Golf Course Architecture - Issue 60, April 2020

PETE DYE impact with a single, abrupt contour than most architects can by contouring a site from wall to wall. When he did have a great site, at Teeth of the Dog, he nailed it, and that was always his favourite course. “I think his legacy is in teaching a whole generation of designers that the secret to success is to get out on site and be creative, and really work at making each project worthwhile.” Bruce Hepner, who, as a result of years working with Tom Doak, is part of the Dye ‘family tree’ said: “Pete wasn’t necessarily an architect but an infield designer. He taught the guys he mentored how to build golf courses: how you analyse the land in the field. There’s not a lot of drawing, it’s all in the field. Pete was a genius with drainage – which is the most important thing – and that taught us how to get our ideas into the ground. Tom [Doak] always told us that changes in the ground are really cheap as long as you do it while you’re still working in the dirt. And that’s something he learned from Pete. Twenty-five years ago, the first time I met Pete, he told me, ‘Fast greens are America’s dirty little secret. Good players want fast greens because they’re giving tons of strokes to high handicappers, who hate them.’” Tim Liddy, who worked very closely with Dye until the last years of his life, said: “His designs matched his personality: strong, bold, smart and creative. He was a mentor to so many, a true legacy of his genius and compassion. He was my mentor and his love of golf and golf design was infectious.” Lester George said: “I first met Pete in 1990 before I was in the ASGCA. I had conversations with Pete and Alice before I built my first golf course – I made a phone call to them one night and spoke to Alice about forward tees. I actually met Pete through Alice. “About six years ago I was at Country Club of Florida working and he was at Gulfstream. I called Alice to ask if I could take them to dinner, but she said, ‘No, he always gets home late’, and told me to go over and see him. So, I went over, and we spent two and a half hours talking, him asking my opinion about what he’d done. Alice, she told me she loved everything I’d done at CC of Florida, except this one bunker she couldn’t get out of. I said, ‘What do you mean you can’t get out of it, you’re the best player in the Society’, to which she replied, ‘No, it’s too deep, I can’t physically get out of it.’ My favourite Dye course has to be TPC Sawgrass, that one to me has the ultimate teeing options, angles, long hazards – to me VISION www.jdrewrogers.com + 1 419 787 6786 Photo: The Sea Pines Resort/Rob Tipton Strategic... Classic.. Details. Northwood Club Renovation/Restoration 2017 Tripp Davis and Associates Golf Architecture Norman, Oklahoma USA 405-447-5259 tripp@tdagolf.net