Paul Dye Jr.

Paul Dye Jr. (December 29, 1925 – January 9, 2020), known as Pete Dye, was an American golf course designer and a member of a family of course designers. He was married to fellow designer and amateur champion Alice Dye.

Dye was born in Urbana, Ohio, the son of Paul F. "Pink" and Elizabeth Dye. A few years before Dye's birth, his father became involved with golf and built a nine-hole course on family land in Champaign County called the "Urbana Country Club." As a youngster, he worked and played that course. While attending Urbana High School, he won the Ohio state high school golf championship, and medaled in the state amateur golf championship, all before entering the U.S. Army at age 18 in 1944 during World War II. Dye first moved to Delray Beach, Florida with his parents in 1933 and eventually established his own winter residence there. With his brother Andy, he had attended the Asheville School, a boarding school in North Carolina at Asheville. Dye entered the Airborne School at Fort Benning in Georgia to be a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, but the war ended while he was in training. He was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina where he served the rest of his hitch as greenskeeper on the base golf course. Dye explained,

"I played the golf course at Pinehurst No. 2 for six solid months, and I got to know Mr. Donald Ross...(who) had built the Fort Bragg golf course. He would come over and watch us play golf, and most of the time the captain and colonel hauled me over there. They didn't know who Mr. Ross was, but the other fellow walking with him was JC Penney, and they all knew him."

After his discharge, Dye relocated to Florida and enrolled at Rollins College in Winter Park, northeast of Orlando, where he met his wife, Alice Holliday O'Neal. They were married in early 1950, and had two sons, Perry and P.B. (Paul Burke). They moved to Indiana to her hometown of Indianapolis, and Dye sold insurance. Within a few years, he distinguished himself as a million dollar salesman, and was also successful in amateur golf. Dye won the Indiana amateur championship in 1958, following runner-up finishes in 1954 and 1955. At age 31, he qualified for the U.S. Open in 1957 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, but shot 152 (+12) to miss the cut by two strokes, as did Arnold Palmer; seventeen-year-old amateur Jack Nicklaus was eight strokes behind them at 160.

Design career

Dye made the decision to become a golf course designer in his mid-30s. Alice supported his career change and became partner in the new venture. In 1961, the couple visited and talked to noted golf architect Bill Diddle, who lived nearby. He warned them about the economic uncertainty of the profession, but they persisted. The first design from Dye and his wife was the nine-hole El Dorado course south of Indianapolis, which crossed a creek thirteen times. Those nine holes are now incorporated into the Royal Oak course at Dye's Walk Country Club. Their first 18-hole course was created during 1962 in Indianapolis and named Heather Hills, now known as Maple Creek Golf & Country Club.

Dye designed the Radrick Farms Golf Course for the University of Michigan in 1962, but the course did not open until 1965. At the time, he was using the design style of Trent Jones, but after seeing the work of Alister MacKenzie, who designed the 1931 Michigan course, Dye decided to incorporate features from two greens into his next project. Dye visited Scotland in 1963 and made a thorough study of its classic courses. The Scottish use of pot bunkers, bulkheads constructed of wood, and diminutive greens influenced his subsequent designs.

Dye's first well-known course was Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, north of Indianapolis, begun in 1964. It hosted the PGA Championship in 1991, won by ninth alternate John Daly. In 1967, he designed The Golf Club near Columbus, Ohio, where he solicited input from 27-year-old Jack Nicklaus, an area local who won his seventh major (of 18) that year. The two worked together to design the acclaimed Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina, opened in 1969, the site of an annual PGA Tour event ever since. Nicklaus credits Dye with significant influence on his own approach to golf course design.[10] Also in 1969, Dye designed his first course in Florida called Delray Dunes. In 1970, he designed Martingham Golf Course in St. Michaels, Maryland, now known as Harbourtowne Resort. The owners of the project went bankrupt and Dye went unpaid; the course was eventually finished, however, and had many of Dye's signature course characteristics such as deep bunkers, small greens, short challenging par fours, and railroad ties. In 2015, the property was purchased by Richard D. Cohen who has entered into an agreement with Dye to update and redesign the course. The new owner agreed to pay the funds that were not paid during the original design.

