Architect Stephen Kay has been involved in the building, remodeling or renovation of over 300 courses during his design career spanning back to the mid-1980s. He was one of the pioneering voices in the late 80s for looking at the historical record of a course during renovation to attempt to honor the original architecture. He…
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…
Rees Jones‘ design work has touched public, resort, club golf and major championship golf as much as any architect of the modern era. He enters the Salon to talk with Jim Urbina and Derek Duncan about balancing the many voices that weigh in on projects in the “remodeling era,” constructing on technically challenging sites vs…
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…
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…
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…
Brian Silva began working for iconic New England architect Geoffrey Cornish in 1983, building golf courses in the traditional way of the day. After a revelation concerning the essence of strategic golf he transitioned into golf course restoration, becoming one of the business’s most respected talents at renovating historic Golden Age-era courses. His particular passion…
No one has ever accused Tom Fazio of being a minimalist. In fact Fazio seems almost hostile to the idea that there’s virtue in building holes with as little construction involved as possible. If the option is presented, why not take full control of the design process? Had modern industrial machines and equipment, Fazio has conjectured, been widely…
There’s no denying the enchanting qualities of Ocean Forest, the ultra-private club on the north tip of Sea Island off the coast of Brunswick, GA. The feeling here is that you’re playing golf in a hideaway on one of the last undeveloped tracts in the coastal Southeast, the final remaining barrier between sea and civilization. The…
Richard Mandell’s golf design practice has taken off over the last 10 years. He entered the business in the early 1990’s and paid his dues for over a decade working singular jobs while learning how to build and renovate courses with a minimal amount of of unnecessary inputs or accessorization. As a result he gained a…