The hands that shaped the courses we love

Pete Dye was one of the most visionary and influential golf course architects in history, whose unconventional, risk-reward-driven designs transformed modern golf course architecture. Known for his use of railroad ties, island greens, and severe bunkering, Dye's courses are simultaneously beloved and feared by golfers worldwide. His masterworks include the TPC Sawgrass, Kiawah Island's Ocean Course, Crooked Stick, and the Casa de Campo Teeth of the Dog.

Arnold Palmer was one of golf's all-time greats and helped launch signature course design as a major business. His design firm, Arnold Palmer Design Company, created hundreds of courses worldwide blending playability with beauty. His designs are known for their accessibility and reflect his belief that golf should be enjoyed by all skill levels.

Jack Nicklaus, the winner of a record 18 major championships, is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time and one of the most influential golf course architects in history. His design firm, Nicklaus Design, has created or renovated over 400 courses in 45 countries, making it one of the largest and most celebrated design organizations in the world. Nicklaus brings his unparalleled playing experience and exacting standards for strategic challenge to every project his firm undertakes.

Greg Norman, the legendary Australian professional known as 'The Great White Shark,' extended his influence in golf through Greg Norman Golf Course Design, one of the world's most internationally active design firms. Founded in 1987, the firm has completed over 100 projects across 35 countries, with a reputation for bold, dramatic courses suited to television and tournament play. Norman is hands-on with each project and brings a player's perspective to every design.

Ted Robinson was an American golf course architect who designed over 160 courses across the western United States and internationally during a five-decade career, earning the nickname 'King of Waterscapes' for his distinctive and pioneering use of water as a primary design feature. Based in Laguna Beach, California, Robinson was a past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and created landmark courses at Sahalee Country Club in Washington and Ko Olina in Hawaii. His son Ted Robinson Jr. joined the firm in 1991 and continues the family practice today.

Brian Curley and Lee Schmidt formed Schmidt-Curley Design in 1997 after both spent formative years at Landmark Land Company working alongside Pete Dye. The Scottsdale-based firm became one of the most prolific design partnerships in the world, earning Golf Magazine's Architect of the Year in 2011. They are widely credited as pioneers of the golf boom in China and Asia, having designed over 50 courses there alone.

Clive Clark is an English golf course architect and former European Tour professional born in 1945 who played in both the Walker Cup and Ryder Cup before transitioning into broadcasting and design. He spent 18 years as a BBC television commentator alongside Peter Alliss before launching Clive Clark Design, which has produced over 35 award-winning courses in the United States and Europe. His courses, often described as works of art, include the acclaimed Belgrade Lakes in Maine and Dumbarnie Links in Scotland.

Dan Maples is a third-generation golf course architect born in 1947 in Pinehurst, North Carolina, descending from a family whose roots in golf construction trace back to the 19th century. After earning a landscape architecture degree from the University of Georgia, he partnered with his father Ellis Maples before founding Dan Maples Design Inc. in 1984. He became one of the dominant designers on the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand, where eight of nineteen courses built in the 1980s bore his name.

Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Design is the firm founded by Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, two of the most decorated golf course architects in the American industry. Their partnership, active from 1988 to 2012, produced over 100 courses with a signature emphasis on environmental sustainability, strategic design, and minimizing the ecological footprint of golf construction. Their most celebrated collaboration is Erin Hills in Wisconsin, host of the 2017 U.S. Open.

Mike Strantz was an American golf course architect from Ohio whose visually dramatic, artistically fearless designs earned him a place on Golfweek's list of the top ten greatest golf architects of all time, despite a career cut short at just nine original courses before his death in 2005. Trained as a fine artist and shaper under Tom Fazio, Strantz brought a painter's eye to golf design, creating bold, unconventional layouts that challenged conventional thinking about what a golf course could look like. His courses — including Tobacco Road, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, and True Blue — remain pilgrimage destinations for architecture enthusiasts.

Tom Fazio is the most decorated American golf course architect of the modern era, named Golf Digest's top architect in the United States for over two decades and credited with more courses on the magazine's Top 100 lists than any other designer. Working from his base in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Fazio has built a portfolio of over 200 courses defined by dramatic earthwork, flawless presentation, and a design philosophy that makes difficulty look effortless. Among his most celebrated works are Shadow Creek, Augusta National's ongoing renovations, Wade Hampton Club, and Pinehurst No. 6.

William Bell refers to the father-and-son design dynasty — William Park 'Billy' Bell Sr. (1886–1953) and William Francis 'Billy' Bell Jr. (1918–1984) — who together designed or renovated over 300 golf courses and are considered the most important architects in California golf history. Bell Sr. collaborated with George Thomas on masterworks including Riviera Country Club and Bel-Air before establishing a prolific solo practice, while Bell Jr. realized his father's vision for Torrey Pines and built dozens of acclaimed courses across Southern California. The Bells defined the aesthetic and institutional landscape of California golf for six decades.

Casey O'Callaghan is a Newport Beach, California-based golf course architect who has focused on new construction, master planning, and renovation since founding his firm in 1990. A graduate of the University of California Berkeley's School of Environmental Design, he is known for courses that blend seamlessly with their natural surroundings. His firm has completed award-winning projects throughout the United States, Asia, and Latin America.

Davis Love III is an American PGA Tour professional and golf course architect who has translated a career built on technical precision and deep golf knowledge into award-winning course designs. His design firm, Davis Love III Golf Course Design, is known for thoughtful layouts that reward strategic play and enhance natural landscapes. Among his most celebrated works is The Third at Watersound Club in the Florida Panhandle.

John Fought is an American golf course architect and former PGA Tour professional who parlayed a decorated amateur and playing career — including the 1977 U.S. Amateur title — into a successful second career in design. He founded John Fought Design in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1995, and is known for courses that blend classic design principles with precise, player-centered construction. His portfolio includes Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon and The Gallery at Dove Mountain in Tucson.

