Golf course architecture is an art and something that takes a ton of creativity to accomplish.
What makes this sport so great is that no two courses are alike in the world. The history and layout of courses has changed so much in the past 100 years that the golf landscape is always evolving.
In the old days, golf courses were primarily links courses that look nothing like modern golf in the United States. Links golf in Great Britain have greens with a flat putting surface, rolling hills, and deep fescue rough.
While today’s course architecture is much different as courses must keep up with the changes in the golf industry – specifically distance. If courses don’t get updated, it’s hard to challenge players and golfers might go elsewhere.
But the people creating these fantastic tracks are always learning themselves and finding ways to challenge the modern player. Keep reading to learn everything about golf course design.
Golf Course Design – 15 Questions Answered
1. How do you design a golf course?
The first thing you need is a great imagination. It takes a ton of work to build a golf course so you need to first have a big picture vision of what you want to create.
From there, you will need to find the right piece of land to make it happen. The site itself plays a massive role in golf architecture.
Then, you need to start with the greens and go off the terrain. Each golf course is unique and 100% different so you need to use the land as a guide. Then work backward from the green back to the tee for each shot.
Each green needs to match the shot the average golfer will hit into the green.
For example, you don’t want thin green with trouble short and long if the average golfer will hit a hybrid or fairway metal into the green. While there should be some challenging holes, it shouldn’t feel like a greenskeepers revenge tournament on each hole.
Another thing to consider is to make the trouble in plain sight. There isn’t much more frustrating than hitting a shot that you think is perfect, only to end up OB or in the water. Designing a course like this is a good way to anger players and not have them return regularly.
Finally, make sure there are tons of tee boxes to cater to all types of golfers. Most courses have at least three sets of tees while some courses have five or six. This makes it fair for any type of player and overall a more enjoyable experience.
2. What are the five parts of a golf course?
The five parts of a golf course are the tee boxes, fairways, greens, rough, and hazards.
Each plays an integral role in making a complete golf course that will become profitable and players will enjoy teeing it up. Golf course architects always make sure the tee boxes give the right angles to the fairways, which usually match the terrain. Some golf holes are super tight and narrow like Pebble Beach while other holes have wide open fairways for golfers.
The greens change with the landscape and location of the golf course. Let’s not forget about hazards either. Some courses have more water hazards, others prefer sand to come into play, and some have other challenges as well.
These are the five areas that designers focus on when creating or updating existing golf courses.
3. What makes a great golf course site?
What I think makes a great design is a course that is fair but a good test of golf. What I love is when no two holes are the same and you end up using nearly every club in your bag.
I hate playing golf courses where it feels like the same hole over and over again. Or, using the same clubs (driver, wedge, putter) throughout the day.
It’s fun to have a mix of holes, with some long and some short. With a mix of some easy holes and some hard ones. Having that variety makes golfers stay mentally engaged and paired with the weather and wind, a fun day on the course.
4. Who are the most famous golf course architects?
This is a great question as there are so many incredible people who have turned a plot of land into an incredible course. Some of the most well known names include:
- Donald Ross
- Old Tom Morris
- Alistair Mackenzie
- Jack Nickalus
- Arnold Palmer
- Bill Coore
- Ben Crenshaw
- Tom Doak (who has six courses in the top 100 list)
- H.S. Colt (who has 11 course designs in the top 100 list)
5. What should I look for in a golf course?
Each golf hole needs to have its own set of challenges but also be fair to players. Here’s what I look for when I play a new course:
- Tee box: Good courses should have well-kept teeing grounds that are flat and smooth as a great driving range.
- Maintained fairways and rough: There should be a distinct cut from fairway to rough and reward players for finding the short stuff (and make it harder when you find your golf ball in the rough).
- Well positioned bunkers: Both off the tee and around the greens so you have to stay mentally engaged and work to save par if you find your golf ball in the sand.
- Difficulty level: There should be a few holes that require great golf shots to make birdie on the hole. Maybe a long par 3, a risk-reward short par 4, and a par 5 that is reachable but has an obstacle such as water. But you don’t want the course so hard that it’s not fun and people don’t want to return for more golf in the future.
Not to mention, a good practice facility to warm up before the round.
6. How do you become a golf course designer?
If you want to become a golf course designer, get ready to put in the work. Usually, they’re decent golfers themselves (or in the case of guys like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, amazing players). Plus, they usually have a degree in architecture and work under famous designers as an apprentice.
For example, Phil Smith of Phil Smith Designs, worked with some legends of the game before going out on his own.
As his website states, “After 10 years designing with Jack Nicklaus and 14 years working as Tom Weiskopf’s exclusive architect, Phil’s design career has been shaped by two of the top names in golf. Drawing inspiration from these two great legends, Phil has had the opportunity to absorb a lifetime’s worth of knowledge while contributing to some of today’s premier golf course developments. Phil’s philosophy of design has been shaped by the traditional values of golf.”
7. What are some of the most iconic courses in the world?
There is so much great golf design it’s hard to pick just a few but here are some of the most popular and critically acclaimed.
