Collected Works

Pete Dye tapped into the essence of links golf when he created the Ocean Course for the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island Resort. His wife and collaborator Alice suggested lifting the fairways so that the wind, that hidden hazard of seaside golf, would play its inimitable role. The Ocean Course’s singular greatness flowed from the wisdom of that decision. The War by the Shore illuminates the dialogue between the Course and the competitors.

The Brook-Lea Century commemorates Brook-Lea Country Club’s 100th birthday and celebrates its 21st century restoration of Donald Ross’s classic course design. The course is a main character, but the spirit of the club animates the narrative. From its founders to current stalwarts, Brook-Lea’s key club members, legendary employees, and champion players parade through its pages.

Philadelphia’s fabulous collection of William Flynn-designed courses includes Manufacturer’s Golf and Country Club, whose unusual name reflects its origins as a 19th century gathering place for Philadelphia’s ambitious businessmen.

Architecture was a powerful theme in our history of Fox Chapel, a gorgeous club in suburban Pittsburgh. The enigmatic, short-lived Seth Raynor designed its eighteen fascinating holes. A soaring Italianate atrium highlights a one-of-a-kind clubhouse.

We think our look at Trinity Forest in Dallas will be the template for a new class of club histories: shorter, punchier, and therefore more entertaining than the standard epic. Architects Coore and Crenshaw provided stories about the challenges of building a golf course on a landfill, while touring pros and caddies offered strategic insights.

No club we know has a more apt name than Oak Hills, a rolling, heavily wooded course in San Antonio. Our narrative focused on the club’s two main points of pride: its immortal architect—A. W. Tillinghast—and its many years of hosting a PGA Tour event.

Boston’s Pine Brook Country Club was less than seven miles from the eponymous Country Club in Brookline. While the first generation of American clubs “were Gentile-only and solidly upper-class,” Pine Brook was a “center of Jewish life.” Pine Brook was “continually called on to prove its value.”