Ken Tomlinson is a South Carolina-based golf developer and amateur architect best known as the visionary behind Tidewater Golf Club in North Myrtle Beach, one of the most acclaimed public courses in the American Southeast. Though not a trained architect, his deep knowledge of golf and passion for classic design principles produced a course named the best new public course in America by both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine in 1990. Tidewater has maintained its elite ranking for decades as a testament to its exceptional routing and natural beauty.

Larry Young is an American golf developer and entrepreneur known as the 'Mogul of Myrtle Beach' for his transformative role in building the Grand Strand's golf scene, including founding Legends Golf Resort. Though primarily a developer rather than a trained architect, Young designed the Parkland Course at Legends Resort himself, drawing inspiration from the strategic traditions of Alister MacKenzie and George Thomas. He passed away in 2021 and was inducted posthumously into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Mel Graham is an American real estate developer and entrepreneur, nephew of the evangelist Billy Graham, who is best known in golf circles as the creator of World Tour Golf Links in Myrtle Beach — a uniquely conceived course featuring replica holes from the world's greatest layouts. He founded Graham Enterprises in 1978, which grew into one of the leading real estate and development firms in the Carolinas. Though primarily a developer rather than a trained architect, Graham's vision for World Tour Golf Links created an entirely new category of golf experience.

Sir Nick Faldo is a six-time major champion and one of England's greatest professional golfers who has built a respected second career in golf course architecture through Faldo Design. The firm has completed projects across Europe, Asia, and North America, creating courses that reflect Faldo's meticulous, detail-oriented approach to the game. Among Faldo Design's notable works is the Faldo Course at Mission Hills in China and Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland.

P.B. Dye is an American golf course architect and the son of the legendary Pete Dye, who has built his own distinguished career designing bold and adventurous courses across the United States. Known for his Moorland Course at Legends Resort in Myrtle Beach — which features the daring elevation changes and creative bunkering characteristic of the Dye family tradition — he has forged an identity that honors his father's legacy while expressing its own distinct creative voice. P.B. has also designed courses at Prestwick Country Club and St. James Plantation, among others.

Raymond Floyd is an American professional golfer and four-time major champion who has extended his legacy through golf course design, with work concentrated in Florida and the Caribbean. His designs reflect a career-long emphasis on strategic course management and a premium on positioning off the tee. Floyd's courses are known for their playability for high-handicap golfers while still presenting a serious test from the back tees.

Robert Trent Jones Sr. was the most prolific and influential golf course architect of the 20th century, credited with designing or renovating over 500 courses in 45 states and 35 countries during a career that spanned seven decades. Known as the 'Open Doctor' for his renovation work at U.S. Open venues, Jones favored dramatic bunkering, penal water hazards, and large greens that rewarded precise iron play. He was the first golf course architect inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Roger Rulewich is an American golf course architect and Yale-trained civil engineer who spent 34 years as Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s principal designer before founding his own firm in 1995. As Jones's chief lieutenant, Rulewich was the actual designer of many of the hundreds of courses credited to RTJ Sr. — including much of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama — while his own firm, the Roger Rulewich Group, went on to produce acclaimed designs at Saratoga National, Ballyowen, and Fox Hopyard. He served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

Ron Garl is an American golf course architect and University of Florida graduate who has designed or renovated over 250 courses worldwide, with particular concentration in his home state of Florida where he ranks second only to Tom Fazio in design accolades. Known as 'The Renaissance Man of Golf Architecture' for his hands-on involvement in every phase of design and construction, Garl pioneered the concept of replica-hole design and earned the Audubon International Signature Sanctuary status for his environmentally groundbreaking Indian River Club. He has been named Golf Designer of the Year by the International Network of Golf.

Thomas Walker is an American golf course architect who served as Vice President of Gary Player Design Company before founding his own firm, having designed nearly 30 courses across the United States. He is best known along the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand for the Founders Club at Pawleys Island, a well-regarded layout that opened in 2008 on the historic Sea Gull country. Walker's courses are distinguished by a commitment to excellence, strong construction oversight, and an immersive design process.

Tim Cate is a registered landscape architect and golf course designer based in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, whose work along the Brunswick Islands and Grand Strand has made him one of the most admired regional architects in the American Southeast. A University of Georgia graduate who worked under Willard Byrd before founding Tim Cate Designs in 1992, he is best known for four acclaimed courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation — Panther's Run, Tiger's Eye, Leopard's Chase, and Jaguar's Lair — as well as the award-winning Thistle Golf Club and Cape Fear National at Brunswick Forest. Golf Digest and Golf Magazine have named his courses among the best new public layouts in America on multiple occasions.

Tom Doak is widely regarded as one of the finest golf course architects working today, known for his minimalist, land-first philosophy and his rigorous study of Golden Age architecture. A Cornell University graduate who worked under Pete Dye and traveled extensively in the British Isles, Doak founded Renaissance Golf Design in 1987 and has created a portfolio of universally acclaimed courses including Pacific Dunes, Barnbougle Dunes, Cape Kidnappers, and Streamsong Red. He is the only architect in the modern era to have placed four courses on Golf Digest's Top 100 in the World simultaneously.

Willard C. Byrd was an American golf course architect and landscape architect who spent nearly five decades designing over 100 courses concentrated in the southeastern United States from his Atlanta-based firm. Born in Whiteville, North Carolina, in 1919, Byrd earned a landscape architecture degree from NC State after serving in World War II and founded Willard C. Byrd & Associates in 1956, becoming one of the dominant designers in the region. His legacy courses along the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand — including Lion's Paw, Litchfield, Lockwood Folly, and Meadowlands — have stood the test of time.