Jack Nicklaus differed from his experience with Dye, the design similarities between Dye and Nicklaus, the sometimes absurd…

Read More Read More

Episode 86: Blake Conant

Episode 86: Blake Conant

In less than 10 years in the profession, Blake Conant has risen from crew member to shaper to the co-designer of Old Barnwell, a stunning new course near Aiken, S.C. Conant has primarily shaped greens and bunkers for Tom Doak at projects like Houston’s Memorial Park, Bel Air, The National’s Gunnamatta Course in Australia and…

Read More Read More

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 25, ft. Josh Pettit

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 25, ft. Josh Pettit

Designer and historian Josh Pettit began collecting the writings of Alister MacKenzie for his new compendium of essays, “The MacKenzie Reader,” years ago, and was ready to publish in 2020 when the pandemic postponed printing until the summer of 2022. The wait was worth it–the Reader is a gorgeous volume of Pettit’s selections of the…

Read More Read More

Episode 81: Jim Nagle

Episode 81: Jim Nagle

Jim Nagle began working with golf course renovation and historical restoration legend Ron Forse in 1998, in what might be considered the field’s pioneering days. Golf course restoration is an attempt to reestablish a course’s first principles–placing it back in a specific point in time, usually in accordance with the way the original architect designed…

Read More Read More

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 23, ft. Jason Straka

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 23, ft. Jason Straka

Jason Straka has been a principle in Fry/Straka Global Golf Design since joining with partner Dana Fry in 2012. Previously he was the senior architect for Hurdzan-Fry Golf Design, helping that company build landmark courses like Calusa Pines, Erin Hills and Shelter Harbor. Fry/Straka is one of the hottest design firms in the world right…

Read More Read More

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 22, ft. Andy Staples

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 22, ft. Andy Staples

Andy Staples positioned himself as one of the profession’s most creative architects with his throwback renovation of Meadowbrook Country Club near Detroit with its Willie Park, Jr. inspired early-1900s shaping. He moved into the 1920s with his green designs and shot strategies at The Match Course at PGA National Resort, opened in 2021, that pull…

Read More Read More

Episode 80: Joe Jemsek on Dick Wilson

Episode 80: Joe Jemsek on Dick Wilson

Joe Jemsek grew up with Dick Wilson. At least figuratively. In the early 1960s, Wilson, one of golf architecture’s most interesting and possibly misunderstood figures, designed the former America’s 100 Greatest Course Cog Hill No. 4 in Chicago, known as Dubsdread, for Jemsek’s grandfather. Few people knew Wilson or his former partner Joe Lee as…

Read More Read More

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 20, ft. Dave Axland and Tim Liddy

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 20, ft. Dave Axland and Tim Liddy

Tim Liddy and Dave Axland have worked together on a number of projects including, most recently, Harrison Lake in Indiana, a remodel that included the addition of several new holes and a re-routing of the course. Liddy, the primary designer, was a longtime collaborator with the late Pete Dye and knows his mentor’s work and…

Read More Read More

Episode 79: Andrew Green

Episode 79: Andrew Green

In just the last several years, designer Andrew Green has played a prominent role in guiding back to their founding architectural spirit a number of prominent major championship courses, including America’s 100 Greatest Courses fixtures Inverness Club, Oak Hill East and Congressional Blue. He’s also brought back to life the most interesting features that had…

Read More Read More

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 19: Bunkers ft. Ron Whitten

Feed the Ball Salon Vol. 19: Bunkers ft. Ron Whitten

The topic is bunkers: should they be placed scientifically or randomly? Should there be more or less, or any at all? Has the naturalistic look become ubiquitous and overused? What about proper bunker depth? Are liners a waste of money? And are bunker still the hazards they once were, have they lost their importance, and…

Read More Read More