In 1986, Dye also designed a course in the Italian province of Brescia, near Lake Iseo, the Franciacorta Golf Club, recognized today as wine golf course. Dye is considered to be one of the most influential course architects in the world. His designs are known for distinctive features, including small greens and the use of railroad ties to hold bunkers. His design for the Brickyard Crossing golf course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway utilized the dismantled outer retaining wall from the race track. He is known for designing the "world's most terrifying tee shot," the par-3 17th hole of the Stadium Course at TPC at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Known as the "Island Green," it gained wide notice 38 years ago in 1982, during the first Players Championship at the new course.[13][14][15][16] Dye's designs have been credited with returning short & medium length par fours to golf. Many of the best young golf architects have "pushed dirt" for Pete, including Bill Coore, Tom Doak, John Harbottle, Butch Laporte, Tim Liddy, Scott Poole, David Postlewaite, Lee Schmidt, Keith Sparkman, Jim Urbina, Bobby Weed, Rod Whitman, and Abe Wilson.[17]

Later life

Dye received the Old Tom Morris Award in 2003 from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, their highest honor. In 2004, he was the recipient of the PGA Distinguished Service Award, the highest annual honor of the PGA of America, which recognizes individuals who display leadership and humanitarian qualities, including integrity, sportsmanship and enthusiasm for the game of golf. In 2005, Dye became the sixth recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2008 in the Lifetime Achievement category.[18] The American Society of Golf Course Architects bestowed the Donald Ross Award on Dye in 1995.[19] Dye was named Architect of the Year by Golf World magazine, awarded a Doctor of Landscape Architecture degree from Purdue University, received Indiana's Sagamore of the Wabash award and was honored as Family of the Year by the National Golf Foundation.

In the last years of his life, Dye suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[20] He died on January 9, 2020.[21][22][23]

Courses designed

A partial list of courses that Dye either designed alone or co-designed:

Public

California

• Carmel Valley Ranch Golf Resort – Carmel Valley Ranch 
• La Quinta Resort and Club (Dunes Course, Mountain Course) – La Quinta 
• PGA West (Stadium Course) – La Quinta 
• Lost Canyons Golf Club (Shadow Course, Sky Course) – Simi Valley 
• The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa (South Course) – Rancho Mirage 
• Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles

Colorado

• The Country Club of Colorado – Colorado Springs 
• Plum Creek Golf Club – Castle Rock 
• Riverdale Dunes – Brighton 
• Gypsum Creek Golf Course – Gypsum [9]
• Copper Creek Golf Course – Copper Mountain

Connecticut

• Wintonbury Hills Golf Course – Bloomfield [10]
• TPC River Highlands – Cromwell

Florida

• Amelia Island Plantation - Ocean Links - Amelia Island, Florida
• Gasparilla Inn Golf Course – Boca Grande [11]
• Palm Beach Polo (The Cypress Course) – Wellington [12]
• PGA Golf Club (The Dye Course) – Port St. Lucie
• River Ridge Golf Course – Harbour Ridge | Palm City – Treasure Coast – Florida Golf Communities [13]
• TPC at Sawgrass (Stadium Course) – Ponte Vedra Beach [14]

Illinois

• Ruffled Feathers Golf Course – Lemont [15]
• Tamarack Country Club – Shiloh
• Yorktown Golf Course – Belleville [16]

