These Legends Designed Some Of The World’s Best Golf Courses
Though the popularity of golf communities has been waning since the Great Recession, that fact has not detracted from golf enthusiasts' excitement as the best golfers in the world teed off at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday. To commemorate the occasion, Bisnow aggregated a list of some of the top courses designed by world-renowned golfers to see why these courses have staying power and how they have maintained relevance today.
Augusta National Golf Club was not always a sprawling 18-course golf course known as one of the world’s premier golf locations. It used to be the site of an old nursery, but time alone changed that. In 1931, Bobby Jones and architect Alister MacKenzie embarked on a journey to build a golf course on 365 acres in Augusta, Ga. Augusta National opened in 1933 and hosted its first invitation-only tournament in 1934. This tournament would eventually be known as the Masters. In recognition of his amateur golfing skills and participation in co-founding the Masters, John Van Kleek designed the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Sarasota, Fla., to honor the golfer.
Nicklaus Design, a firm founded by 18-time golf champ Jack Nicklaus, has created more than 410 courses throughout the world and staged more than 900 championships. Jack Nicklaus had a hand in the design of 298 courses. Nicklaus’ golf course empire began in the 1960s when he was asked by architect Pete Dye to review the design of The Golf Club in Nicklaus’ hometown of Columbus, Ohio. After that meeting, he and Dye designed Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C., which became a top 100 course in the world.
BlueJack National in Montgomery, Texas, was the first Tiger Woods-designed course in the U.S. It offers an 18-course golf course spanning 755 acres. The site also includes The Playgrounds, a 10-hole par-3 course for casual golfers seeking a short game practice. Woods' design company, TGR Design, has created nine courses around the world.
Arnold Palmer’s first designed course, Indian Lake Golf Club, went up for sale in January, just months after the golf legend’s death in September. A sale to GCIL Partners is expected to finalize on April 30, and the LLC will make the club open to the public. The course in Palmer’s hometown of Latrobe, Pa., opened in 1967 with only nine holes, and it was another 30 years before an additional nine holes were added. Palmer had a hand in designing more than 300 courses around the world, including 18 holes at the 54-hole Geneva National Golf Club pictured here.
