Secrets of the Great Golf Course Architects

The tests a golfer faces on the course are the direct result of the challenges originally faced by the golf course architect, whether they’re complicated terrain, forces of nature, budget limitations, demanding developers, or the difficult task of balancing the practical scientific needs of a golf course with the architect’s creative instincts.

Secrets of the Great Golf Course Architects offers readers behind-the-scenes tales from America’s master architects themselves in their own words. Elite designers such as Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Rees Jones, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Arthur Hills, Arnold Palmer, and others share their personal anecdotes related to the creation of some of the world’s most famous courses: from run-ins with snakes to bulldozers sinking in quicksand, to holes created by accident, such as the famed island green seventeenth at the TPC at Sawgrass.

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Michael Patrick Shiels is an American radio personality and author. He is the host of Michigan’s Big Show and is also known for authoring books with Donald Trump, Larry King, Arthur Hills, and Ben Wright. Shiels has written for newspapers and magazines on golf and travel. His articles have appeared in publications including PGA Magazine, Travel + Leisure Golf, Golf Magazine, and Northwest Airlines World Traveler.
The American Society of Golf Course Architects was founded in 1947 by Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones, and other noted golf architects. Its members have designed some of the greatest courses of all time and are actively involved in the design of new courses and the renovation of existing courses all over the world.