Quite literally, the landscape of golf course architecture has evolved since
LINKS began publishing 20 years ago. Since 1988, more than 3,500 courses have
been built in the United States. Some, like Sand Hills, are among the greatest
ever built. Others, like Shadow Creek, were unlike anything that golf had
seen before.
While overall quality of courses built during the past 20
years doesn’t match those of the Golden Age, the roughly two-decade period
between the wars that produced many of the greatest courses in the country, this
current era represents a renaissance of sorts.And some of the most
significant work has occurred in three areas: natural designs on
spectacular sites, renovation and restoration of courses, and the
proliferation of private golf communities. But as during the Renaissance itself,
the artists responsible for these masterpieces couldn’t have done it without
the patrons providing the opportunities.
We look
at how three artist-patron relationships—Tom Doak and Mike Keiser, Rees
Jones and David Fay, Tom Fazio and Jim Anthony—have shaped golf course architecture during the LINKS era.
