James Duncan came to the U.S. from his native Denmark in the early 1990s to learn the craft of building golf courses. He learned from the best, working first with Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design, then joining with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to help construct courses like East Hampton, Old Sandwich, Bandon Trails,…
Designer Bill Coore comes into the salon to discuss greens and putting surfaces with Jim Urbina and Derek Duncan. Topics include the importance of shaping greens and surrounds in relation to single holes or the entire golf course, the 14th and 2nd greens at Sand Hills, building “floating” greens and finding natural landforms, looking vs.…
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…
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 and maintaining…
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,…
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…
Mike Keiser once said the property at Sand Valley reminded him of a combination of Pine Valley, Sand Hills and Sunningdale. Talk about raising expectations. Intimate knowledge of those courses isn’t required to appreciate this rare environment of barren sand, monstrous dunes and orbital pine forests that accounts for Sand Valley. In fact you need…
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…
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…
Peter Kessler was the face and voice of the Golf Channel when the station first went live in 1995. Over the next seven years he commanded the show, mastering ceremonies and interviewing virtually every important figure in golf and instruction. In the course of that time period, and for years following hosting his show on…