A tribute to Pete Dye

Pete Dye receives the “Ambassador of Golf” award at the 2005 NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, on Aug. 18, 2005. (Photo: Getty Images/iStock-Getty Images/ PGA Tour)

Pete Dye, legendary golf course designer, died Jan. 9 at the age of 94.

The list of Pete Dye-designed courses includes Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, S.C.; TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course, Ponta Vedra, Fla.; The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, S.C.; PGA West – Stadium Course, Palm Desert, Calif.; Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wis.; and the Honors Course, Ooltewah, Tenn.

“His designs matched his personality: strong, bold, smart and creative,” said Tim Liddy, ASGCA, understudy of Dye and founder of Tim Liddy + Associates, a golf course design and architecture firm in Westfield, Ind. “He was a mentor to so many, a true legacy of his genius and compassion. He was my mentor, and his love of golf and golf design was infectious.”

Dye was a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and was a 1995 Donald Ross Award recipient. He also served as a past president and fellow of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA).

“He wanted to make you think certain things. I don’t know if I would have the vision of architecture that I have now if I didn’t spend time with him,” said Chris Zugel, superintendent at Whistling Straits GC, during his keynote presentation at the Palm Beach GCSA Superintendents meeting.

He was married to fellow designer and amateur champion Alice Dye — the first female president of ASGCA and architect of the famed 17th hole “island green” at TPC Sawgrass — who died Jan. 1, 2019, at the age of 91.