The Highlights/BioBorn in Portsmouth, England
Immigrated to Canada in the 1970’s
My father was a terrific player and he loved watching the PGA and we both watched Sunday every week-end all year long. It was while watching the Bing Crosby where I asked my father if people designed courses (I was 13). Once he said yes, that was when I decided that I wanted to be a golf architect.
He right away bought me the
World Atlas of Golf and then
The Golf Course to read. I then bugged him for
Golf Architecture in America (which he got a photocopy of for me because he could not find the book). I now have a first edition.
I then contacted the ASGCA at 16 and they told me to take Landscape Architecture. So eventually I did.
I began playing once I passed an etiquette test (my father was a club captain) and played a ton till I got my first job. I was a solid junior player, but never much more than that.
My father took me all over North America to see and study courses including: Nova Scotia to play Highlands Links at 15, Pinehurst, Westchester County, Scotland, England, and the Monterrey Peninsula (where I got my father onto Cypress Point … and we played a few holes with O’Meara too). I took him to Ireland more recently.
I graduated both Ryerson U. (Toronto) and the Guelph U. with a degree in Landscape Architecture. I barely played over those 6 years because I was working my way through school (my choice) and worked six days a week in construction during the summer. I designed and built my first green at 16 at Carrying Place, while in school and yes its still there.
We made to Ireland 10 years after.
Doug and I ... sort of....
I briefly worked as a landscape Architect but working as a golf architect began with Doug Carrick in 1989. The company was called Robinson and Carrick at the time and Doug was finishing King Valley. I worked with Doug for 18 years before heading out on my own.
I began with new courses but ended up doing almost exclusively renovation work for the last dozen years. The renovation market exploded during that period and I was busy going to get new work, meetings and supervising all the construction.
In the middle of all of this Chris Brands introduced me to some site called Golf Club Atlas in 1999. It began a long quest to go and see the courses that were coming in discussion. The site has its moments, but it certainly helped me too.
I also attended the first Archipalozza where I saw this fresh new course called Pacific Dunes and decided what I was working on was not what I wanted to build. That week-end convinced me that I would have to leave.
I left because Doug and I had grown very far apart architecturally and it was a strain on our relationship. We both agreed, when I told him I was going, that it was time.
The projects that most reflect my involvement are Ballantrae and Muskoka Bay.
The controversial 9th hole - The Funnel Hole
I began my current business in 2006. In the first year I had 25 clients (most coming over from the original business since they were almost all clients I brought in). I currently have 40 clubs that work with me and 95% of the work is restorative-based. I’m comfortably and happy with what I have, but I do want to be a couple of new courses to express my thoughts on golf design.
The three years on the blog was originally supposed to be about marketing myself and sharing what I believe. It became a complete re-evaluation of everything I knew about architecture and a journey into the things that I wanted to know. My design philosophy completely changed through that experience and the courses that I was seeking out to better understand the art.
In 2009 Mike Weir was looking for an architect to partner with and put out a request for interest from any Canadian architect. About 20 architects actively sought that position and through the process I became the architect that fit the best. We have looked at quite a few projects, declined the ones that don’t fit and gone through some level of process with a couple others, but we have nothing active. We are looking for one project and not looking to build an empire (or large design firm).
The most likely opportunity to see a new course from us will be at Laval-sur-le-lac in Montreal. It’s a high-end private club that is looking to completely rebuild the Blue Course. The presentation was last night, in French, and the vote comes in the next two weeks. This is our best chance for new construction for next year.