Indiana

• Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex at Purdue University (Ackerman-Allen Course, Kampen Course) – West Lafayette [17][18]
• Brickyard Crossing – Speedway [19]
• The Club at Chatham Hills (semi-private) – Westfield[24]
• Dye's Walk Country Club (formerly Eldorado Country Club and Royal Oak) – Greenwood [20]
• Eagle Creek Golf Club (Pines and Sycamore Courses) at Eagle Creek Park – Indianapolis [21]
• Forest Park – Brazil
• The Fort Golf Course – Fort Harrison State Park – Indianapolis [22]
• Greenbelt Golf Course – Columbus [23]
• The Camferdam Golf Experience (The Indianapolis Children's Museum) - Indianapolis, Indiana [24]
• Mystic Hills Golf Course – Culver [25]
• Oak Tree Golf Course (front nine) – Plainfield [26]
• The Pete Dye Course – French Lick [27]
• Plum Creek Golf Club – Carmel [28]
• Sahm Golf Course – Indianapolis [29]

Louisiana

• TPC of Louisiana – Avondale [30]

Kentucky

• Kearney Hill Golf Links – Lexington [31]
• Peninsula Golf Course – Lancaster

Maryland

• Bulle Rock Golf Course – Havre de Grace [32]
• The Links at Perry Cabin (formerly Harbourtowne Resort Country Club) – St. Michaels [33]
• Rum Pointe Seaside Golf Links – Berlin [34]

Nevada

• Paiute Golf Club Resort (Snow Mountain, Sun Mountain, and Wolf Courses) – Las Vegas [35]
• Desert Pines Golf Club – Las Vegas [36]

New York

• Pound Ridge Golf Club – Pound Ridge [37]

North Carolina

• Cardinal by Pete Dye – Greensboro [38]
• Founders Golf Course – Southport [39]
• Oak Hollow Golf Course – High Point [40]

Ohio

• Avalon Lakes – Warren
• Fowler's Mill GC – Chesterland [41]
• Little Turtle Golf Club – Westerville [42]

Pennsylvania

• Iron Valley Golf Course – Lebanon
• Mystic Rock, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort – Farmington

South Carolina

• Harbour Town Golf Links – Hilton Head Island [43]
• Kiawah Island Golf Resort (The Ocean Course) – Kiawah Island [44]
• Heron Point (formerly Sea Marsh) – Hilton Head Island [45]
• The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort – North Myrtle Beach
• Prestwick Country Club – Myrtle Beach

Texas

• Stonebridge Ranch Country Club (The Dye Course) – McKinney
• AT&T Canyons Course of TPC at San Antonio

Virginia

• Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech – Radford [46]
• River Course at Kingsmill Resort – Williamsburg
• Virginia Beach National – Virginia Beach [47]
• Virginia Oaks – Gainesville [48]

Wisconsin

• Big Fish Golf Club – Hayward [49]
• Whistling Straits (Irish Course, Straits Course) – Haven [50]
• Blackwolf Run (River Course, Meadows Valley Course) – Kohler [51]
• Dominican Republic
• Casa de Campo (Teeth of the Dog, Dye Fore, The Links) – Casa de Campo
• Las Aromas Golf Club - [52]

Guatemala

• Fuego Maya – La Reunion [53]

Israel

• Caesarea Golf & Country Club – Caesarea

Private

Arizona

• Ancala Country Club – Scottsdale [54]
• Red Mountain Ranch Country Club (Championship Course) – Mesa [55]

California

• The Citrus Golf Club - La Quinta
• Mission Hills Country Club Pete Dye Course - Rancho Mirage
• The Hideaway Golf Club Pete Dye Course - La Quinta

Colorado

• Glenmoor Country Club – Cherry Hills Village [56]

