What the average recreational golfer can learn from a five-day, in-depth golf course design seminar taught by the greats architects? Enough. Provided they are willing to jump in the gravel and get their boots dirty on the field.
For the second year in a row, the American Society of Golf Course Architects hosted the design camp, inviting 15 students to work in a team training environment to develop their designs guided by leading figures in the field. Last year’s inaugural session took place at Erin Hills outside Milwaukee ahead 2025 US Women’s Open. This year’s camp was held at historic Pinehurst, building on the principles behind its legend. Course no. 2 and using No. 11 — a design by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw that will open in the fall of 2027 — as a practical educational aid.
Participants paid $20,000 in tuition, with $15,000 of that earmarked for ASGCA’s philanthropic efforts to support public course development and fund the recruitment and education of the next generation of designers. This year’s instructors included ASGCA members Jan Bel Jan, Jeff Blume, Jeff Brauer, Bruce Charlton, Steve Forrest, Mike Hurdzan, Tom Marzolf and Damian Pascuzzo. Coore also led students on a walking tour of his developing course at Pinehurst No. 11.
Here’s who did the lesson. But what did they learn? Here are 12 key lessons from the camp.
1. There is much more to work than meets the eye
Most golfers have little concept of the amount of time and effort that goes into creating a single hole of golf, let alone an entire 18. Planning and construction can take years, requiring close attention to a dizzying array of details that the average player takes for granted—from topography, drainage and irrigation to cart paths, grass varieties, accessibility and other types of land, ADA. Greg Norman once said that “nothing is easier than designing a difficult golf course.” But designing a compelling course that gets built on time and on budget with all the nuances? This is a long task.
2. In a digital age, it still requires analog skills
While AI will undoubtedly transform the field, and design software like AutoCAD is already creeping into similar tasks, designing a course is still a craft trade. Outline sketching and careful color coding of hazards remains a practical skill. After the ink and graphite are set, the designers physically put their faces down on the table, looking at the direction of the game on the scroll of paper as if they were standing on top. For now, the human eye is the final judge.
Inside the ultimate golf shoe design camp. Students spent five days learning the art of golf course architecture with legendary designer Bill Coore.
The best part? The program raises money to fund apprenticeships for the next generation of architects. pic.twitter.com/1gWIGATPdP
—GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) May 6, 2026
3. It takes a village
A course is envisioned by an owner, planned by a designer and built by extensive construction teams. Keeping everyone in line requires meticulous planning. Since a designer cannot always be on site for a day’s excavation or grading, detailed plans are essential to keep everyone on the same page. This is especially true for international projects where languages ​​change. Inches, feet and meters do not need translation.
4. Good design keeps the wheel rolling
A well-designed course doesn’t just challenge players. It maximizes their time. According to camp instructor Jan Bel Jan, pace of play should be as central a concern as difficulty of the shot: “Being able to maintain pace of play is important to the enjoyment of a round. The design should reflect enough challenge to allow the competent player to maintain pace of play.”
5. Maintenance is more important than you think
Designers were emphatic on this point all week: for a long time, maintenance is more important than original design. A well-conceived layout can quickly deteriorate if maintenance is delayed – and much of that burden falls on proper drainage. The students had a lively demonstration when they played Pinehurst no. 2 after a morning of heavy storms. By midday, the course showed almost no sign of rain beyond slightly slower greens and some sand packed into the bunkers. This speaks of world-class maintenance and infrastructure. It is also a testament to great design.
6. The golfer is always the end user
Just as automakers anticipate their typical buyer when designing a car, course architects must keep their audience in mind at every step. The difference is that there is no “average golfer” to design for. The goal, then, is to design an experience that works for 99% of players. Golf courses are businesses, and no business wants to send its customers home frustrated.
7. Large holes offer options for every skill level
While it’s not true of every hole—especially par 3s meant for target golf that leave no choice but to bomb it to the flagstick or aim for the center of the green—most good hole locations allow an escape route for the higher handicapper while still rewarding the player willing to take risks.
8. Width is a weapon – and designers know how to use it
Every course starts wide and narrows through revisions, and these width decisions are crucial to how difficult a course ultimately plays. Pinehurst no. 2 was a vivid illustration: even a modest hook or slice sent balls into hard-packed sandy waste areas thick with scrub and wire grass. It is the course owner’s call—and a designer’s mission—to determine the width and length of a course in relation to its level of difficulty.
9. The best designers need room to experiment
Bill Coore’s Pinehurst Walking Tour No. The 11-over was a highlight of the week, offering a ground-level look at how a course takes shape before a single blade of grass is planted. Along the way, between lessons on using recycled waste to create hills and knowledge of how the soil “works as a work of art,” Coore credits clients who give him and partner Ben Crenshaw the freedom to try things out: “We love it when we have ‘quirky owners’ who let us try things along the way. We understand that experimentation affects the budget, but this is a creative process.”
10. Durability is no longer optional
The industry has moved steadily towards environmentally sensitive design. While some projects still involve clearing land to dirt, the stronger trend is to preserve as much of the existing terrain, vegetation and native species as possible. With golf under occasional fire from environmentalists, working with the natural landscape—rather than against it—has become both a design principle and a practical defense.
11. It can be a family business
Davis Love III arrived at Boot Camp in a dual role — part instructor, part supportive parent — accompanying his son Dru (officially Davis Love IV) through the program. Love III is no stranger to design, having recently overseen the revitalization of Harbor Town in Sea Pines, but he took time before heading to the TPC at Sawgrass to watch his son work through the process firsthand. “It was my son who told me about boot camp and got me into it,” Love said. “It was great to be here and watch him work through the design process in real time.”
12. Events like this can ignite the next generation
Mara King, a freshman on the Penn State women’s golf team, stumbled upon boot camp when her team was in town for an NCAA event. Instructor Jan Bel Jan invited her to sit in on a morning session and she planted a seed. “The idea of ​​designing golf courses is a career option that hadn’t occurred to me before,” King said, “but seeing everything that goes into it is really interesting. I think it might be something I want to study after college and after my playing career is over.”
