1890’s
America’s first golf courses date to 1884 (Oakhurst Golf Club and Foxburg Golf Club), but it was the following decade when many clubs introduced golf as an activity for members to enjoy. Rudimentary courses, typically nine-holes, made use of existing penal hazards including roads, fences and ditches and featured flat, square greens. Shinnecock Hills introduced golf to Long Island in 1891 and C.B. Macdonald designed the nation’s first eighteen-hole course at the Chicago Golf Club in 1893.
Representative Courses – Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martins), Myopia Hunt Club, The Country Club (Brookline).
1900’s
Courses evolved in the early part of the century. Popular nine-hole courses were expanded to eighteen holes to ease congestion, and holes were lengthened in response to improved player skill and technology. Professionals from the United Kingdom, Donald Ross and Willie Park Jr. among them, journeyed to America seeking opportunity and established themselves as the nation’s first golf professionals. In 1903, Englishman John Low published Concerning Golf which promoted the merits of playability and strategic (rather than penal) design. This shift in design concept marked the beginning of a three decade period known as the Golden Age.
Representative Courses – Garden City Golf Club, Oakmont Country Club, Pinehurst #2
1910’s
After visiting the British Isles, amateur golfer and architect C.B. Macdonald built the National Golf Links, incorporating “ideal holes” and design concepts from Great Britain. The National provided many with the opportunity to see strategic design for the first time. Collaboration was common, as C.B. Macdonald, Walter Travis and Devereaux Emmet shared ideas and worked together around New York. The Philadelphia School (A.W. Tillinghast, George Thomas, Hugh Wilson, William Flynn, William Fownes and George Crump) worked throughout the Philadelphia region. Pine Valley, where architects of the Philadelphia School worked with Walter Travis and Harry Colt, remains one of America’s most revered designs.
Representative Courses – Pine Valley Golf Club, Merion Golf Club, National Golf Links of America, Pebble Beach
1920’s
The economy of the roaring twenties provided ample opportunity to architects who spent the previous decades refining and expanding upon strategic design. Nearly 4,000 new courses were built during the decade. A.W. Tillinghast alone designed Winged Foot, Baltusrol, Baltimore Country Club, The Philadelphia Cricket Club, Fenway and Quaker Ridge between 1922 and 1926. A second generation of architects emerged as Seth Raynor took over for his mentor C.B. Macdonald and William Flynn carried on the legacy of Hugh Wilson. To compliment the established strategic design approach, architects such as Alister Mackenzie and William Flynn prioritized naturalism to blend courses with their natural surroundings.
Representative Courses – Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon), Fishers Island Club, Golf Club at Yale
1930’s
The rapid pace of the twenties came to a halt during the Great Depression. The few courses that managed to be built would struggle in their early years and not all would survive. Funded by the PGA of America, A.W. Tillinghast toured the country advising struggling clubs how to save money, often recommending the removal of bunkers that were costly to maintain. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Works Progress Administration (WPA), however, funded the construction of many public courses including Tillinghast’s Bethpage Black and Maxwell’s Southern Hills and Prairie Dunes.
Notable Courses – Bethpage (Black), Prairie Dunes, Crystal Downs, Augusta National
1940’s
World War II dealt another crippling blow to golf as recreation became nearly nonexistent. As the nation’s focus turned to the war efforts, many courses were re-purposed for military use, leaving an indelible mark on their routing and architecture. Although opportunities were limited, architects with connections to the Golden Age including Geoffrey Cornish, Robert Trent Jones, William Gordon, Red Lawrence and Robert Bruce Harris practiced again following the War. In 1947, Robert Bruce Harris and Robert Trent Jones invited twelve other architects to the Hotel New Yorker and established the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
Notable Courses – Peachtree Golf Club, Dunes Golf & Beach Club
1950’s
America’s desire for recreation returned in the fifties, and many architects turned their attention to courses that were neglected during the previous two decades. Dick Wilson (a former associate of William Flynn) and Robert Trent Jones dominated the decade with an occasionally contentious rivalry. RTJ’s renovations at Oakland Hills, Baltusrol, Oak Hill, Olympic and Winged Foot ahead of U.S. Open Championships garnered national recognition. Jones’s approach at these courses, which prioritized difficulty for the best players, resulted in a trend for many member clubs to strive for his maxim of a difficult par but an easy bogey. As a result, the qualities of playability, strategy and naturalism began to erode.
