An architecture Q&A with Tyler Rae: ‘Maybe we’re going to become the Raynor guys’
POLISHED UP: Rae (above, right) recently restored Wakonda Club, a Langford and Moreau design in Iowa.
Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects whose names might be new to you, but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan.
What renovation work do you think you’re best known for?
Rae: Probably Beverly Country Club in Chicago. In 2019, we restored the course, and I spent four or five days a week there for months and shaped everything you can think of, so that one had a lot of my fingerprints on it.
Probably also Wakonda in Iowa or Lookout Mountain in Georgia (Golf Digest’s Best Renovation winner in 2023) and now Detroit Golf Club that will host the Rocket Classic on the PGA Tour next year. I say my fingerprints are on these courses, but the goal is to be a chameleon and have our work indistinguishable from the original architecture. It’s not our name on the scorecard.
Wakonda Club in Iowa
What are you currently working on that excites you?
Rae: Old Sawmill, a new course near Charleston, just opened for member play. We also just signed St. Louis Country Club. I’ve had to pivot a little because I’ve had my doors blown off by Andrew Green the last five years with Donald Ross’ work. Given my background working with Ron Prichard, I thought I would be the Donald Ross guy and get all those calls, but Andrew kind of came out of nowhere and torched me. He’s doing great work, so we’re pivoting to Seth Raynor with St. Louis and Mountain Lake in Florida, Lookout Mountain, Wanumetonomy in Rhode Island. There are 57 Raynor courses in existence, and we’ve got nine or 10 of them, so maybe we’re going to become the Raynor guys.
What do you value most in golf design?
Rae: Fun. Making golf enjoyable, memorable, aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It should be a sport that is enjoyed and relished by the masses. You can tuck pins to defend par any day of the week, but overall our courses should also be fun for a Wednesday ladies day.
What architect past or present do you most admire?
Rae: Donald Ross. I can’t figure out how he dealt with his itinerary. He’d spend two or three days on a property and then never go back, and 80 or 90 percent are brilliant routings. You can never place him in a bucket. People say Ross’ first holes are always a gentle handshake, or Ross always did turtleback greens, but those two statements are unequivocally false. Every course of his I study, I’m surprised.
What aggravates you when you see it on a golf course?
Rae: Cart paths. They’re the bane of golf. It’s so hard when you’re routing a golf course to have to also worry about the circulation patterns for carts and to try to hide them from view. I recently complimented Tom Fazio on his ability to hide cart paths, and he said they try really hard at it because they’re so intrusive and so unsightly. There’s an art to it.
Should there be a cap or rollback on club and ball distance?
Rae: One million percent yes. Guys are hitting 300-yard 3-woods. How do I defend the second hole at Detroit that’s 579 yards and one tour player last year hit driver, 9-iron? What am I supposed to do? I would love for the governing bodies to mandate one tournament ball.
Name three courses near where you live that every golfer should see.
Rae: I’ll expand to Philadelphia. One is Lancaster Country Club (William Flynn, 1920). It’s the best routing in the world, like a big clock playing into these corners and out. Everybody has to seek out Pine Valley in their life. I mean, it’s just the best course in the world. The last would be LuLu Country Club, an old Donald Ross that he visited in 1912, then again in 1919. When you give Ross two looks to first create and then come back and update and edit, it shows the evolution of his career.
