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Favorite Course Designers

  1. Tom Fazio - I have never played a Fazio course I didn't like
  2. Pete Dye - While I do a lot of cussing on Dye courses, the round is always memorable.
  3. Coore and Crenshaw - We-ko-pa - definitely in my top 5 Desert Courses and I can't wait to get to Sand Valley.
  4. James Foulis - He's designed a lot of the early 1900's courses around here and are all fantastic. It's amazing how he managed to utilize the existing terrain instead of moving a bunch of dirt around to make the course fit his vision.
  5. Keith Foster - He designed one of my home courses and I've played a few others too. I like seeking him out to see how other designs compare to my home course.
 
Vortex said:
Another vote for Pete Dye! I've played ~10 of his course designs and enjoyed all of them.

Not sure how many Nick Faldo courses are around, but I really like his work in Scottsdale.
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I've played a Faldo course in cyprus called Elea. Was my best golf experience of all time
 
PapaJohick said:
I enjoy Dye courses. THey make you think and i typically play decent on them. I can't just hit ball go get it hit again haha.

Mike strantz is my all time favorite though... The creativeness and just so many options. Plus visually his courses are usually spectacular.

Never have played coore/crenshaw though and would like to. I also really enjoy seth raynor courses for the old time feel.

Sam snead has one back home that i just cant get enough of when i play it. Really good layout wiht challenges everywhere but also playable to most.
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I will say that there's something comforting as a high handicap player to look at a Stranz hole from a teebox and feel like you can't miss because it's a wide open fairway (spoiler alert, you totally can,) and a low-handicap player has to be able to see where to place his drive in that big open fairway to lend himself the best opportunity to get at the green. Tot Hill Farm and Caledonia are some of the best courses I've ever played.
 
Paladin said:
I will say that there's something comforting as a high handicap player to look at a Stranz hole from a teebox and feel like you can't miss because it's a wide open fairway (spoiler alert, you totally can,) and a low-handicap player has to be able to see where to place his drive in that big open fairway to lend himself the best opportunity to get at the green. Tot Hill Farm and Caledonia are some of the best courses I've ever played.
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My favorite of his is bulls bay and Tobacco Road. You are correct though. Wide open off the tee that it takes a pretty special hit to miss for the most part ha ha


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Donald Ross is a favorite of mine.

Pete Dye isn’t something I’d want to play everyday but I love the challenge and the memorable holes that he comes up with.


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For me its Thomas McBroom hands down. Courses look so natural and always have soooo many "signature" or memorable holes. Challenging without being tricky.

Runner up is Palmer, because his Par 5 designs are the best ever. Nobody comes close in that regard.
 
PapaJohick said:
What course have you played that Jack lets you get away missing driver haha. Ive only played a few of his courses though, and none are very accepting if you can't get off the tee decently (accuracy wise not distance)
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Jack is notorious for having a fade carve out at many of his resort courses.
 
Vortex said:
Not sure how many Nick Faldo courses are around, but I really like his work in Scottsdale.
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I've only played one of his courses -- The Wilderness Club in Eureka, MT -- but it is a top notch layout.
 
Mike Strantz.
 
Lions81 said:
Coore & Crenshaw - Have loved their designs that Ive played, Streamsong Red, Bandon Trails, Kapalua Plantation. Generally very playable off the tee, and fun. They really use the land well so that it doesnt feel artificial in any way.

Tom Doak - Love the way his courses look visually, especially with the blow-out bunkers. Pacific Dunes and Streamsong Blue are both really fun tracks.
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I really need to experience more of their stuff. All on the short list.
 
fazio and dye come to mind. i have enjoyed watson courses, and i've played a johnnie miller course several times and enjoyed its layout.
 
A.W. Tillinghast is probably my overall favorite. I feel like his designs have really stood the test of time. For as burly as some of them are considered now (Bethpage Black, Baltusrol, Winged Foot) I can only imagine they were considered monstrosities at the time.
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What he said.
 
NOT Donald Ross.

Tom Bendelow gets my vote. Probably because my favorite course in town is one he designed. Super vanilla.
 
McLovin said:
fazio and dye come to mind. i have enjoyed watson courses, and i've played a johnnie miller course several times and enjoyed its layout.
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I've only played the Conservatory by Watson, but I would definitely like to play some of his others.
 
JB said:
Jack is notorious for having a fade carve out at many of his resort courses.
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Fits my ball flight perfectly

fupresti said:
Mike Strantz.
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Good one, I forgot about him.

PapaJohick said:
My favorite of his is bulls bay and Tobacco Road. You are correct though. Wide open off the tee that it takes a pretty special hit to miss for the most part ha ha


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Tobacco Road is fantastic
 
I don’t really know many course designers but the Stanley Thompson courses that I have played are well laid out and enjoyable.
 
Old school: Donald Ross, Seth Raynor, CB MacDonald

New school: Mike Strantz, Gil Hanse, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
 
JB said:
Jack is notorious for having a fade carve out at many of his resort courses.
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Not just resort courses. I imagine when Seminole, excuse me... Don Veller Seminole Golf Course and Club is done, it'll have lots of forced carries, lots of sand and set up well for a high fade.
 
Golf course architecture is one of those things I've never paid attention to but are starting to learn more about, trying to read and listen as much as I can on it.
 
alexped2393 said:
I've played a Faldo course in cyprus called Elea. Was my best golf experience of all time
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bigskyirish said:
I've only played one of his courses -- The Wilderness Club in Eureka, MT -- but it is a top notch layout.
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It sounds like we're 3 for 3! I celebrated a birthday at Wildfire and we played both courses. The Faldo course was more interesting/enjoyable compared to the Palmer option. https://www.marriott.com/golf-hotels/phxdr-jw-marriott-phoenix-desert-ridge-resort-and-spa/wildfire-golf-club/5233109/golf-course-information.mi
 
Of the major guys I really like all of the Jones family's designs, Arnold Palmer and Fred Couples. I've never played Coore and Crenshaw or Kidd but they really fit my eye well. I do NOT like Nicklaus, Dye, or Miller - I find them all far too penal.

Outside the "big" designers, I've really liked work I've played from Thomas McBroom, John Fought, and Ted Locke.
 
Tillinghast for me. I've played quite a few of his courses in the NJ/NY area and have enjoyed them all, with many of the designs withstanding the test of time.
 
I'd have to go with the designer of the top two courses on my "Unattainable Bucket List", Alister MacKenzie. Credit him with Cypress Point and Augusta National, the two bucket list courses most of us will never get to play, and considered to be two of the greatest courses in the world.

I have played one of his courses here in the Sacramento area, Haggin Oaks, and will likely play his Pasatiempo course in Santa Cruz one day. MacKenzie is also credited with working on Pebble Beach just before he created Cypress Point, specifically the 8th and 13th greens, although the course itself is not his design.
 
Living in the Carolinas, I get to try a number of Ross and Dye designed courses. I love the looks of Dye's courses, always interesting. The Ross courses I have played always have something unexpected, but the use of nature is expected.
 
Ross and have yet to dislike a RTJ track. The Senator at Capitol Hill is one of my all time favorites.

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