Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects whose names might be new to you, but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan.
What shaping or design work are you best known for at this point?
I shaped for Gil Hanse on projects like Ohoopee Match Club and Baltusrol Lower. For my own work it would be renovating Seawane, a unique Devereux Emmet course built on a sandy nook on Long Island, and also at Great Dunes on Jekyll Island in Georgia. My partner Brian Ross and I stitched together nine coastal holes left over from a 1920s Walter Travis design with nine from one of the resort’s old Dick Wilson courses. The new combination jumps from the interior of pines and sandy savannah out to these great ocean dunes and back. It feels like the course that was supposed to be there.
Describe your approach to golf design.
I really value the integrity of the ground game. When you’re hitting linksy kinds of shots on the ground, you have to read the land like a putt. It’s all about your judgement of the shot and judgment of the conditions. It’s infinitely fascinating.
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Previous Next Pause Play false Private The Seawane Club Hewlett, NY 4.2 10 Panelists
- Best In State
In the era of social media, it’s tough to remain a true hidden gem these days. If it’s a good course, it has likely been discovered. The Seawane Club is as close to being hidden as it gets on golf-rich Long Island, boasting a tremendously creative routing from Devereux Emmett with recent work done by Jeff Stein, who has helped Gil Hanse at a number of his biggest projects.
View Course What are your non-negotiables when taking a job?
You can’t have equipment breaking down. I’ve had to use older equipment, pre-1990s machines, and made it work, but you have to know what to expect in order to get into a flow. Good equipment levels the playing field.
Who has been the biggest influence on you professionally?
I have to give a nod to my father. He ran his own business, which gave me the confidence for me to chase my dream.
MORE: The 13 most fun golf courses in the U.S., according to our expert
Who is your most underrated architect?
I don’t think we talk enough about Emmet. Some courses no longer exist or were renovated over like Garden City Golf Club, but a lot of his best work like St. George’s on Long Island, Schuyler Meadows near Albany and Seawane still shine. McGregor Links in the Saratoga area is so under the radar. That golf course is outrageous. It was like the Pine Valley of New York when it was built, just carved through virgin pine forests and crazy sand dunes. The 17th is this amazing uphill Alps hole. I never hear anyone talk about MacGregor, and I just don’t get it.
If you could change one thing about golf?
I would try to change peoples’ minds about keeping score. Play for fun, or a match, and pick up your ball instead of grinding over putts for double bogey. Grinding will wear you out. Relax, have fun, play quick.
What are three courses near you that everyone should try to play?
Around New York City I really like Pelham Bay, designed by John Van Kleek in the WPA era. It’s legitimate Golden Age golf. National Golf Links of America—I know it’s tough because it’s private, but it’s so important and spawned so many other courses. And the Sag Harbor 9, a no-frills public course, is one of my happy places, a piney, meadowy course with tiny greens, but it’s what a small, fun golf course should feel like.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
