Oregon native Dan Hixson began his golf career as a tour pro and later became a club professional, but his real desire was to be a golf course architect. Despite no formal training, he slowly learned the profession and soon was hired to build Bandon Crossings, a public course just south of Bandon Dunes. That…
Ron Whitten has been one of the most prominent and influential voices in golf course architecture since the mid-1980’s when he became Golf Digest’s architecture editor. He created the current criteria for the magazine’s popular (or, depending, notorious) Top 100 U.S & World Courses lists, has written various books including the essential compendium, “The Architects of…
The first project Kyle Franz ever worked on was Tom Doak’s masterpiece, Pacific Dunes, a course now recognized as one of the best in the world. That fortuitous turn launched his design/build career where he amassed one of the business’s strongest pedigrees shaping courses for Bill Coore, Tim Liddy, Gil Hanse and others. His big solo break came…
The first project Kyle Franz ever worked on was Tom Doak’s masterpiece, Pacific Dunes, a course now recognized as one of the best in the world. That fortuitous turn launched his design/build career where he amassed one of the business’s strongest pedigrees shaping courses for Bill Coore, Tim Liddy, Gil Hanse and others. His big solo break came…
Mike Nuzzo seemed to have struck gold when he was hired by a wealthy Texas businessman and rancher to build an ultra-exclusive golf course intended only for the client’s personal use. For almost three years, Nuzzo, a first-time architect, and Don Mahaffey, a turf and irrigation specialist, coaxed out a wide, bouncy and fascinating 18-hole…
Mike Nuzzo seemed to have struck gold when he was hired by a wealthy Texas businessman and rancher to build an ultra-exclusive golf course intended only for the client’s personal use. For almost three years, Nuzzo, a first-time architect, and Don Mahaffey, a turf and irrigation specialist, coaxed out a wide, bouncy and fascinating 18-hole…
Architect Jeff Mingay broke into golf course architecture working projects for his mentor and fellow Canadian Rod Whitman. In 2009, after completing a trio of Canada’s most exceptional modern golf courses — Blackhawk, Sagebrush and Cabot Links — he opened his own design business and found immediate success renovating and restoring courses in British Columbia…
Sweetens Cove has captured the hearts and minds of the architecture world. Rob Collins and design partner Tad King began building the 9-hole course, 30 minutes west of Chattanooga, in 2012 and have watched it become an impassioned touchstone for a vocal, hardcore group of golf course fanatics as it marches steadily up the golf…
Mike Young has seen the golf course design business from all sides, starting as a rep for maintenance and turf companies before establishing himself as one of the state of Georgia’s most prominent and prolific architects. Young builds his courses the old fashioned way — himself — and his years as designer, builder and…
Tim Liddy began his career working closely with Pete Dye in 1993, transitioning into golf course design following a career in landscape architecture. The two men have enjoyed a close collaboration for a quarter century, with Liddy becoming fluent in the Dye vernacular while also establishing his own independent firm responsible for highly acclaimed original…