Notable Courses – Meadow Brook Hunt Club, Torrey Pines, NCR, Point O’ Woods, Laurel Valley
1960’s
Narrow fairways lined with deep rough, small greens, and man-made water hazards were common design elements that rewarded length and accuracy. Modern machinery allowed architects to work quickly and construct from plans rather than designing in harmony with the course’s natural surroundings. Pete Dye, an accomplished amateur player with no formal architectural training, was inspired to design with a more strategic approach after a trip to Scotland in 1963. Dye’s work at Crooked Stick and Harbour Town prioritized strategic elements seldom seen since the Golden Age.
Notable Courses – Crooked Stick, Saucon Valley (Weyhill), Hazeltine National, The Golf Club, Harbour Town, Desert Forest
1970’s
After working with Pete Dye at Harbour Town, Jack Nicklaus entered the design business with Muirfield Village in 1974. Other professional golfers followed Nicklaus into the industry, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Weiskopf, and Gary Player. Robert Trent Jones’s two sons, Rees and Robert Jr., established their own firms after training under their father during the previous two decades. The establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 led to increased regulation, forcing architects to route courses around wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas more than ever before.
Notable Courses – Muirfield Village, Butler National, Oak Tree National, Shoal Creek
1980’s
With his design practice firmly established, Pete Dye’s projects in the 1980’s provided valuable opportunities for a new generation of architects. Dye’s associates, all trained in the design-build process before establishing their own practices, included Tom Doak, Rod Whitman, Bill Coore, Jim Urbina and Bobby Weed. Equally as important in establishing his own practice was Tom Fazio, who had previously worked with his uncle George Fazio. Both Dye and Fazio utilized modern machinery and technology to create visually stimulating courses that continued to emphasize difficulty and provide heroic opportunities.
Notable Courses – TPC Sawgrass, Desert Highlands, Metedeconk National, Honors Course, Valhalla
1990’s
Suburban expansion resulted in the construction of thousands of golf courses, with nearly 60% serving as amenities for master plan residential communities. While golf as an amenity was not a novel concept, many developers prioritized profitability from housing which directly impacted the quality of many courses. In 1994, Dick Youngscap hired relatively inexperienced architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to design Sand Hills in Mullen, NE. Sand Hills represented a return to strategy and minimalism not embraced since the Golden Age. As other modern designers spent millions to construct high profile public and private courses, Coore & Crenshaw spent just $1.2 million creating a new standard for modern design.
Notable Courses – Sand Hills, Shadow Creek, Hudson National, Kiawah Island (Ocean Course), Kapalua Plantation
2000’s
Many unsustainable courses built during the 1990’s were shuttered in the latter part of the decade following the recession, but more Americans took up golf as Tiger Woods popularized the game. The success of Sand Hills created a demand for width and naturalism, shifting the design approach for new course construction. Mike Keiser, a founding member of Sand Hills, believed that great golf in a natural setting could be marketed to a “retail golfer” and built Bandon Dunes in a remote location four hours south of Portland, OR. Within ten years, three more courses were added to Bandon Dunes and the model for destination golf was proven.
Notable Courses – Pacific Dunes, Kingsley Club, Chambers Bay, Friar’s Head, Bandon Trails, Boston Golf Club
2010’s
As many Golden Age courses approached their centennials, clubs took interest in restoring lost design elements. Architects including Ron Prichard, Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, Keith Foster and Jim Urbina turned restoration into an artform, working with restraint and historical appreciation to restore courses that fell victim to design trends and reduced maintenance practices. While some architects built on the concept of minimalism established at Sand Hills decades earlier, others moved in a different direction with a bolder, maximalist approach. Regardless of design aesthetic, course construction continued to embrace the design-build process and naturalism anchored in classic architectural traits.
Notable Courses – Pinehurst 2 (Restoration), Sleepy Hollow (Restoration), Jeffersonville (Restoration), Sweetens Cove, Gamble Sands