Editor’s Note: Golf Inc. has named five individuals as 2023 golf business Visionaries of the Year. Each has helped the industry move forward through their visions and examples. In addition to Don Rea, as featured in the Jan/Feb Golf Inc. issue, we feature here architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have been some of the most prolific golf course architects in the world since they first joined forces in 1986. With more than 30 original designs under their belt and more than 10 renovations, it’s hard to find a spot on the globe where they haven’t left their indelible mark.
Crenshaw honed his craft as a professional golfer with two PGA Tour Masters Tournament wins in 1984 and 1995. Coore learned course design from one of the greats, Pete Dye, when he joined the firm in 1972.
Their most recent triumph is the Sheep Ranch course at world-famous Bandon Dunes in Oregon, which opened in June 2020. Eight more courses are in various stages of completion, from the soon-to-open Te Arai Links in New Zealand to a short course at Streamsong Resort in Florida, which will begin construction early this year and will accompany their renowned Streamsong Red Course.
The secret to their success is simple. As Coore puts it, “We look for sites that are ‘naturally gifted for golf.’ Then we will move as little dirt as possible in crafting the finished product.”
But when Coore and Crenshaw first met in the 80s, they had no intention of working together.
“I would say we actually became friends first,” Coore said. “To this day, I have no recollection of any specific date or dinner or lunch that we said, ‘Let’s try or work together.’ It was an evolutionary thing that came about in our meeting and getting to know each other.”
More than anything, Coore said, they wanted to perceive their design partnership as a hobby and wanted to try and be very small in terms of the company and projects they’d undertake.
“It was truly an unknown at the time if anyone would hire us,” he said. “In our wildest dreams, we could have never imagined the opportunities we’ve been given to work on some truly special sites and naturally gifted sites for golf, and work for some amazing people and clients.”
Coore said in choosing projects, he and Crenshaw look for situations where they think they can do something that could yield a very interesting and distinctive golf course.
Their comfort level is up to three projects at one time.
“The single most difficult thing for the two of us is to be presented with a lot of interesting options, like we have been in recent years, and knowing we have to say no,” he said. “You meet with people, and they have dreams. And saying no is the single hardest thing for me and Ben personally.”
Coore and Crenshaw don’t want to make their company any bigger and have resisted that over the years.
“Let’s try to create a few, interesting golf courses was always the goal,” Coore said.
Coore said he thinks it’s a wonderful time for golf architecture and a promising time for young people who are in the profession or trying to get in it.
“There are more opportunities now than before,” he said. “It’s evolved, and from my perspective has evolved in a very positive way.”
Coore said one of the beauties he and Crenshaw see now is alternative forms of golf.
“Years ago, Ben and I tried to talk to potential clients about nine-hole or 12-hole courses, and generally those conversations we had would not be very seriously considered.”
For those interested in this profession, Coore advises to study as much as you can.
“Try to determine for yourself what you like about a course and what you don’t like,” he said. “And don’t be influenced by what magazines or ratings say. Come to your own conclusions as a person, golfer, as an architect who finds design interesting. Then, it’s crucial to get experience. It doesn’t mean you need to work with a big design company. You can work at a construction company.”
“I’ve always felt that you need the experience on the ground,” he added. “And that starts in very non-glamorous ways. If you have an understanding about what those people are going through, the whole thing becomes easier.”