Best golfer amongst the architects?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Robert,
 I meant to have Mike Clayton in there and completely forgot!

MY WAY BAD!

[Scott Witter]

I had forgotten about Tripp Davis and from my personal experience he is the best.

It was about 4 years ago in Orlando at the Champions Gate International links sort of course (Normans) it had only been open a year or so and I was with Tripp on a business outing.  We paired together and neither of us had ever seen the course before.  Prior to that time I had never played golf with Tripp, but I had heard that he had a steller amateur career and I believe he played briefly on one of the smaller pro tours.  So we meet on the 1st tee and begin a great conversation throughout the entire 18-holes constantly talking about design in general, the course partially and everything in between, we never stop mind you.

So along the way I see that he is playing quite well, but I am not keeping his score, I am trying to see if I can count high enough for my own score and hell on several occasions he is giving me tips.  So about the 15th or 16th hole he lips out on a long par four and he was upset, but I never gave much thought.  We finish...hey Tripp what did you end up at man?  "Well I played pretty well", not kidding I hadn't noticed, but what did you shoot anyway.  In his slow southern lazy drawl he says "well that lip out on 15 cost me my low score of the summer and I ended up with a 66"!  WHOA!

I was also fortunate to watch him the last three years at the Porter Cup in Niagara Falls NY.  He is one of the more senior players and a perennial favorite with the fans, a real gentleman of the game and ONE HELL OF A PLAYER

[Steve Lapper]

I've played with Steve Smyers, he is a very good player, but you can't have this thread without also mentioning Tripp Davis.  

Smyers, Davis....better keep going right up to Nicklaus or Palmer....Hasn't anyone ever heard of Peter Thomson....5X British Open winner?

[Gerry B]

walter travis ? 1901 us amateur champion and designed a few gems along the way

[John_Conley]

Lehman and Cupp have worked with Fought, who used to play the PGA Tour.

Obviously Jack Nicklaus is the best - beginning and end of that discussion - if you include guys like Peter Thompson.

For golf course architects that also play golf, I'm guessing names like Graham Cooke, Steve Smyers, Tripp Davis, and Todd Eckenrode are in the mix.  But I must say I'm not sure about the criteria.  Jerry Pate and Mark McCumber have been hurt and each designed way more courses than guys like Tripp Davis.  Are they golfers who designed courses (like Nicklaus and Palmer) or course designers who used to play golf (like Pete and Alice Dye or Steve Smyers)?

I can't think of who yet, but one real good player is missing.  And that doesn't even take into account Joel Goldstrand who designed a lot of courses in Minnesota.  I think we are forgetting someone that still competes in amateur events.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Hey guys the thread excludes professional golfer architects.  The list would be pretty small with guys like Nicklaus and Palmer around.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Of course Gerry has to come along and post one that blows us all away!

That being, MacDonald, Tillinghast, Thomas & Behr were no slouches in their day!

[Brad Klein]

The thread has migrated, with the original premise being "non-professional golfer" architect.

[James Edwards]

..........well im a non professional golfer architect and my hcap is +0.6 (i even had the opportunity to play golf last year as a treat!!)  

[Pat Jones]

How about Alice Dye, you male chauvinists!

Concur with Smyers and Davis in the non-Tour player "boys" category.

Also, Dave Whelchel of Hurdzan's group gets a special vote because he fixes my swing (sort of) every time we play.  He used to be the golf coach at Arkansas.

I used to play at the ASGCA outings (before they clamped down on media participation) and, although most were good, there weren't a lot of scratch players.  A few were downright hackers...like me.

There is also a cozy nook in the Hall of Shame for one well-known architect who is infamous for his very creative scoring.  The first time I played with him -- at Olympic, I think -- my cart partner who's also a noted designer said, "We're about to get pencil-whipped by XXXXXX, Jonesy."  That's exactly what happened.

[Andrew Summerell]

How about Alice Dye, you male chauvinists!