Florida

• Delray Dunes Golf and Country Club- Boynton Beach, Florida [57]
• The Dye Preserve Golf Club - Jupiter [58]
• Gulf Stream Golf Club - (Pete and Alice Dye - 2014 Remodel) Gulf Stream [59]
• Talis Park Golf Club (with Greg Norman) – Naples [60]
• Harbour Ridge Yacht & Country Club (River Ridge Course) Palm City [61]
• North Course - (John's Island Club, Vero Beach, FL) (Pete and Perry Dye) Vero Beach [62]
• South Course - (John's Island Club, Vero Beach, FL) (Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus) Vero Beach [63]
• Southern Hills Plantation Club – Brooksville [64]
• Medalist Golf Club (with Greg Norman) – Jupiter [65]
• The Moorings Club of Vero Beach – Vero Beach [66]
• Old Marsh Golf Club – Palm Beach Gardens, Florida [67]
• Pete Dye Course - (PGA Golf Club at the Reserve) – Port Saint Lucie, Florida [68]
• Harbor Course – ((Grand Harbor, Vero Beach, FL)) [69]
• St. Andrews Club - Delray Beach, FL [70]
• West Bay Club (Estero, FL) (Pete and P.B Dye) [71]

Georgia

• Atlanta National Golf Club – Alpharetta [72]
• The Ogeechee Golf Club at the Ford Plantation, Richmond Hill
• Illinois
• Oakwood Country Club – Coal Valley [73]

Indiana

• The Bridgewater Club – Westfield [74]
• The Club at Chatham Hills - Westfield[24]
• Crooked Stick Golf Club – Carmel [75][76]
• Harbour Trees Golf Club - Noblesville [77]
• Maple Creek Golf & Country Club – Indianapolis [78]
• Woodland Country Club – Carmel [79]

Iowa

• Des Moines Golf and Country Club – West Des Moines [80]

Louisiana

• Belle Terre Country Club – LaPlace [81]

Michigan

• Radrick Farms Golf Course at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor [82]
• Wabeek Country Club – Bloomfield Hills [83]

Missouri

• Boone Valley Golf Club – Augusta [84]
• Old Hickory Golf Club – St. Peters [85]

Nebraska

• Firethorn Golf Club – Lincoln [86]

North Carolina

• Country Club of Landfall – Wilmington [87]

Ohio

• The Golf Club – New Albany
• Little Turtle Golf Club – Westerville [88]

Oklahoma

• Oak Tree National – Edmond [89]
• Oak Tree Country Club – Edmond [90]

Pennsylvania

• Montour Heights Country Club – Coraopolis [91]

South Carolina

• DeBordieu Club – Georgetown [92]
• Long Cove Club – Hilton Head Island [93]
• Colleton River Plantation Club (Dye Course) – Bluffton [94]
• Hampton Hall Club- Bluffton [95]

Tennessee

• The Honors Golf Club – Ooltewah
• Rarity Mountain Golf Club – Jellico

Texas

• Austin Country Club – Austin
• The Stonebridge Ranch Country Club – McKinney [96]

Utah

• Promontory – Park City
• West Virginia
• Pete Dye Golf Club – Clarksburg [97]

Curacao

• Santa Barbara Beach Resort (Old Quarry Golf Course) – Curacao [98]

China

• Mission Hills Dongguan - Pete Dye Course, Mission Hills China

Dominican Republic

• La Romana Country Club – La Romana

Honduras

• Pristine Bay Resort - Roatán
• Israel
• Caesarea Golf Club (2009 course redesign)

Italy

• Franciacorta Golf Club – Franciacorta, Sebino, (Brescia) [99]

Switzerland

• Golf Club du Domaine Impérial - Gland, Vaud [100]

Matching keywords

• Old Quarry Golf Course Curaçao
• Golf Club du Domaine Impérial
• Casa de Campo - Teeth of the dog
• Barbaroux Golf Club
• Franciacorta Golf Club
• The Ocean Course
• Whistling Straits - Straits
• Tournament Players Club Sawgrass
• Austin Country Club
• Kiawah Island Golf Resort - Ocean course
• The Honors Course
• Blackwolf Run Golf Course
• The Pete Dye Course at French Lick
• Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles
• Hideaway Golf Club