Who are your Favourite "Lesser Known" Architects?

[Evan_Smith]

I've always had great joy playing a new course, liking it a lot and then finding out the architect was somebody I had never heard of before.

I'll start it off.  Maybe they are much better known down in the South, but being in Canada we don't hear much of Gene Hamm, Willard Byrd or Tom Jackson.  They all have great courses in the Pinehurst area and I understand most of their work is in the Carolinas.

[Kyle Henderson]

John Harbottle III. I've enjoyed all of his originals and redesigns. Big talent.

[Tom Dunne]

Bobby Weed. Check out Glen Mills near Philly and Jacaranda in Fort Lauderdale. Very creative...builds really cool greens.

[Dan_Callahan]

Does Mark Mungeam qualify as lesser known? I was very impressed with his Oxford Greens in Connecticut as well as the new holes he added to Shennecossett. I am playing his recently completed Butter Brook tomorrow and am hoping it is another good one in his portfolio.

[Mike McGuire]

John Harbottle III. I've enjoyed all of his originals and redesigns. Big talent.

Recently played Harbottle's Hawks Landing in Madison WI. Centerline bunkers with high low fairways on the sides...alot of fun to play.

[Andy Troeger]

This might not be what you mean, but guys that are well-known on this site (and many of them participate), are not as well known nationally as they deserve.

As mentioned on the other thread, Mike DeVries might fall into this category. Tim Liddy is another who does fine work. Baxter Spann and Ken Dye have done good work in New Mexico.

[Greg Holland]

Staying with the southern theme, I think Ellis Maples should be on the list.  His Grandfather Mountain and CCNC courses have both been on Top 100 lists I believe.  He worked with Donald Ross (and finished Raleigh CC after Ross died), and designed lots of courses in NC, VA and SC.  I think he made very good use of the land and provided good variety on his courses.  Others of note in NC are Keith Hills, Deep Springs CC, Woodlake CC, Pinehurst No. 5, Carlson Farms CC, Forest Oaks CC, Bermuda Run, Winston Lake and Reynolds Park.  He did Columbia CC and CCSC in SC, and Devil's Knob, Chatmoss & Roanoke CC in VA.

[Evan_Smith]

Greg
   I agree, Ellis Maples has done some great work.  I may not classify him as lesser known because of the amount of his courses I've played in NC, but thinking again, I probably should.  I think in my mind a "lesser known" architect would be one that is not talked about in most architecture circles and doesn't have courses listed in Top 100 lists thereby making them "known".  Just because somebody isn't in a "Top" list doesn't mean that the courses they designed aren't great.

I love Maples work at CCNC, Keith Hills, Woodlake and Pinehurst #5 (before Club Corp ruined the course by flatening the green complexes) and I think I played CCSC in college.  If it's the course I'm thinking off, I really liked his work.  I also like Reynolds Park but am not sure the extent of his work there.  It's listed as a Perry Maxwell/ Maples course but I haven't found any info relating what each architect did at the course.

Also, the Gene Hamm course I love is the Pinewild Magnolia course in Pinehurst.  The Willard Byrd design at Bayonet at Puppy Creek outside of Fayetteville and the Tom Jackson layouts at Hyland Hills(Pinehurst) and Cheraw State Park (Cheraw, SC) are great.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Evan,
"Unknown" is one of my favorite lesser known architects. In Connecticut there are 20 or so courses done by him.

[Tom_Doak]

Jim:

I find that "unknown" guy's work interesting too.  He built a lot of crappy courses but they are always different and you never know what you might find.

Bill Langford used to be high on my list of "lesser knowns" but now even he is a god here.

[Jeff_Brauer]

So many courses are designed by a guy named "Dat Effen". At least I think so, by how many times I hear references to "Dat Effen, golf course architect."

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tom,
If you ever find out who 'unk' is, don't tell anyone.

Jeff,
Dat Effen(definitely a Dutchman) helped Paul Cowley on at least two holes up at Orchard Creek.

[SL_Solow]

I'll second Mark Mungeam.  I had the pleasure of working with him on the "sympathetic renovation" of my home course and found him to be crative, talented and a pleasure to work with.

[Dan Moore]

Bill Langford used to be high on my list of "lesser knowns" but now even he is a god here.

Langford may be a god here but I doubt the average member at a course he designed knows little if anything about him.  

Two lesser known architects who did some work in Chicago during the 20's that I'm interested in finding more about are George O'Neil and C.D. Wagstaff.  

[hhuffines]

Greg and Evan,

Cheers for adding Ellis Maples to this thread - I believe he had something to do with New Bern CC which is a fun little course on the Trent River.  

At CCNC my favorite nine was the old "inside" nine of the Cardinal course which was done by Byrd and maybe Ellis.  Used to make a great 27 hole day after finishing the Dogwood.

Wonder if you guys share the opinion that the 18th on Dogwood is a letdown as is discussed on CPC?  Also wonder why Grandfather is ranked so high in comparison.  Must be
the views?

[david h. carroll]

How about Joel Weiman who has done a few courses here in Maryland--Mountain Branch, the two courses at Glen Riddle  (one with Furyk) and Uplands.  THey're a blast!

[Steve Lapper]

Kelly Blake Moran

[Doug Ralston]

Is Brian Ault too known to be 'Lesser Known'? Well, I hardly hear him mentioned here.