Alice Dye was mentioned in post #9.


Tommy's right about Josh Taylor. I played with him when he came back to Aus for a holiday last year. We played at his old home course. He had barely touched a club for a few months, looked a bit rust for the first few holes, then on our 2nd nine (we played the back nine first) he suddenly went birdie, birdie, birdie & finished the round shooting a pretty easy even par of 71, if I remember correctly.

[Greg Tallman]

On a good putting day - Jim Lipe hands down among current guys (and gals). Jim strikes the ball about as well as you can and if he rolls the ball remotely well he can be scary good. One of the better drivers of the golf ball I have encountered in a long time. His boss plays OK as well.

[JSlonis]

Excluding past or present professional golfers, who does this panel think is the best golfer amongst the architects that are profiled in this website?I don't think there is necessarily any correlation between playing ability and design ability but being a good golfer has to only help.

See...this was the original premise.  

[Philippe Binette]

People seems to forget Pete Dye

played and made the cut in the us open
played in the british amateur
must have played in the us am...

if you forgot Pete Dye, you also forgot Alice Dye

[Wayne_Kozun]

How about Alice Dye, you male chauvinists!

Didn't Joyce Wethered do some architecture work?  If she did then she would certainly qualify.

Tillie was deemed to be a pro by the USGA due to his architecture work so technically you could argue that he is not eligible.  Philip speaks of this in his bio of Tillie.

[John Yerger]

Why hasn't John Foughts name been mentioned. He won the Pacific Coast Amateur in 1974 and the Trans Mississippi Am and US Amateur in 1977. He also was a semi-finalist in the US Amateur in 1976, Fought was also Rookie of the Year on the PGA tour in 1979

[Joe Hancock]

Why hasn't John Foughts name been mentioned. He won the Pacific Coast Amateur in 1974 and the Trans Mississippi Am and US Amateur in 1977. He also was a semi-finalist in the US Amateur in 1976, Fought was also Rookie of the Year on the PGA tour in 1979

Because the original poster excluded past and present professional golfers from qualifying for this list.......

Joe

[Tom_Doak]

Joyce Wethered did not consult on any designs, as far as I know.

If you want to get technical, Bobby Jones was never a professional, and did consult on a couple of designs.

[John_Conley]

Why hasn't John Foughts name been mentioned. He won the Pacific Coast Amateur in 1974 and the Trans Mississippi Am and US Amateur in 1977. He also was a semi-finalist in the US Amateur in 1976, Fought was also Rookie of the Year on the PGA tour in 1979

Reply 29, John.

[George Pazin]

If you want to get technical, Bobby Jones was never a professional, and did consult on a couple of designs.

Yeah, but he never really showed the longevity of a Floyd or an Irwin....











 

[Jeff Fortson]

If anyone suggests anyone other than Jack Nicklaus for this topic then they have brain damage.


Jeff F.

[Wayne_Kozun]

If anyone suggests anyone other than Jack Nicklaus for this topic then they have brain damage.

Or they didn't read the original post which said:

Excluding past or present professional golfers, who does this panel think is the best golfer amongst the architects that are profiled in this website?

[Gerry B]

jack s a pro

while on the subject of female golfers -marion hollins is credited with  designing  / inspiring  what many people think is the best par 3 in the world- 16 at cypress and she was allegedly a pretty formidable golfer in her day

were thef ownes bros good golfers(oakmont) or herbert leeds(myopia)

[JP Morgan]

One of the most well known and distributed photographs in golf history was the one of Ben Hogan's One Iron shot on the 72nd hole of the 1950 US Open at Merion, shot by Hy Peskin of Life Magazine.  That shot helped force a playoff in which Hogan prevailed, securing his second US Open victory.  His playoff competitors were Lloyd Mangrum and GEORGE FAZIO.  According to search, George competed in seven Masters tournaments and won two PGA events.