Golf Course Architect of America, Donald Steel

When one asks the question of who is the best golf course architect of America you certainly will get a variety of answers. The answers come with questions of their own such as best golf course architect of America in which era? Perhaps the question would be the best golf course architect of America in which design style? Maybe the question of the best golf course architect of America should be asked for public or private golf courses. The argument could be made that Donald Steel qualifies to be the answer for any and all of these questions.

Now there are those of you who may not be familiar with Donald Steel or his design work. You owe it to yourself to experience a Donald Steel designed golf course. The vision of Donald Steel is magical in the way that he can transform a piece of property, that many other golf course architects have not been able to find use for and make it into a masterpiece. This is exactly what Steel did with The Highland Course at Primland. Golf Digest has named The Highland Course at Primland as the best new public golf course over $75.00 for 2008.

Some of the other golf courses that Donald Steel has designed around the United States are Cherokee Plantation, in Yemassee, South Carolina; Carnegie Abbey, in Newport, Rhode Island, The Vineyard, on Martha's Vineyard. Donald is currently working on a redesign of a private golf course in Greensboro, North Carolina. Other golf courses around the world are Redtail (Canada), Vila Sol and Aroeira (Portugal), Efteling (Holland), The Carnegie Links at Skibo Castle (Scotland), the Strathtyrum at St Andrews (Scotland), Harleyford and Brocket Hall (England), The Abaco Club at Winding Bay (The Bahamas) and Rajawella (Sri Lanka).

Donald has designed or redesigned six golf courses that have hosted PGA European Tour or Ladies Professional European Tour events.

To put it simply, Donald Steel is one of the finest golf course architects in the history of modern golf. When I was given the opportunity to sit down with Donald on a recent visit to the Highland Course at Primland near Meadows of Dan, Virginia I was curious about some of his influences and his signature design traits. Here is a sampling of my conversation with Donald Steel.

When asked about the similarities of the Highland Course at Primland and other courses he has designed in Europe, Steel mentioned, "of course, being on the top of a mountain the fairways would be well drained and would dry quickly producing a good amount of run and speed". However, the principal design similarities of links style courses that he has designed in The U.K. would be as Steel so aptly describes it  "in the green make up and the area around the green being cut short, so that if you miss the green you would roll down into an area that would be similar to the fairway or the approach". This is so true, knowing the pin location and then executing an approach shot to the hole is very important in scoring well at The Highland Course. Steel went on to say that "having a variety of recovery shots is fun and adds to the spice of life. Chipping is a great art of the game and it requires subtlety and touch and finesse along with imagination and ingenuity". Another memorable thing about playing a Donald Steel designed golf course is that no one club choice is right, you don't automatically pull out a lob wedge or gap wedge when you are around the green. You can bump and run many shots around the green with a fairway metal or hybrid and have much better results than trying to pop a lob wedge onto the perfect landing spot.

When I asked Donald about the very large and undulating greens at The Highland Course he had this to say, "here, it's such a big landscape and the areas around the green were pretty big, so that seemed the most apt type of green". Steel went on to add that "although there has been a lot of comment, there hasn't been a lot of criticism and people have gone away and talked about it, so that's good".

I went on to ask Donald about how he felt when the Highland Course was ready to be opened to the public, as other golf course architects had said a championship golf course could not be built in this location because of some challenges that the terrain presented. "The reaction to Primland has been very gratifying, but of course I think the biggest reaction always has been from people who come up here is one of sort of shock that there's somewhere as beautiful as it is and all the way in, driving up the highway you still can't really believe there's a golf course there and then all of a sudden it sort of opens out and there it is. Then you look at these views and you think, wow...and I think that's helped a lot of people with their assessment of the golf course".

The knowledge gained during a career in golf course architecture, which has spanned more than 40 years and has involved building over 70 new golf courses in 20 countries shows through on The Highland Course at Primland. Having had the opportunity to visit with this great man of golf I also see his personality in the design. If you find yourself looking for a golf vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, then you absolutely deserve to experience for yourself the finest golf course architect of America, Donald Steel, and his masterpiece, The Highland Course at Primland.

For additional information about The Highland Course at Primland please visit their website.

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