After discussing the legend of George Crump, who designed one of the worlds hardest and most challenging golf courses, this week were going to turn the page to another designer by the name of Tom Doak. Mr. Doak is a famous golf course architect who has six courses ranked among the top 100 golf courses according too “Top 100 Golf Courses in the World.”
Funny enough, Tom was a student of the late great Pete Dye, whom providing extensive insight on the ins and outs of designing a golf course. Doak worked with Dye to learn how to construct golf courses during graduate school. Doak was exposed to several different schools of design on multiple continents in a variety of conditions, which gave Doak such a wide perspective on how to design golf courses. Jim Urbina, (another famous architect) taught him how to run a bulldozer allowing for Doak to think in three dimensions and how to use the materials around him.
Doak is the author of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses which is a guide to famous and obscure golf courses around the world. The original version of the book was intended for a select group of friends and golf course architects. Now lets dive into what makes his style of design so unique.
Above is a photo of the 16th hole at Pacific Dunes, one of Doak’s most popular golf courses. As you might recall back from the discussion of the different types of golf courses, this one would be classified as an American version of a heathland. Mr. Doak is a “minimalist” designer. Minimalism is a school of golf design that focuses on concentrating design of a golf hole (or routing) around the natural features of the land. His most successful courses have been built on sand dunes, taking advantage of the sandy soil for drainage also allowing for the reuse of native elements.
Above is a photo from the blue course at Streamsong Golf Resort in the outskirts of Florida. What makes this course so unique is the links/heathland style of golf course in the middle of no where in Florida. Its very neat that Doak was able to replicate such an iconic design in an environment so unfamiliar to that style of course. Streamsong is a very prestigious course that challenges every golfer no matter their skill level. You can see the undulation on and surrounding the green, which makes the approach shot difficult to stay put upon landing. The tall fescue like grass is very unnatural for Florida style of play, but adds a huge defence to the golf course as any ball that goes into it is almost never coming out.
Golf Course Architecture 