Teeing it up against golf’s toughest architect
The very best of Pete Dye’s creations offer an intriguing mix of beauty and beast
PONTE VEDRA, FLA.— Pete Dye turns 90 in a month. The legendary golf course architect, who is considered the most influential designer of the last half century, is still working hard, designing fairways and greens that alternately terrify and gratify golfers around the globe.
His nicknames range from Dyeabolical to the Marquis de Sod, and when Time magazine published a piece on the world’s top 10 toughest courses, Dye had three on the list (to give you a sense of the competition, the group included the Kabul Golf Club in Afghanistan.)
Dye’s infamous island green at the Stadium Course in Florida, gobbles up more than100,000 golf balls every year.
Despite the golfing carnage, Dye’s courses are used to host major championships because of their intriguing mix of beauty and the beast.
Here are some of my favourite Dye layouts.
French Lick Resort After an initial walk-through of the French Lick property, Dye thought the terrain was just too tough, too rugged, even for him. But after another think, he sketched out the routing of the course on a napkin while eating lunch at a local restaurant. Roller coasting over some of the highest ground in the state of Indiana, the course includes volcano-style bunkers and three man-made lakes. Stretching to a staggering 8,100 yards from the back tees, earlier this year the course hosted the Senior PGA Championship, which was won by Colin Montgomerie.
(Basketball fans will know that French Lick is Larry Bird’s hometown. Check out 33 Brick St., a sports bar and restaurant owned by some of Bird’s childhood friends that includes a ton of Larry Legend memorabilia.)
Teeth of the Dog Don’t be put off by the name. Annually ranked as one of the Top 100 layouts in the world, the course is part of the high-end Casa de Campo resort on the eastern edge of the Dominican Republic. Originally carved out of the mangrove wilderness with machetes, wheelbarrows and shovels, the course features half a dozen holes that bend around the aquamarine-coloured Caribbean Sea and are guarded by fang-like coral rocks. Dye and his wife, Alice, also a golf course architect, had a place overlooking the Dog’s fairways and greens and for 30 years, he tinkered with one of his greatest designs.
Whistling Straits When billionaire Herb Kohler Jr., head of the plumbing fixture family, wanted to create a links-style masterpiece in the U.S. mid-west, he called in Pete Dye.
Using nearly four kilometres of Lake Michigan shoreline, just north of Sheboygan, Wisc., Dye designed Whistling Straits, a monster layout lined with massive dunes and shaggy fescue.
The course has hosted three PGA Championships, including this year’s tournament, which was won by Jason Day, and in 2020 is scheduled to hold the Ryder Cup.
The Resort is also home to the Irish, a lush, inland course that is bisected by streams.
Just The Facts Test your nerves at the iconic island green at TPC Sawgrass in Florida with a stay-and-play package that is good until the end of December. Starting at $329 (U.S.) per golfer, per night, it includes four nights of accommodation at the adjacent Sawgrass Marriott Resort & Spa, one round at the Players Stadium Course and one round at Dye’s Valley Course. tpc.com. 888-877-9193. Ian Cruickshank is a Toronto-based writer who has dumped a sleeve of balls into the water at TPC Sawgrass. His trip was subsidized by Visit Florida.