BREAKING: Pete Dye Famed Course Architect and Hall of Famer, Dies at 94

Pete Dye, one of golf’s most well-known architects, died Thursday. He was 94.

More on his legacy: https://t.co/SRhsBE39on pic.twitter.com/w8zDjNOrBD

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) January 9, 2020

     “What Pete Dye has done for the game of golf is something for which we should all be thankful,” Jack Nicklaus once said. “He changed the way we think about golf course design, and how design works … Because of the attention that Pete Dye-designed courses have brought to the game, there are lots of people who are now able to make a living at golf course design. Me included.”

It’s incredibly sad to hear today about the passing of Pete Dye at 94 years old. Pete was born into the game and he certainly left his mark on it, that’s for damn sure. As a player, he competed in 5 US Amateurs, 1 British Amateur, and 1 US Open. However, his real passion and talent wasn’t playing the game, it was designing it. Dye and his wife, Alice, went on to design some most incredible courses on the planet such as:

• TPC Sawgrass
• Whistling Straits
• Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course French Lick
• Teeth of the Dog

     “Dye’s approach to constructing a new course harkens back to an older time — he does not strictly adhere to detailed architectural plans or diagrams, preferring instead to fashion each hole out of the ground in a very personal and hands-on fashion, very much in the manner of the grand masters of golf course architecture,” wrote the World Golf Hall of Fame, which inducted Dye via its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.”

Dye was truly inspirational to the game of golf and he will be missed. He was battling dementia at the time of his passing. I am sure he is in a better place and we are sending our thoughts and prayers out to his loved ones. Rest in peace Pete.

Cover Image Via Twitter