Philosophy

“Our Courses Stand the Test of Time”

Minchew’s signature courses are custom-designed to enhance the aesthetic and athletic experience of every golfer everywhere.

Having worked with golf legends Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and most recently with PGA Tour Veteran Fred Funk, I am confident, that rich experience in golf course design formed a design philosophy yielding over 75 golf designs throughout the world.
My experience designing courses in 6 countries truly gives me the ability to handle any climate, topography and culture.

We take a team approach when working with developers. The client’s vision and needs are specifically defined to develop a design program that strives to meet your every wish. We work with your planners, engineers, architects, environmentalists and contractors to create a golf course that is unique, infinitely enjoyable to play and has a rhythm from one group of holes to the next.
 

Experience

Born in Augusta, GA

My design philosophy has been influenced from my decade’s long passion for golf course architecture, my upbringing in Augusta Georgia, The Augusta National Golf Club-home of The Masters and playing dozens of the world’s classic courses. Augusta was in the forefront of golf and golf course architecture dating back to the 1890’s. My experiences of being raised playing golf in Augusta, attending dozens of Masters Tournaments and playing Augusta National injected golf into my DNA.

Designing with Arnold Palmer + Ed Seay

Arnold Palmer the original World Golf Ambassador, named by the industry the King of Golf and his Golf Architect partner Ed Seay had by far the most impact on my career and my design philosophy. They both allowed me to direct and be involved in well over 100 golf course designs.

Arnold and Ed gave me their insight, guided me in developing creative design ideas and exposed me throughout the world to numerous ways of how to build world class golf courses. Whether the sites was well suited to golf, mountainous or non-descript flat land in which a golf topography had to be totally created, they allowed me to develop the ability to create world class golf courses that are beautiful to experience and exhilarating to play. They stressed that each hole should be memorable and unique and most importantly fun to play!

Ed Seay instructed me how to route a golf course onto a piece of land and simultaneously master plan the surrounding development to allow for a successful real estate development. He stressed that as you routed golf holes you rough graded each hole and surrounding development in your mind to ensure the golf hole routing phase would seamlessly flow into the master planning, engineering, and detail grading design phases. He gave me the ability to recognize the best topography for golf and to know when to accept that portions or all a site had to be mass graded to produce a beautiful championship golf course.

Arnold Palmer also taught me the business of golf. He exposed me to the most successful developers, influential people in golf and innovative disciplines of the golf industry. Arnold also exposed me to professional tournament golf and what is necessary to create a world class tournament venue. He allowed me to experience how to market every aspect of golf and golf course architecture. Even after his death the Arnold Palmer brand continues to annually degenerate Millions of dollars.

Learning from Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player

On several occasions over several decades, I had the opportunity to experience how Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player approached golf design and their approach to the design of specific golf features. I worked with them and experienced how they produced golf routing, design plans and their methods of communicating their design ideas.

I originally worked for Player Design as an intern. Decades later I was a part of master planning and routing Champions Retreat in Augusta Georgia in which Arnold Palmer Design, Player Design and Nicklaus Design produced the 27-hole facility. I attended site construction site reviews with Mr. Player and observed the construction of the Player and Nicklaus nines as I designed and supervised the construction of the Palmer nine. Champions Retreat is now the venue of the initial two days of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

For the design and construction of The King and The Bear Golf Club at the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida, I was Arnold Palmer’s golf architect. Arnold Palmer, Ed Seay and I worked closely with Nicklaus Design in a collaborative design between the two World Golf Hall of Fame members. I worked closely with Nicklaus Design and was part of the numerous site visits of both Mr. Nicklaus and Mr. Palmer.

Founding of HMGCA

In 2008, I founded my own golf course architecture firm in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. As a regular member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects for 36 years, I’m known for my design technique and ability to address challenging topographical, engineering, environmental, and soil conditions.

I’ve successfully developed golf design solutions nationwide for a myriad of golf course and development projects with complicated storm water drainage, flood plain, and environmental issues. Only a handful of active golf course architects have had similar experience.

PGA Partnership with Fred Funk

My most recent partnership is with PGA tour veteran Fred Funk on the design of Raindance National Golf Club along the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Between Fred’s 29+ professional victories and hundreds of tournament rounds logged, his vision reinforced all aspects of my design philosophy I developed over decades of designing course:
  • routing of holes that blend seamlessly into the land and multiple tees situated to allow tournament play and enjoyment of most every golfer
  • sequencing long, short, and medium length holes to take full advantage of a site so every hole has its own personality,
  • totally committing time on site to design and inspire the form of every golf feature
  • bunkering that well placed, beautiful shot that can be recovered from with a well struck shot
  • greens variations with unique, yet subtle contours
  • distinctive set of individually designed golf features all of which provide a golf experience that a golfer is keen to play again and again.

Our golf course designs emulate the timeless character, strategy and design principles of the Golden Age of Golf Architecture, while being environmentally and economically sustainable.

Using this philosophy we strive to elevate golf course design to a new level of excellence. We take a team approach when working with developers. The client’s vision and needs are specifically defined to develop a design program that strives to meet his every wish. We work with his planners, engineers, architects, environmentalists and contractor to create a golf course that is unique, infinitely enjoyable to play and has a rhythm from one group of holes to the next.

My Courses

Contact

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or to get started building your course today.

  • Office

    1186 Neck Road
    Ponte Vedra, Florida
  • Office Hours

    Monday – Saturday: 9 AM – 7 PM
    Sunday: 11 AM – 7 PM
  • Contact

    904-631-9191
    harrison@hmgca.com