MINGAY GOLF -- ROD WHITMAN GOLF COURSE DESIGN
I'd like nothing better than for golfers of future generations to be able to cross Canada and play a necklace of Rod Whitman courses, as they do now while playing Stanley Thompson designs. Whitman is a Canadian original, and the more work he gets the happier Canadian golfers, and golfers who visit the country, will be.
Globe and Mail golf columnist, Lorne Rubenstein
GOLF COURSE ARCHITECT BIOS.
Rod Whitman
Principal
Jeff Mingay
Senior Associate
-- DESIGN --
The works of golf architects Rod Whitman and Jeff Mingay are deeply rooted in traditions. However, like their most admired predecessors, Whitman and Mingay take creative freedoms within the structure of traditions in their consistent efforts to create truly original golf courses tailored to the unique character of individual properties and the diverse tastes of discerning clients.
As a means to achieve the very best results, Whitman and Mingay dedicate their time and resources to only a select few projects simultaneously. Detailed fieldwork is most important. By limiting their commitments, Whitman and Mingay are permitted to spend an extraordinary amount of time on-site throughout the develop of each of their golf course designs, learning every detail and nuance of a property and consistently taking advantage of previously unforeseen opportunities which always pop-up as construction progresses. The inevitable result of this unusual dedication to their craft is creation of the most interesting, attractive, and enduring golf courses possible, in every case.
For more on Rod Whitman's and Jeff Mingay's design philosophy and influences, please visit Selected Writing.
LPGA Tour star Natalie Gulbis tees off at the par-5 eleventh hole at Blackhawk Golf Club (summer 2006), during an exhibition match also featuring Paul Azinger, Tom Watson and Peter Jacobsen
-- CONSTRUCTION --
The most interesting, attractive, and enduring golf courses are not created in two-dimensions on a drawing board. They are built in three-dimensions by golf architects and talented associates who spend an unusual amount to time on-site, in the dirt, throughout development of their golf course designs. "It's the guys with dirt under their nails who will never build the worst courses and have a better chance to build the best," says Rod Whitman.
Whitman and Mingay provide a very unique design/build service, including construction management and in-house shaping talent. A design associate is on-site daily throughout construction of Rod Whitman- and Jeff Mingay-designed golf courses to communicate design intent and act as a liason between client and contractors. This daily presence allows Whitman-Mingay projects to progress most efficiently and economically, principally because contractors are never waiting for answers from an absentee designer. Moreover, it guarantees incomparable craftsmanship and precise attention to every detail.
The par-4 second hole (before construction) at Sagebrush Golf and Sporting Club...
... illustrates Whitman's and Mingay's understated, lay-of-the-land style of golf architecture
(grow-in, fall 2007)
-- CONSULTING --
With great admiration and respect for their most admired predecessors, Whitman and Mingay are very interested in consulting with clubs featuring classic golf course designs from the pre-World War II era. Whitman and Mingay are also interested in working with clubs and golf course owners interested in improving existing facitilies through redesign and renovation work.
Redesign and renovation work at Wascana Country Club (fall 2007)
-- WHERE WE LIKE TO WORK --
Whitman and Mingay are interested to work anywhere and everywhere throughout the world where there are genuine opportunties to build interesting, attractive, and enduring golf courses. In fact, their unique design/build methodology and in-house shaping talent is particularly valuable in areas of the world where golf course contractors are in short supply.
Craig Stadler plays from greenside bunker at the par-5 seventh hole at Blackhawk Golf Club (summer 2005), during an exhibition match also featuring Stephen Ames, Fred Couples, and Peter Jacobsen
