Golf Course Architecture - Architects' Choice - Top 100 Golf Courses

11 86-82 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #86 Rye East Sussex, England Harry Colt, 1895 Harry Colt was a young solicitor when he was elected captain of Rye and laid it its original course, before going on to become one of the most influential golf architects of all time. Rye was subsequently reworked by Tom Simpson and Sir Guy Campbell and is now a par 68, with five par threes and a single par five. Chantilly (Vineuil) France Tom Simpson, 1909 Tom Simpson arrived at Chantilly in the 1920s to design a second 18 holes, and at the same time reworked the original Vineuil course. The course was severely damaged during the Second World War, but was subsequently restored and later, in the 1980s, reworked by Donald Steel. The course is characterised by its challenging bunkering and, despite the surrounding forest, spacious feel. Bandon Trails Oregon, USA Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, 2005 A journey through dunes, meadow and forest, Bandon Trails was the third eighteen built at the Bandon Dunes resort. “In the profession of golf architecture all one can ask for is to be given an extraordinary site and the freedom to work with it. Mike Keiser has afforded both at Bandon Trails,” says Bill Coore on the club’s website. “We have tried to tread softly on this spectacular landscape, laying out a golf course that required little alteration to the site while providing golf as diverse as the land itself.” Pasatiempo California, USA Alister MacKenzie, 1929 Following their design partnership at Cypress Point, Pasatiempo founder Marion Hollins presumably found the decision to hire Dr Alister MacKenzie to design a new course on the sand hills overlooking the Monterey Bay quite easy. Almost 70 years later, the discovery of a collection of historic slides prompted the club to embark upon a restoration of MacKenzie’s original design, choosing Renaissance Golf Design for this ten-year project. Saunton (East) Devon, England Herbert Fowler, 1919 The East course at Saunton began life in the 1890s, but it was Herbert Fowler’s work in 1919 that has the greatest impact on the course as we see it today. The course is typified by the holes that run through dunes, giving each a sense of happy isolation and providing a stern test that many feel is worthy of an Open Championship. ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #85 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #84 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #83 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #82 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #85 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #83 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #82 Photo: Frank Pont

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