Mike Clayton is a throwback to a bygone tradition of golf figures such as Willie Park, Jr., Walter Travis and Max Behr, top players who later became both architects and men of letters. Clayton won the Australian Amateur in 1978 and played the European Tour from 1982 until 2000. He’s written extensively for golf publications…
The developmental timeline of Reynolds Lake Oconee (formerly Reynolds Plantation) is a little like the biological evolution of the human species. As time passes, organisms (in this case, golf courses) multiply, establishing themselves in their surroundings while slowly developing complexity surpassing previous versions. Eventually they become highly specialized within the context of their ecosystem until, finally, they’re advanced to…
Not since Hugh Wilson at Merion has an architectural career been launched as brightly as David McLay Kidd’s. As a young designer in his 20’s, Kidd was tabbed by Mike Keiser to build the first course at Bandon Dunes. Kidd followed that spectacular success with a series of prestigious designs across several continents, becoming arguably…
A rundown of the best moments and most significant exchanges during the first full season of the Feed the Ball podcast. Highlights include thoughts on the current and future state of golf course architecture from Golf Digest architectural editor Ron Whitten, Golf Advisor’s Brad Klein and architect Ian Andrew; thoughts on Tiger Woods as designer…
Bruce Hepner began his architectural career in 1990 as an associate for Ron Forse, with whom he became one of the early advocates and influencers of historic golf course restoration. He returned home to Michigan in 1993 to work for Tom Doak, first as a shaper and later as a designer at modern masterpieces like Pacific…
Perhaps wanting to avert the mass gagging that commenced the last time he built a PGA TOUR TPC course in a Southern swamp, Pete Dye kept the spice in this particular gumbo relatively mild. Or perhaps it just seems that way since the pros — and all of us too — are much more acclimated to Dye’s cooking…
Brian Curley began his golf course architecture career working on a number of Pete Dye courses for Landmark Land Company. There he met another Dye protégé, Lee Schmidt, and the two combined forces to form the company Schmidt-Curley Golf Design. Since the 1990’s they’ve built courses all over the U.S. and throughout the world, and for…
I don’t know what billionaire owner and developer Herb Kohler asked for when he hired Pete Dye to design and build the Straits Course at Whistling Straits, but if he wanted a true homage to an Irish links he didn’t get it. Though it looks the part in a sweeping glance there’s scant opportunity for the creative or interpretive play that real links…
Peter Kessler — the Voice of Golf, historian and one of the most outspoken commentators in the game — returns to the podcast to talk to Derek about his recent social media dustups with Brandel Chamblee and the fans of No Laying Up, about being provocative on Twitter, the skills required to be great on…
We’re in trouble. That’s the theme the U.S. golf industry has been gaslighting since 2004 when it became evident participation rates and the number of annual rounds played were in free fall. In the time that’s passed, golf’s powers-that-be have responded to the game’s waning popularity and subsequent economic bottom-out with a unified call to…