Some of my earliest memories include riding with dad in an old Cushman Truckster from our home on Southwest 55th Street to Hidden Valley Golf Club. He was a graphic artist turned golf pro, turned golf course designer.

The owner of the golf course wanted to do some renovations and by providence, dad merged his artistic ability with his knowledge of the game and redesigned the golf course. I remember spending hours in the dirt chasing the Killdeers, riding on an old D-7 with the shaper, watching the rock saw carve trenches through that Miami shell-rock and the old drag-line digging lakes at the ripe old age of five.

From there, dad went on to design a 36 hole golf course for the same owner and it was more memories of bulldozers and standing in a blast hut while the contractor set off charges to bust through the coral. The pebbles would rain down on that plywood roof for what seemed like minutes. Then dad landed another 36 hole design, Frenchman’s Creek, located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida with PGA Tour Player Gardner Dickinson. About that time, dad was also introduced to Jack Nicklaus and not soon after, we moved from Miami to Tequesta, Florida.

In 1985, I started drawing plans for dad. For the next 38 years I had the great fortune to participate in, design and construct nearly 100 golf courses. Many might say I chose the road less traveled. I spent more than a decade building golf courses and the other nearly three decades in the realm of golf design. Golf has taken me across most of the planet and introduced me to countless remarkable and inspiring people, many of whom have become life-long friends.