CSUGolfer69 - Designer Showcase

hbdeveloper_SS
On October 7, 2015

1. How long have you been playing The Golf Club?
A: I’ve been playing and designing in my spare time since the first day the game was released on early access.

2. How would you describe your style of designing?
A: The only “style” I think I have, is that I try to make the entire experience of each course I create a unique one. I try to make every one of them different and distinct. I try to make a point to create memorable golf courses, because ultimately the only judgment I can make on any course I play is how much I enjoyed it. If I constrain my designs to using a specific type of characteristic, like bunker types, or green types, then I think I’m really limiting the potential of what the golfer is going to experience when they play my courses. I definitely try very hard to make sure that the course fits into the land, and looks like it has been discovered, rather than created or forced. The less work I have to do to change the underlying land, the better I think the end result usually is.

3. What do you use for inspiration when designing your courses?
A: I’ve been a longtime student of golf design, and own a catalog of about 60 books on golf course design from various generations of course architects. Although I enjoy all golf courses for their own merits, I’ve always been a student of Pete Dye. I have always loved courses that break the rules, challenge players to their limits, and require heroism, thought and creativity. Dye has always tried to create courses that players consider “unfair”, with characteristics that seem to defy the usual norms of course design. Ultimately, the holes we remember the most are the ones that we find unique, challenging, or strange, and I’ve never played a Dye course that I’ve ever been bored for a moment on.

4. Which two of your own courses are your favorites?
A: It’s difficult to choose a couple in particular, but I think the Loa Pali Golf Resort and Spa is my current favorite, just because it was the first one that I really took the time to build some non-course related surroundings into the layout. I think it feels more like a full experience than some of my previous courses. However, my favorite course layout has been Cuyahoga Golf Club. This was designed specifically for the TGCtours.com US Open design contest, and it was the first time that I tried to design a course that specifically would produce a winning score of slightly under par for an event. Every shot on the course requires judging several factors, such as wind, lie, distance, elevation, and also drawing and fading the ball correctly. The end result was a layout that punished an overly aggressive player, but also required creativity and thought on every shot to put up a good number.

5. Do you play golf in real life?
A: I do. I have played golf for 24 years, and tournament golf for 22 years, 6 of those as a professional.

6. Besides playing/designing in TGC , what are your other hobbies?
A: I really enjoy music, sports, and movies.

7. What is your favorite ice cream?
A: Neapolitan with sliced peaches.