PGA Village, FL: A Dye course and famous golf school.
Pete Dye: Lifelong Innovator
(Part-Time Intimidator)
Welcome to the seventh installment in an ongoing series of
articles on golf course designers and the style and value they
bring to a golf community. Past installments have focused on
Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer, Arthur Hills,
Robert Trent Jones II, Bob Cupp and Tom Jackson.
Forget railroad ties, island greens and “Dye-abolical” course
layouts that all the “experts” cite in summing up Pete Dye’s
mark on golf course design. Dye’s career makes sense only
if you understand that in the late 1960s and ‘70s he
re-introduced the strategic subtleties of British links golf into
American golf course design, and in doing so, changed
American golf forever.
Now in his 80's and still designing, Dye grew up playing a nine-
hole course on his family’s farm in Urbana, Ohio. He won the
Ohio State High School Championship and continued to
compete in amateur events for decades.
FLORIDA: Harbour Ridge Yacht & Country Club
The architect’s life and career changed in 1963, when he took
his first trip to Scotland. That visit freed Pete Dye to bring a
sense of mystery and natural, free-form randomness to the
fairways and greens he would build.
Dye had none other than Jack Nicklaus along as a rookie
assistant designer when he built the world-famous Harbour
Town Golf Links within Sea Pines Plantation on HIlton Head
Island. Site of an annual PGA Tour event, the Harbour Town
course was Dye’s first visible statement of how British
linksland design elements would influence him from that
point on.
GEORGIA: Marina Cottages at The Ford Plantation
Almost every type of terrain has golf potential, in Dye’s view,
but he is particularly fond of Carolina Lowcountry marsh.
Colleton River Plantation, where a bold and fast-running Dye
layout complements a Nicklaus-designed course, is an
excellent example of the “ground movement” Dye creates.
One Pete Dye golf course that the game’s top players have
always felt confident on is the River Course at Kingsmill on
the James, in historic Williamsburg, VA. With Michelob as a
title sponsor, both the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour have
staged exciting tournaments on Dye’s smooth fairways and
carefully perched greens.
Despite the long association between Dye’s designs and tour-
level competition, Pete is just as pleased and challenged to
design a purely recreational course. His 18-hole, championship
golf course at Hampton Hall, SC, is a case study in hole
variety, switching its requirements from power to positioning
and back again.
Dye is known for staying on site over long stretches and even
operating the shaping machinery himself. By being so hands-
on, he was able to master an eco-friendly approach that
controlled water use and made it possible to work in sensitive
environments. The courses he built at Amelia Island
Plantation, FL, in the 1970s with Bobby Weed are prominent
early examples.
One of Dye’s design ideas is that private courses should have
hard-to-read features that baffle a newcomer but become like
quirky old friends to the golfers who encounter them time and
again. At the Southern Hills Plantation Club outside Tampa,
FL, we can see that sleight-of-hand in the form of boomerang-
shaped mounding that hides steep-faced bunkers.
It is particularly tempting to course developers who are
building large, multi-course properties to include the work of
Pete Dye in the golf amenity. Barefoot Resort & Golf, a
landmark community on the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand,
features a star-studded design marquee that includes Greg
Norman, Davis Love III, Tom Fazio and a 7.343-yard Dye
Course. It’s a visually captivating layout whose so-called
safe areas are sometimes more tricky to play from than the
hazards one is trying to avoid.
FLORIDA: Ranch Colony
Likewise, the Dye reputation for presenting a stiff challenge
naturally leads a community like PGA Village, FL, to include
one of Pete’s courses in its 54-hole golf complex. Known for
providing one of America’s leading resort-style golf
academies—the famed PGA Learning Center—this community
turns its ever-improving golfers loose on two Tom Fazio 18s
and one by Dye.
Other Articles in the Golf Architect Series
I. The No. 1 Real-Estate Enhancer: Jack Nicklaus - Find out
why this golf course architect adds the most value to the real
estate surrounding the golf courses he designs.
II. Tom Fazio: Elevating Course Design--and Home Values
III. Arnold Palmer: His Brilliant Second Career
IV. Arthur Hills: Value-Adding Visionary
V. Robert Trent Jones II: Continuing the Legacy
VI. Bob Cupp and Tom Jackson: Veterans with Prime Portfolios
People really under estimate the golf course architect's role. I had no idea the variety of courses and styles Dye has been involved in.
Posted by: Oneunder | March 18, 2008 at 09:17 AM