Arthur Hills: Value-Adding Visionary

Success as a golf course designer, most would agree, requires
at least a grounding in the field of landscape architecture. Arthur
Hills, the globally renowned designer from Toledo, Ohio, had
much more than that.

Though a skilled golfer who had played varsity golf at Michigan
State, Hills did all his training in landscape architecture and
chose that profession. He was well established and providing
for his growing family when, on a whim, he put a listing in
the phone book as "golf course architect" …and the calls started
coming in. That was 1967, and his phone has been ringing ever since.

Either on his own or later in partnership with Steve Forrest, Hills
has created beautiful, playable and well-engineered golf landscapes.
His ability to make a course flow softly  into the surrounding
homesites makes him an ideal choice to design golf communities.

GEORGIA: The Landings

Proof of the value Arthur Hills can bring to a gated development
is revealed in his “repeat engagements.” Twice he has been
asked to build a second 18 in a community where one Hills
gem had already been up and running.

Developers of The Landings at Skidaway Island, where Hills
had built Palmetto (his first-ever residential layout, opened in
1985) brought him back three years later to design the community’s
Oakridge course. Hills’ earlier contribution, Palmetto, was known
for its tournament-level difficulty and its well-sited specimen
oaks and pot bunkers. Oakridge is a more moderate-length course
routed along quiet marshes and timber-reinforced ponds.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Dataw Island

Fazio and Hills are also the architects of record for Dataw Island,
where Hills’ tight-driving Morgan River course complements
the neighboring Cotton Dike layout crafted by Fazio.

KENTUCKY: The Club at Olde Stone

Hills, whose course at Inverness was employed for such blockbuster
events as the 1986 and 1993 PGA Championships, gets just as
big a kick out of seeing the youngsters battle it out on his layouts.
The American Junior Golf Association recently chose an original
Hills design, The Club at Olde Stone, in Bowling Green, Ky.,
to host its 2006 Houchens Industries Junior Open. Quite a vote
of confidence, given that the course had been open just a few
months before play began.

FLORIDA: Willoughby   

Hills was honored in 1992 by his election as president of the
American Society of Golf Course Architects. Coming off a string
of well-received design jobs, including Willoughby
in the Treasure Coast town of Stuart, Fla., he took up the gavel
and guided the ASGCA ably.

Throughout his extensive portfolio of Florida designs, Hills
has continually added more diversity in the grasses, trees
and decorative plantings that line his fairways. He has
developed a particular skill in the technique of berming to
border and frame playing areas.

Other Articles in the Golf Architect Series

I. The No. 1 Real-Estate Enhancer: Jack Nicklaus - Find out why this golf course architect adds the most value to the real estate surrounding the golf courses he designs: Click here!

II. Tom Fazio: Elevating Course Design--and Home Values

III. Arnold Palmer: His Brilliant Second Career

V. Robert Trent Jones II: Continuing the Legacy

VI. Bob Cupp & Tom Jackson: Veterans with Prime Portfolios

VII. Pete Dye: Lifelong Innovator (Part-Time Intimidator)

VIII. Greg Norman: Still a Champ and Competing, But on a Larger Golf Landscape

IX. Heroes of the Southeast: Byrd, Jackson, Johnston and Lee

X. Rees Jones Took a Legacy and Ran With It: Woodside, Viniterra, Others Are Examples