Many of you may have seen in the international Golf media that we mourned the loss of famed Golf Architect Pete Dye who died last week at the grand age of 94. Since beginning his career in the 1960’s with his wife Alice, Dye remained at the forefront of modern golf course design building some of the world’s most famous and highly rated courses. These include Kiawah Island, Whistling Straits, which will stage this year’s Ryder Cup matches, and TPC Sawgrass which is home to the Players Championship, an annual tournament on the PGA Tour.
Dye is known for designing for what many golfers have described the ‘world's most terrifying tee shot’, the par-3 17th hole of the Stadium Course at TPC at Sawgrass. It first sent flutters through golf professionals stomachs 38 years ago during the first Players Championship and it’s since gone on to be widely known around the world as the ‘island green’.
Aside from this famous Par 3 hole, Dye's designs have been credited with returning short and medium length par fours to the game. Cynthia Dye our course architect has certainly given us much of that feel with holes like the 3rd and 8th feature strategic fairway bunkering and smaller greens to really get you thinking, whilst our signature par-5 9th incorporates the greenside pot bunkering that could be found on a classic Scottish links.
When watching the world’s best golfers at TPC Sawgrass and Whistling Straits later this year, we are certain the Dye designed courses will provide the stage for more unforgettable viewing of joy and drama – Pete we thank you!
