This weekend we honor Father-Son golf course design teams!

Written by Mel Sole on June 19, 2016. Posted in Golf Courses

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Every year at this time, Father’s Day is celebrated in many countries.

My post today honors father and son golf course design teams who have created masterpiece layouts across the world. This is an intriguing story of the father-son dynamic achieving greatness in crafting golf courses. See Golf Vacation Insider’s impressive list of family design teams!

While you watched the final round of the U.S. Open, “Sunday of a major championship” is not be the only thing on your mind.

That’s because, for a number of years, the final round of the U.S. Open has coincided with one of the most prominent American holidays: Father’s Day.

That coincidence of timing tends to make for some interesting storylines every year as the season’s second major championship comes to a head.

There was the emotional 2003 U.S. Open victory for Jim Furyk, whose father, PGA-member Mike Furyk, has been his only golf teacher. Other similar storylines have come up over the years, and another one might just materialize over the course of this weekend.

How does golf’s indelible father-son dynamic affect you as a golf traveler, though? I’m glad you asked!

Fathers and sons like to play golf together, and lo and behold, the crafting of golf courses has become a family tradition over the decades.

Fred and Martin Hawtree.

Trump International in Scotland.

Better known for their work in the United Kingdom, father Fred and son Martin Hawtree are the international golf scene’s most accomplished father-son golf-course-designing pair.

The elder Hawtree’s most famous designs include many classic inland British courses, such as Brancepeth Castle and Denham Golf Club, as well as the underrated links at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club.

The younger Hawtree’s crowning achievement to date is his course at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland, as well as Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Ireland, which just finished hosting the prestigious Curtis Cup.

Robert Trent Jones Sr, Trent Jones II and Rees Jones.

Corde Valle

Stateside, the most prolific family of golf course architects is the clan Jones: father Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and sons Robert Trent Jones II and Rees Jones.

RTJ-Sr. designed hundreds of courses over a storied career that lasted from the early 1930s until his death in 2000. And RTJ II and Rees have added hundreds of their own layouts to the world golf scene in their own right.

Some of our favorite Jones layouts include The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach (RTJ Sr., recent renovations by Rees), CordeValle (RTJ II) and the Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia (Rees). We would love to hear your favorite Jones courses in the comments below.