While much of his work is in Virginia, Stonehaven is a well thought of piece in WV. In KY, Dale Hollow Lake and Hidden Cove are exceptional and of course relatively unknown. He sent me some pix of the Construction at General Burnside SP and they look good ...... can't wait.

Jack Kidwell has courses around Ohio. A surprising 'hidden gem' is The Brass Ring in Logan.

And Kidwell spawned Hurdzan/Fry [I think], who has become well known recently, though not often spoken here, I think. In our area are some older works of theirs, and always they seem to have something to please. Lassing Point, Wasioto Winds, Vineyard, The Willows, Gibson Bay are among his, now, lesser lights but great fun nonetheless.

For real obscurity Chris Chrisman, who seems to have only two courses, Stonecrest [KY], and Clear Creek [VA]. Neither are supercourses, but both offer a lot of fun ideas.

Plenty more good courses done by GCA's who get little notice. Thanks to them!

Good thread.

Doug

[Billsteele]

In the South, I enjoyed a couple of Ron Garl courses (Money Hill in Louisiana and Victoria Hills in Florida). I also thought he did a good job on a vanilla piece of property at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland, Florida.
   In Ohio, I have been impressed by the work of Brian Huntley. He has designed Windy Knoll in Springfield, the Sanctuary in North Canton, Beavercreek in Beavercreek (surprisingly enough), Shale Creek in Medina, Eagle Creek in Norwalk, Deer Ridge in Bellville, The Links at Firestone Farms in Columbiana and a number of other affordable public golf courses. His work is solid and his courses very playable with sufficient challenge from the back tees. Does a good job for an Art Hills protege (in fact, he was the design associate on Maumee Bay in Toledo which, in my opinion, is one of the best Hills designs in Ohio).
   Since I like women, let me also put in a word for Jodie Kinney. She has done some fine work around Central Ohio: National Golf Links near Springfield, Rattlesnake Ridge in Sunbury and Glenross in Delaware. She also did a renovation of the championship course at Blacklick Woods in Reynoldsburg which improved on what was already a good public golf course. Some interesting bunkering (especially at National Golf Links) and neat green complexes (Glenross has several that are notable).
   Doug Ralston already mentioned the quintessential Ohio architect: Jack Kidwell. Kidwell designed solid, inexpensive and playable golf courses all over the State. His best course is the private Hickory Hills near Grove City which showed that he could design a demanding golf course if given that charge. Hickory Hills has a fantastic set of greens and one of the hardest opening tee shots in Ohio (uphill to a fairly narrow tree lined fairway bordered by a ravine on the left). Dr. Michael Hurdzan is a protege of Kidwell (although Dana Fry is not, as far as I know). Dr. Hurdzan always speaks reverentially of Kidwell as both an architect and a gentleman.

[Rick Shefchik]

Tom Vardon did three beauties in the Minnesota-Wisconsin region: The University of Minnesota course, Eau Claire Country Club (hat tip to John Conley for that one), and the original nine holes at Stillwater Country Club.

Vardon was the brother of Harry Vardon, and served as the head pro at White Bear Yacht Club for half a century.

I haven't done a study of his work, but I would guess he must have done a few other courses in the Midwest. Back in the 20s, he seemed to be Minnesota's go-to guy if you couldn't get Raynor, Ross, or Tillie.

[Mike_Cirba]

Without a lot of thought and off the top of my head I'd name Kelly Blake Moran and Dan Schlegel (who used to work for Ault/Clark).

I also wouldn't name anyone without playing more than one of their courses, so that left off several other possibilities.


David,

Are the courses at Glen Riddle worth checking out??  

[Tom_Doak]

Billsteele:

Who is Jodie Kinney and where did she come from?

I'm often asked about women in the business (because there aren't many) and hers is a name I haven't heard before.  Having any real courses to her credit puts her in a very select group.

[Tom_Doak]

I neglected to say so earlier but my favorite lesser-known architects are all the guys who still work for me.    They might well be better on their own than some of the practicing architects mentioned above, but fortunately they are happy not to test out that theory.

[Cliff Hamm]

Does Mark Mungeam qualify as lesser known? I was very impressed with his Oxford Greens in Connecticut as well as the new holes he added to Shennecossett. I am playing his recently completed Butter Brook tomorrow and am hoping it is another good one in his portfolio.

One Mungeam course I hate is Cyrpian Keyes outside of Worcester, but that is not to say he doesn't fit this category.  Very much enjoyed The Ledges in Maine by Brad Booth and Makefield Highlands in Pennsylvania by Rick Jacobson.  Have not played other courses by them though so my observations are only based on one course.

Dan...please post what you think of Butter Brook.  Looks impressive from what I've seen.

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom Doak.

Don't think he's "lesser known"?  Go ask 50 people who don't frequent this website two questions:

1. Name 5 golf course architects.
49 won't be able to get past Jack Nicklaus.

2.  Name the architect who designed Pacific Dunes.
40 will say "what's that?"  8 will guess someone other than Doak, one will say "isn't it Hoch or Choke or something"?  One will get it right.  Maybe.

I know Tom's fame is growing, and rightly so.  But let's not get too carried away with fame of non-Tour playing guys in this field.  I doubt Tom himself does.

 

TH

ps - to answer the question less smart-assedly, allow me to add Forrest Richardson and George Santana.