Play The Next One’s Good ▶ digging his work Hanse is one of the hottest architects in golf.
Art Restorer and Future King? Evaluating the work of Gil Hanse by jerry tarde
he kings of golf is a concept that goes back to the Emperor Jones, the name used by newspapers in the 1920s for Bobby Jones. Sort of like the modern GOAT, it signified who was recognised as the reigning champion of the world. It often extended past their winning championships because it mixed popular acclaim with major achievement. Arnold Palmer was king even after he stopped winning, then it was Jack Nicklaus, followed chronologically by Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and, of course, Tiger Woods. Popular as he might be, Phil Mickelson was a prince at best; Rory McIlroy reached the top for a moment, but today there doesn’t seem to be one player who wears the undisputed crown. Tiger still rules. Among women, Mickey Wright was queen, then Nancy Lopez, then Annika Sorenstam, who probably endures in retirement. ▶ In the 1970s, Bill Davis, the founder of Golf Digest and inventor of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, once told me that the next superstars would be golfcourse architects. The prediction came true as the royalty of design passed from Robert Trent Jones to Pete Dye to Jack Nicklaus. At the time it was said, “Trent made golf-course architecture a business, Pete made it an art, and Jack made it expensive.”
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18 golfdigestme.com | december 2021
The next king of architecture was Tom Fazio, who arguably remains undefeated. Fazio has more original designs on the 100 Greatest (13) than any other architect. Donald Ross (10), A.W. Tillinghast (nine), Pete Dye (eight), Alister MacKenzie (five) and Seth Raynor (five) trail among the dead with Tom Doak (five), Jack Nicklaus (four) and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (four) among the living. Who is king of kings? A case could be made for MacKenzie, who designed two of the top three (Augusta National and Cypress Point), but how could you argue with the amateur architect George Crump who was one for one (Pine Valley)? The missing name from all this royalty is Gil Hanse, who is by far the hothotter-hottest architect in the world right now. He has crossed the line from prolific to ubiquitous. His specialty is restorations. In recent years, Hanse has restored Merion East, Winged Foot West and East, Fishers Island, The Country Club, LACC North, Oakland Hills South, Southern Hills, Baltusrol Lower, Sleepy Hollow, Plainfield, Quaker Ridge, Kittansett, Myopia Hunt, Aronimink and Burning Tree. The next
