Pro Bono Golf Architecture

[Shane Gurnett]

pro bono

adj : done for the public good without compensation

Seemed to be a feature of some Golden Age work. Does it still happen in the US? Do architects (competant ones) do occasional public jobs for a nil fee? And at what point would an architect do the work for free if the opportunity arose to work on a once in a lifetime site (ala say Cypress, Pebble etc?)

Shane

[Tyler Kearns]

Shane,

I do not know the circumstance that led to this pro bono project, but Pete Dye designed Wintonbury Hills in Connecticut for $1. The course opened last year, and has been well received by many GCA participants.

www.wintonburyhillsgolf.com/view.asp?id=94&page=1185

TK

[Chris Kane]

Rees Jones at Bethpage Black.  

[Jeff_Brauer]

Shane,

Intentionally, not very often. Maybe the first tee program, or like Rees at Bethpage, something that gets your name really out there.

Unintentionally, far more than any of us would like.

Talk about occupational hazards.....

[Ken Fry]

Pete Dye did a similar project when he reworked the old Fort Harrison golf course in Indianapolis to make The Fort.  Impressive re-do if anyone finds themselves in that area.

[ChasLawler]

Fazio at Independence Golf Club - the home of the Virginia State Golf Association.

[A.G._Crockett]

Scott Burroughs knows the details better than I, but Rees Jones renovated his father's design at Duke more or less as a gift to the university when his daughter was a student there, I believe.

[Kelly Blake Moran]

Shane,

Brad Klein probably knows the situation best in CT. on the Dye job.  I must say if you want bono work from me then you could not expect me to be there every week, unless I were getting a fee for construction supervision, so someone associated with the architect, including someone in their office, not necessarily the name architect, could be drawing a fair and reasonable "fee" from the project through the construction budget, otherwise I cannot imagine spending 2 to 3 days on site for 8 months of construction and get nothing. If I were wealthy and the institution for whom I am working meant that much to me then yes I could and would do it, but 10 years into my own business it has become very clear that I will be sweating cash flow year to year, and working until the day I die, which beats the hell out of being a lawyer

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Pete Dye (with Tim Liddy) did the Kampen Course at Purdue pro bono. He took some turf management courses there before embarking on his golf architect career.

[Brad Klein]

I know the Dye/Wintonbury situation pretty well, and Pete was very kind to agree to do it for $1 at a time he was doing a handful of others that way (Kampen, Fort Harrison and a project in Kentucky that backfired on him).

He made a dozen visits, and all we ever did was pay some of his travel expenses, inc. the occasional charter. Tim Liddy did most of the field work and advance work, then ran it by Pete. We paid Liddy a heavily discounted rate that was well below his then-going rate, and he made 30+ visits, including every other week when we were building.

I think we underestimate how much pro bono work they do. Fazio has raised a ton of money for the Boys Club, and many of these guys donate time and labor for good causes, knowing full well they are able to make decent money from well-healed clients. It's a side of golf design that probably deserves more attention.

[Mike Nuzzo]

There is also the work done by the ones getting a start in the business.  
The education is invaluable however - so not exactly pro-bono.
Cheers

[Bruce Katona]

I know for a fact Eric Bergstol consults frequently if asked.  We really haven't charged anyone for the service to date.  If the site is local to us we don't even charge for travel.  if remote travel out of pockets would need to be picked up.

[Robert Thompson]

It was my understanding that a lot of Fazio's "renovation jobs" at famous courses were done gratis. Anyone know anything further on this?

[Tom_Doak]

I believe Mr. Nicklaus is doing the design work at the Scarlet course for free.  But a lot of the "free" deals you hear about are not really free.  Pete Dye has donated his time for free on several projects, but his associates are paid what would sound like a decent architectural fee on those jobs.

I have done a fair amount of free consulting in my days; The Confidential Guide even had some unsolicited suggestions.  And I'm looking into some alternate forms of payment on some projects which can't afford our escalating fees.

However, it is pretty difficult to draw the line on fees for new golf courses ... if you're going to do one job pro bono, how do you explain that to the rest of your clients?  They all require a few million dollars to get built, so the architect reducing his fee to nothing is not often going to be the difference in getting a course started.  But, I will consider getting paid later in the game, if I really trust the client.

There are probably plenty of young architects who would be willing to work for free to do a project on Pacific Dunes - type land, and in the long run it would be worth it to them.  But I would advise them against it.  Designing a truly great course is going to create a lot of revenues for someone down the road, so it's only right for the designer to be paid fairly.  Fortunately, most of the people who are smart enough to shop around for great land also understand that you get what you pay for, and are well enough off that they don't need to take advantage of a young golf architect.