This trip to Carmel, Indiana, was a bit different.

I rode in a cart with Jake Gargasz, the golf course superintendent at Crooked Stick Golf Club, in June 2024, to check on the progress of the course renovation. Before that, I had met Jake several times to discuss Profile rootzone blends for the new greens – a major focus of the renovation work. But it was on the cart that day that I truly realised the historical significance of the project I was involved in.

When we arrived at hole three, Jake pulled out his phone and showed me the first video in a series he had developed to keep members abreast of the progress of the renovation. They tell an interesting behind-the-scenes story about ties to Pete and Alice Dye, the original architects and stewards of Crooked Stick Golf Club’s design. While the videos were not created for wider distribution, Jake has graciously allowed me to share some aspects of these stories.

The development of the Dyes’ unique architectural style is well documented. It was influenced by a trip to Scotland where Pete participated in the 1963 British Amateur Championship at the Old course in St Andrews. While there, Pete and Alice visited and photographed over 30 courses. In 1964, Crooked Stick would serve as the first canvas for Pete and Alice to fully express a new design vision. Many say Pete’s iconic architectural design style began at Crooked Stick. Pete is well known for his unique use of railroad ties as design elements on many of his courses. However, what I found most interesting are the personal ties of the people involved with the renovation. This project brought together an impressive team of industry professionals, each with a personal connection with Pete, which shaped the thought process and outcomes of what could be considered Crooked Stick’s first major renovation.

There were many motivating factors behind the project. Most were related to the natural impact of time on a golf course, such as ageing infrastructure and changes in cultural practices. Another was that the club is set to host the US Senior Open in 2028. The intention was not to make big sweeping changes, but to update and unify an already outstanding course.

Consulting architect Tom Doak’s relationship with the Dyes began the summer of his junior year at Cornell University, when Pete called him to join the golf course construction crew for an upcoming project. Accepting that position and working closely with Pete set the path for Tom’s impressive career. Over the years, Pete continued to be an influence and mentor, helping him become one of the world’s most in-demand golf course architects. Part of Tom’s success is his minimalist approach to design, which made him a perfect fit to help lead the renovation of Crooked Stick. In the video, Tom says: “It’s fun to be back. I have some very pleasant memories of hearing Pete tell stories about this place and what he did to build it. Hopefully we have a very light touch, and people can’t really remember what I did five years from now.”

From the beginning, this project has focused on preserving the legacy of the club and Pete and Alice’s original vision, while making updates that will improve the health and playability of the course.

Eric Iverson, a member of the Renaissance Golf Design team responsible for much of the shaping work, summed up the significance of the project in a way that resonated with me. “This is a very important course in the history of golf course design, and in particular the architectural branch of the tree that Tom and I both come from,” he says. Around the same time Tom started his journey with Pete, Eric began an internship with Pete’s son Perry, in Denver.

Iverson also highlighted how aware the renovation team is of the project’s historical importance. “It’s a heavy weight when you’re working on the golf course that Pete Dye lived on and tinkered with for all these years,” he says. “Exactly what you’re going to take that back to is subject to a great amount of debate. We’re just trying to honour Pete’s legacy and his overarching philosophy for Crooked Stick and iron out some things that might have occurred through cultural practices over the years.”

Expanding on the historical importance of the project, Doak adds: “This was really Pete Dye’s first world-class golf course when he built it in the 60s. In the original version, you could see the evolution of his design ideas. It was a much more eclectic course than most. There were bunkers that looked like those of Alister McKenzie, Donald Ross and CB Macdonald, based on him actively travelling around during the two or three years that he was building it and seeing other places and bringing back an idea, here or there, to use on the golf course.”

Some of the changes from the renovation will focus on unifying the diverse features found from hole to hole. As Iverson explains: “From a design perspective, what we’ve settled on is that it’s OK to have an eclectic collection of bunkers course-wide, but kind of keep them in the same family.” He was referring to the mounded, flat and pot-style bunkers that Dye has implemented on many of his designs.

Other updates include improving and stabilising watersheds, replacing or adding railroad tie features and making some minor redirections to shot corridors. One of the most notable changes involves tee repositioning on the par-three thirteenth. The tee was moved slightly to the right of the hole for a more intuitive shot into the green.

The rebuilding of the greens was the most significant undertaking of the Crooked Stick renovation. Doak explains: “This is a really special set of greens. When Pete built this golf course, originally green speeds were eight on the Stimpmeter, and now they’re 12 or 13. Even though he’s redone them in pieces over time, it’s still just creeping up, and there are hole locations on some greens that you really can’t use anymore. So, we’re trying to get a little bit of that back without changing the difficulty of the greens in general. We’re trying to get some things back in play that haven’t been used much in the last 15 years.” This highlights the overall theme of the renovation – subtle but meaningful changes.

Towards the end of the video, Iverson makes a comment that sums up the collective goal of the renovation in a very poignant way. He says: “It’s an honour and it’s also an obligation and it’s a chance for us to give back a little bit to the man and the family that gave us our springboard into the business.”

I echo Eric’s sentiment – it has been an honour for me to be involved in this project, in my own small way, given the deep respect and passion engrained in it. I’m looking forward to the 2025 reopening of Crooked Stick and I’m excited to see how the changes take shape with the finishing touches complete. I believe the golf experience there will be one of the best.

This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.