I didn't know David but was aware of his work. He helped Pete Dye immensely.
Below is an article about him.
He may not have been in the spotlight, but late Carmel resident David Pfaff certainly was a star golf course architect.
The artistically gifted Pfaff, who died recently on a golf outing in New Mexico at the age of 74, first got into the golf business in 1965 when the phone rang at his job in Urbana, Ohio where he worked as a design engineer in the aerospace industry.
On the other end was fellow Urbana resident and then-fledgling golf course architect Pete Dye, who was looking for someone to draw up his plans.
"I've never drawn a course," said Dye, now 87. "My brother Roy knew David. So Roy got David to draw some plans."
The result was Pfaff becoming what could be called the first Dye-ciple. For the next 10-plus years, the two had a close relationship, with Pfaff literally having a hand in the design and construction of over 60 Dye courses. At one time, five of the courses ranked in the top 100.
"David was a good friend," said Dye, who still gets up at 6 a.m. to go to work. "He was a nice, fun guy."
In 1976, Landmark Golf, Resort and Community Developers, which constructed 17 Dye courses, retained Pfaff as their in-house course architect. While with Landmark, Dye sent Pfaff to help out with two of the company's new courses in Mississippi and Louisiana. Among those greeting Pfaff was fellow Landmark employee Johnny Pott.
"I remember we laid out the courses on butcher paper," recalled Pott, winner of the 1968 Crosby Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. "David
was an artistic talent. Coming from Ohio, he was a real meat and potatoes guy. I introduced him to crawfish, raw oysters and shrimp. I think he had culture shock."
Pfaff also had a huge hand in Landmark and Dye's Carmel Valley Ranch course. After playing an instrumental role in getting the permits to build the Ranch, Pfaff was on site during construction.
"I remember with Carmel Valley Ranch, there were a lot of restrictions because of all the hills," Dye said. "David did all of the illustrations."
In 1984 Pfaff went solo, forming his own design company, which he led until his passing. His final course, Royal Isabela in Puerto Rico, which opened in 2011, received acclaim from among others Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and LINKS Magazine.
World-renowned golf landscape photographer and Monterey Peninsula resident Joann Dost helped showcase the course with her stunning visuals.
"David was fantastic. We spent a lot of time together in Puerto Rico after the course was completed," Dost said. "I'd known of his work for many, many years but I'd never met him until the Royal Isabela project. His loss has been a shock."
Along with Royal Isabela, Pfaff's collections of work include: Harbour Town GL in South Carolina, Kingsmill GC in Virginia, Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic and La Quinta Resort Mountain Course in La Quinta.
"Everyone loved David," Pott said. "My kids looked at him as an uncle. I'm sad he's gone. He was very talented. We're going to miss him."