COURSE DESIGNERS

Michael Hurdzan

Dr. Michael Hurdzan has been selected the winner of the 2002 Donald A. Rossi Award by the Golf Course Builders Association of America; he was Golf World Magazine’s 1997 “Architect of the Year;” and The Board Room Magazine’s 2001 and 1999 selection for the same honor.  Dr. Hurdzan has designed some of golf’s most famous courses, including Devil’s Pulpit and Devil’s Paintbrush in Caledon, Ontario.  GOLF DIGEST named these two masterpieces the Best New Course in Canada in 1991 and 1992.  Some other award winners include: Naples National (Florida) ranked among the Top 100 modern courses by GolfWeek, Lassing Point ranked by GOLF DIGEST as the number one public course in Kentucky, and Ironhorse ranked number one in Kansas.  In addition, Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton, NJ is one of the “Top Ten You Can Play” (GOLF MAGAZINE). 

An internationally recognized authority on golf course environmental issues, Dr. Hurdzan studied turf management at Ohio State University and earned a master's degree in landscape architecture and a doctorate in environmental plant physiology at the University of Vermont.  Dr. Hurdzan doesn’t just design great golf courses; he is also extremely active in serving his profession and industry.  He teaches 2-day seminars for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) on “Design, Construction and Renovation for I.P.M.” and “Golf Greens: Theory, Design, Construction and Maintenance,” in addition to “Environmental Impacts of Golf Courses” for the Harvard Graduate School of Design.  He is a Golf Digest panelist for their environmental awards program, a selected delegate for the “Golf and Environment” conferences, and serves on the education review committee for GCSAA.  He is a past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, current chairman of the professional development committee, and a member of the Past President’s Council.  He is contributing to the professional development program for the Golf Course Builders Association of America, and the Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA).  Some reviewers are heralding Dr. Hurdzan’s 400-page book on golf course architecture as “the modern bible of golf course design.” Links Magazine says, “Hurdzan takes you through the design process as no one ever has, the book is so complete, it is probably all you’ll ever need on this topic.”

Dr. Hurdzan says, “Besides its sporting requirements, I believe that a truly great golf course must either enhance the natural habitat or create a new environmentally sound one.  The more we harmonize natural surroundings into a golf course, the more aesthetic and memorable it will be.” 

Dr. Michael Hurdzan’s credentials are impressive.  GOLF DIGEST architecture editor Ron Whitten says, “he has taken a place among the best in the world now.”  But more than that, Michael Hurdzan offers what only a precious few golf course architects can offer, a considerable measure of genius, built upon immense technical knowledge and experience, coupled with an enduring love of the game. 

Dana Fry

Dana Fry has worked with Dr. Michael Hurdzan since 1988, and became a full partner in 1997.   He is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and on its Board of Directors.  Golfweek magazine selected Dana among the TOP FIVE in their 2001 “40 under 40” list of people in leadership positions within the golf industry who are likely to shape the business for years to come.  Columbus Business First Newspaper has also honored him as one of its “40 under 40” Award winners for 2000.  The Business First award honors those individuals who have excelled in their careers and their community involvement to make a positive, lasting impact upon the city of Columbus. 

Dana is perhaps the most passionate person in the firm about the game, and the best player.  He was a junior golf champion in the Kansas City area before going to the University of Arizona to play golf.  He set several course records including shooting a 62 at Randolph Park in Tucson.  But he realized he never had all of the skills necessary to be the best on tour, so he chose instead to become the best in golf course design.  His talent for visualizing a design and his relentless pursuit of making it become real elevate him above his colleagues, both contemporary and past.  Ohio Golf Legend Jack Kidwell says, “Dana has a rare genius for producing consistently dramatic golf holes, on widely varying sites, with each one having a distinct character.  He is always pushing the limits of design and construction, but he never steps over the line into absurdity.”

Fry learned his craft working as a field designer for Tom Fazio, and was instrumental in the creation of several award-winning courses for the Fazio organization.  Included in his portfolio is the Wade Hampton Golf Club in North Carolina selected by GOLF DIGEST as America’s Best New Private Course in 1988, Barton Creek in Austin, Texas, Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando, and the highly regarded Black Diamond course in Lecanto, Florida.  All are ranked among GOLF DIGEST’S Top 100 in the U.S. 

