http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=4189From the interview:
"JF: How did you make the jump?
DH: After my playing days, I became an assistant club pro at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, and I asked my boss, Jerry Mowlds, for time off to plan my jump to being an architect, and that’s when he informed me he was going to take a job at Pumpkin Ridge and I should stay on because I’d probably be head pro at Columbia Edgewater and so I stayed.
So I was there for another eight or nine years, (12 total), and during that time three big things happened:
1) I got divorced so it freed me up to do what I wanted, no more golden handcuffs;
2) the tax laws changed so I could sell my house for a big profit and fund a career change; and
3) the PGA changed its rules to expand categories for golf pros so I could be both a pro and an architect.
So then I was able to chase the dream. I’m 50 years old now, but I’m still the same as when I was a kid. I’m doing what I love. My interests have really never changed: golf, fly fishing, chasing girls, music, (I have 8 turntables), and biking for fun....
JF: What is your definition of minimalism and explain why it’s so good for golf?
DH: What most people call minimalism to me is naturalism. Wine Valley is minimalistic because we didn’t move dirt, but it’s also natural. To me true minimalism means a course almost mowed out of the ground with 20-30 bunkers, not 80-90 and definitely not 200. You have to work harder to make it good when you don’t have a big budget. You have to be more creative. You get better at problem solving that way. If we stretch the dollar as much as possible, more people can play it and the course can maintain itself well. The problem in the ’80s was that no one wanted to leave the site alone. They wanted to build what they wanted to build.
But if you leave natural grades, you save time, money, energy, and the soil is better and the course is better. Mounds for example – I don’t do mounds, and I tell my jobs that. Just to build mounds because nothing is there – mounds for mounds sake – wastes money.
So for me minimalism is simple golf courses. Dan Proctor and Dave Axland built Wild Horse, and they just left the ground alone and fit the features into the land and it came out great. I learned a lot from Dan Proctor when he was with me on Wine Valley, he’s another great guy.
Also, Bill Coore is a great example to follow. "