Bury Me in a Pot Bunker

Rating:
Summary: What isn't to like?
Review: Books by golf architects tend to be on the dull side for most people. They don't tell you a story of their development as architects, or how their courses evolved during the design phase, but just seem to begin and end with "see, wasn't this brilliant?"

Pete Dye is something of a mystery to many. His designs are "unique", which can be bad or good for most people. Where did his ideas come from? What influences him the most? What stories are behind his greatest feats?

In this one book, we get pleanty of answers, all in a tale that feels like you are sitting down and listening to it as it is being told. Even golfers tend to think course architecture is a dull subject, but hopefully this will change a few minds. Architecture isn't some great mysterious practice. It is an art, and the artist is often times less seperated from us than we care to imagine.

Rating:
Summary: Work of a serious golf architect
Review: Having played several of Dye's famous layouts, you realize this guy knows the game and challenges all facets of your shotmaking abilities (or should I say streches them.) Enjoyed the organization by layout. Must seem like real chapters in his life. Great book from a great architect.

Rating:
Summary: Work of a serious golf architect
Review: Having played several of Dye's famous layouts, you realize this guy knows the game and challenges all facets of your shotmaking abilities (or should I say streches them.) Enjoyed the organization by layout. Must seem like real chapters in his life. Great book from a great architect.

Rating:
Summary: Pete Dye isn't out to get you.
Review: Some think Pete Dye's golf courses are tricky or too hard. The courses Pete designs are built to be fair but punnishing for the right reasons. Played right, Pete's courses offer memorable rounds to the golfer. Now, it's not Pete who designs the course but a strong team of Pete, his wife Alice and his sons Perry and P.B. (architects in their own right) as well as the site managers and crews that are hired to do the building.

You'll learn that Pete designs courses on a sheet of paper and this is where his skills lie - understanding the land offered for the course and knowing how the wind and terrain will match in creating a great experience. Courses like PGA West, TPC Stadium (Sawgrass), The Pete Dye Club, Harbour Town and many others are discussed. One chapter per course.

Pete talks to you in this book. It's not an interview but it is presented as if Pete is telling you his life's story.

For a golfer looking for lessons, these are a different kind of lesson - from the eyes of a designer (and historically gifted golfer too). You will play better golf after you read this.

When you play a Pete Dye course, you'll remember Pete's words and how Alice was a main contributor to the design you're playing.

Rating:
Summary: Pete Dye is a natural wonder.
Review: The whole Pete Dye story is here. Now I understand how Dye created the famous island green 17th at the Stadium Course at TPC and why Pete and his wife Alice were so heaviliy influenced by Scottish golf course design. This is a terrific book, with photos of all of his great courses.