John Harbottle III

The son of Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame golfers, John Harbottle III was, quite literally, born into the game. John, who passed away suddenly in 2012, turned his early love for playing into a career developing world-class golf courses and began his professional career in 1984 working on construction and design with the legendary Pete Dye.

Early in his career, John traveled to the British Isles to study the great courses of Scotland and Ireland. He was inspired by the natural links courses and the way they were formed without the appearance of disturbing Mother Nature. Since that time, he traveled the world, seeing many of its greatest courses. These experiences helped John evolve a design style and philosophy all his own.

A library of classical golf architecture books by Thomas, Mackenzie, Simpson, Hunter, Ross, and McDonald had a profound impact on John's theories and style. John's design philosophy, and that of his firm, was also been influenced by the natural links courses of the British Isles. According to John great courses follow the lay of the land, are wonderful to view and exciting to play, often do not take a lot of money to build, and are accessible to players of all ages and abilities.

Website: https://www.harbottledesign.com/