Mr. Fry has been lead designer on most of the firm’s Canadian projects, including the highly acclaimed Devil’s Pulpit and Devil’s Paintbrush near Toronto; Westwood Plateau in Vancouver, B.C.; Le Diable at Mont Tremblant, Quebec; and Dundarave GC on Prince Edward Island.    Fry was project manager for WeaverRidge in Peoria, IL a course that finished within 0.04 of a point of winning the Best New Upscale public course award in 1998 from GOLF DIGEST.  He was also lead designer on Naples National in Florida ranked among GOLF DIGEST’S Top 100 in the U.S.; Colorado’s Keystone Resort “River Course;” Ironhorse in Kansas; Fieldstone in Delaware; Troy Burne in Wisconsin; Hamilton Farm in New Jersey; The Raven at Three Peaks in Colorado; The Ledges in Alabama; and Glenmaura National, Jericho National; Olde Stonewall in Pennsylvania; StoneWater Golf Club near Cleveland; The Sand Barrens in New Jersey named among the Top Ten You Can Play by GOLF MAGAZINE; and on GOLFWEEK’S Top 100 Modern Courses list; St. Albans Country Club “Tavern Creek” course near St. Louis; and The Desert Willow Golf Resort (36 holes) in Palm Desert, California.  

Ron Whitten

Ron Whitten is the world’s foremost golf course critic. A lawyer by trade…he was Assistant District Attorney and later Assistant City Attorney in charge of Prosecution in his hometown of Topeka, Kansas…Ron has authored more than 300 articles on course architecture since 1982. He served as a contributing editor on architecture for Golf Digest from 1985 to 1989, then left the practice of law in 1990 to work full-time for the magazine as Architecture Editor.  Ron has handled all of Golf Digest’s features relating to architecture, including the biennial survey of “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses,” the annual “Best New Courses” survey, previews of major championships, plus Golf World’s annual “Architect of the Year” feature.  Ron initiated the magazine’s first “Armchair Architect” contest in 1987.

Ron has several books on golf course architecture to his name. He co-authored the first definitive book on the subject, “The Course Course,” with Geoffrey Cornish in 1981; in 1993, a totally revamped version was published as “The Architects of Golf”. In 1996, he compiled, ghost-authored, edited and illustrated the book, “Golf Has Never Failed Me”, based on an old Donald Ross manuscript. A book on the designs of golf architect Joe Lee will be published in 2001.

Ron has lectured on golf course architecture for more than 15 years at universities, trade shows and individual clubs. He has been a featured guest on The Golf Channel’s “Viewer Forum” and was a spokesman on the topic of golf design in the 1999 PBS telecast “The Story of Golf,” subsequently rebroadcast on CBS. He spent time with every major golf course architect in America as well as most of the lesser-known (but often equally talented) ones, inspecting potential sites, accompanying them on site visits during construction and playing finished products with them. He held an unofficial world record of playing the most courses with the people who designed them.  Present count: 108 different architects. “I’ve let most of them win,” says Ron.

Ron’s career took another turn following his 1997 Golf Digest story on pitch & putt courses, where he proposed that such courses could be constructed for $100,000. In 1999, he was given the opportunity to test that thesis…he helped construct Safari Golf Pitch & Putt. The project, including maintenance facility and equipment, was completed for $120,000. In 2000, he made the decision to collaborate on certain full-size golf course design projects. The first of those was The Architects Golf Club in Phillipsburg, NJ, set to open in July 2001, with golf architect Stephen Kay. Together, they fashioned 18 original holes based on the styles of 18 famous old architects. The second project is Erin Hills Golf course, a collaboration with Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry.

Ron graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (B.S. Education), and Washburn University School of Law, Topeka (J.D. Degree). He first developed his interest in golf architecture at Northwestern University near Chicago in 1967. He lives in Topeka with his wife, Lynn, and has three daughters and three stepdaughters.

In 1996, Ron was presented with the prestigious Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf course Architects, a year after the award was presented to Pete Dye, and a year before the award was presented to Gene Sarazen. “A stranger threesome cannot be found in golf,” says Ron.

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