GOLF COURSE REVIEWS

Caledonia Designer One of the Industry's Hottest Names

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. - In the world of golf course architecture, Tom Fazio is the man. The Pennsylvania native who learned the craft from his touring pro uncle, George Fazio, has not cooled off since the early 1990's saw him go gangbusters with award winning designs.

For many years, Fazio's chief competition came from the venerable Pete Dye, who along with his wife has crafted some of the most challenging and decorated golf courses of the past 20 years. To draw a parallel, Dye was Palmer and Fazio was the young Nicklaus nipping at his heels.

Right up there with Fazio and Dye were Rees and Robert Trent Jones Jr., the two designer sons of legendary course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. The friendly competition between these great modern architects still rages on, but in the Carolinas, perhaps it is time to pay attention to a darkhorse who is dazzling the golf course design industry with his imaginative and controversial layouts.

Mike Strantz is a native of Toledo, Ohio, and the controversial designer caught Fazio's eye while working on a redesign of the Inverness Country Club prior to the 1979 U.S. Open. Fazio was hired to modify parts of the course, and was impressed with Strantz's knowledge of course design and his ideas of how to make Inverness a better course.

Just like that, Strantz was swept off to Fazio's latest project in Hilton Head, Moss Creek Plantation. He later served as an on-site designer and shaper for Fazio's Links and Harbor courses at Wild Dunes near Charleston and served that same function at eleven additional Fazio courses, including Kiawah Island Osprey Point and Florida's Black Diamond Ranch over the next eight years.

"Tom did some extensive work on the course for the Open, and he saw that I had a knack for the work," said Strantz. "I just kind of fell in with him. He hired me and the day after the Open, I was on a plane to Hilton Head."

In 1987, Mike left Fazio's company to serve as on-site supervisor for the reconstruction of Wild Dunes - a job made more extensive by 1989's Hurricane Hugo - and for the construction of Dunes West in nearby Mt. Pleasant, where Mike currently resides.

"Working with a premiere designer like Tom, you get moved around quite a bit," notes Strantz. "I wanted to be able to dedicate myself to some key projects and working with Tom had given me the experience to do so successfully."

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A natural artist, Strantz has been known to sketch detailed hole renderings on his first visit to an undeveloped sight.

"I take a lot of time walking around a piece of property, and I try to let the character of the property dictate the design," he says. "You have to let the land speak to you to get the most out of it."

In 1993, Strantz set out on his first solo project down in Pawleys Plantation, which ultimately became known as the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club. Over the past seven years, Caledonia has evolved into one of the most sought-after rounds of golf in the Grand Strand, and has garnered up to 4.5 stars from Golf Digest as well as a fifth-best public course in America rating by Golf Digest in 1995 and "Top 10 You Can Play" recognition by GOLF Magazine.

Strantz also designed Caledonia's sister course, True Blue, which has meet with controversial, yet favorable reviews from the golfing world. But in the late 1990's, Strantz turned his attention from the coastal courses of the Sandlapper state, towards the golf crazy country of the Tar Heel state.

In 1998, Mark Stewart and Tony Woodell of sleepy Sanford, NC came back from a trip to Myrtle Beach with the notion that they needed to build a golf course, and the rebel Strantz was just the guy to design it. The end product was Tobacco Road Golf Course, which was voted "Best New Gold Course" in the state upon its opening and continues to be one of the most intriguing courses in the state.

Strantz insists on only working with one project at a time, so after the completion of Tobacco Road, it was time to move up to the Triad area and try his hand at designing a course in the state's richest daily fee golfing region. The result was yet another Strantz original, the Tot Hill Farm Golf Club, which has had players talking about its controversial design since it opened its doors to the public.

"Golf course design is one of the few trades today where apprenticeship is the only way to get good experience," Strantz says. "A good designer needs to have excellent knowledge of soil structures, engineering and vegetation, as well as a feel for the average golfer. I was fortunate to work with and learn from one of the best in the business."

Tot Hill farm is situated outside of Asheboro (all towns in North Carolina either end in "ville" or "boro") in the Uwharrie National Forest's Mountains, and elevation changes of eighty feet and more are not uncommon between holes.

Just where Strantz will fit in golf course architecture history remains to be seen. Whereas Fazio tends towards the traditional in his designs, Strantz is not afraid to do almost anything when it comes to laying out his golf courses.

Join Senior Editor Shane Sharp this week as he explores one of the Grand Strand's most highly rated courses.