Featured architects
James Braid
The champion who laid out Scotland's inland classics
- Born
- 1870, Earlsferry, Fife
- Years active
- c. 1900s–1940s
- Works
- 200+ across Britain
- Era
- Golden Age
Why the name endures
Five-time Open champion and long-serving professional at Walton Heath, Braid designed with a player's eye for where the hole should ask its question. He rarely travelled far and often worked in a single day on site, yet his routings on difficult ground remain unimprovable.
Design principles
- Routings that follow the natural fall of the land
- Plateau greens defended by short grass and fall-away
- Bunkers set for the second shot, not the drive
Surviving work
Courses to see
Gleneagles (King's)
Perthshire, Scotland
Moorland golf across ridges with views to the Ochils on every tee.
Carnoustie (Championship)
Angus, Scotland
His 1926 revisions produced the closing stretch that decides Opens.
Blairgowrie (Rosemount)
Perthshire, Scotland
Heather and pine corridors that reward straight, deliberate golf.