- Pebble Beach
- Augusta National
- St. Andrews (known as the home of golf)
Again, this list could go on and on as we’re fortunate to have thousands of golf courses in the world. Make sure to check out our article on the golfer’s bucket list courses. Read the 500 World’s Greatest Golf Holes to check out some of the best designs (and coolest holes) all over the world.
8. How long does it take to design a golf course?
Building courses is no easy feat. Planning, construction, and development can take years or in some cases decades before the project is complete. Plus, building a clubhouse and other features like parking lot, practice facilities, and lodging is a lengthy process.
According to William M. Amick, an ASGCA golf course architect, “The actual construction time for a golf course from ground -breaking to opening can be from one to two years, depending on the weather and amount of equipment used. But today it often takes an additional one to two years to obtain all of the permits and required approvals before construction can begin.”
Yikes, that’s a long time. Plus, other factors including zoning, resident development, and location as weather conditions play a huge factor. Needless to say, even if you have the land and money, it will take years to bring your dream of a golf course to reality.
Overall, re-designing a golf course is usually a much faster process than building a brand-new golf course. But of course you have to worry about other things such as existing membership, hiring a team to update the course, etc.
9. Is there a golf course design association?
Yes, the American Society of Golf Course Architects (known as ASGCA) is the governing body. After World War II ended, Robert Bruce Harris and Robert Trent Jones had their first meet of the new association.
The purpose of this organization is to:
- Grow and advance the game of golf.
- Foster professionalism to educate architects to design the best golf courses.
- Support and encourage beautiful course design and help meet the needs of golf course owners, communities, and developers.
To learn more about becoming a member, click here.
10. How much land does it take to build a golf course?
According to William M. Amick, an ASGCA golf course architect, “Most golfers expect a golf course to have 18 holes with a par of about 72, plus a practice range and practice greens. This typically requires from 140 to 180 acres of useable land. Nine holes with a par of 35 or 36 should take about half the acreage. However if nine holes are built initially, it is still better if there is enough land to design a second nine at the same time, for eventual expansion to 18.”
Needless to say, you’re going to need a large site to make it happen.
11. What software is needed to design a golf course?
As technology continues to advance, it’s made turning your dream of designing a course into reality much easier with software. There are tons of different pieces of software to give you a visual idea of what the course will look like even if you’re starting with nothing.
When researching this article, it looked like Total Pro Golf Course Designer was one of the most popular tools. According to the developer, “The Total Pro Golf Course Designer is a standalone application that allows users to create golf courses for use in Wolverine Studios’ Total Pro Golf which will be released in the summer of 2006. The TPG Course Designer combines ease of use with a powerful array of design options to provide a robust 2D environment in which users can design original course creation or replicate their favorite courses.”
Other software includes:
- 3D Nature
- CH Golf Editor
- AllyCad Home
I imagine golf course design firms have even more advanced software and likely keep that kind of technology for internal use only.
12. What are the best golf course design books?
There are tons of good books to help you learn more about building and designing golf courses. Here are some of the most popular ones you can find:
- Golf Course Design by Tom Fazio and Cal Brown
- St. Andrews – The Evolution of the Old Course by Scott MacPherson
- Tom Doak’s Little Red Book of Golf Course Architecture by Tom Doak
- The World Atlas of Golf by Pat Ward-Thomas
- Golf Architecture: Economy in Course Construction and Greenskeeping by Alister MacKenzie
13. How do you renovate an existing golf course?
According to the ASGCA there are four main ways to update a golf course without starting from scratch. Here is a brief overview of the four methods:
- Remodeling: This is a pretty big project and can mean blowing up holes, starting over a fresh design, or shifting multiple holes.
- Renovation: This type of golf course upgrade doesn’t include re-routing any holes but upgrading the existing ones. This includes adding length, adding bunkers, or updating greens.
- Restoration: This type of upgrade is for older courses to keep them relevant in today’s world but still honor their past as well. This is needed in today’s world as the driving distance changes courses and makes shorter, historic courses obsolete. You can see changes like this year nearly every year at Augusta as they added length on holes (like #11 and #15) to still challenge the best players in the world.
- Resurfacing: The last method is the easiest and fastest way to update an existing golf course. This is usually changing the type of grass on the tee boxes, fairways, or greens. A good example of this is going from Bermuda to bent grass or vice versa; some types of grass do better in certain climates than others which means better conditions for players year round.
14. Which players turned into designers?
A ton of great PGA Tour players went into design including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Players, Peter Allis, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Fazio, Freddy Couples, Tiger Woods, and more. They’ve created some masterpieces and changed the history of the game.
15. Do you get a golf course design degree?
According to the ASGCA, “Golf course architects come from varying backgrounds, with training in landscape architecture, civil engineering, environmental studies, agronomy, golf course construction and professional golf, to name a few. The most common degree amongst golf architects is landscape architecture.”
But as they mention in the FAQs page, most of the training is on the job. Designers need to learn so many aspects of the game and environment including: land planning, heavy construction, cost estimating, public speaking, civil engineering, and more.
Final Thoughts
Golf course design is an art form and something that requires a great deal of imagination and creativity. Finding land and building a course on it is no easy task but when it comes to life, it’s magic for golfers.
We’re all grateful for these visionaries who give us fun and challenging tracks to test our games. If you love golf and have the right background, it could be an incredible future profession too.
