George C. Thomas Jr
George C. Thomas Jr (October 3, 1873 - February 28, 1932) was an American golf course architect, botanist, and author. He designed the original course at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and more than twenty courses in California, including Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.
As a teenager, he began designing a golf course on his family's suburban estate, Bloomfield Farm. He sold the course in 1908 to a group of golfers who converted it into Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. In the 1910s, he was able to observe some of the pioneers of golf course design working near Philadelphia.
George C. Thomas Jr was a founding member of Sunnybrook Golf Club and witnessed Donald Ross's 1914-15 construction of its original course in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. He was friends with Hugh Wilson, George Crump, A. W. Tillinghast, and William Flynn who, along with Thomas, were masters of the "Philadelphia School" of golf course design, which encouraged high-risk/high-reward play.
In 1926, he published a seminal book, Golf Course Architecture in America, in which he stated the goal behind his work: "When you play a course and remember each hole, it has individuality and change. If your mind cannot recall the exact sequence of the holes, that course lacks the great assets of originality and diversity."