Featured architects

Gary Player

The global ambassador with a global design practice

Born
1935, Johannesburg, South Africa
Years active
c. 1980s–present
Works
400+ projects in 37 countries
Era
Contemporary

Why the name endures

Player's career as the game's most travelled champion led naturally to a design practice on six continents. His courses emphasise fitness of purpose for the site and, increasingly, environmental restraint in water use and turf area.

Design principles

  • Walkability and rhythm through the routing
  • Native vegetation instead of maintained rough
  • Bunkering that frames rather than blocks

Surviving work

Courses to see

The Links at Fancourt

Western Cape, South Africa

A manufactured links on a former airfield, host of the 2003 Presidents Cup.

St Andrews Beach

Victoria, Australia

Sandy, rumpled ground on the Mornington Peninsula.

Blair Atholl

Gauteng, South Africa

Highveld golf across a working estate north of Johannesburg.