Willard Byrd 

Willard Byrd was born in North Carolina in 1919. After serving in World War II, he received a degree from North Carolina State University in Landscape Architecture in 1948 with the goal of pursuing a career as a golf course architect.

Willard Byrd started his own design firm, Willard C. Byrd and Associates, in 1956. Byrd's objective was to design solid and basic golf courses that were playable, fair, and easy to maintain. One of Byrd's strengths was his ability to layout large-scale residential communities with golf courses. He went on to design and redesign over 100 golf courses, primarily focused within the southeast region of the United States.

Byrd also played the role of mentor for individuals such as Lee Chang of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and ASGCA Past President Clyde Johnston. Byrd was himself elected to the ASGCA as an Associate member in 1979 and eventually became a Fellow of the Society in 1995. He remained an ASGCA member until his death in 2004.

Website: https://asgca.org/architect/wbyrd/