Dr. Michael J. Hurdzan, born in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1943, has designed some of golf's best courses, including Devil's Pulpit and Devil's Paintbrush in Caledon, Ontario. These two masterpieces were named the Best New Course in Canada in 1992 and 1993 by GOLF DIGEST.
An internationally recognized authority on golf course environmental issues, Dr. Hurdzan studied turf management at Ohio State and earned a Masters and a Ph.D. in environmental plant physiology at the University of Vermont. Jurdzan's book; Golf Course Architecture: Design, Construction and Restoration is being heralded by some reviewers as, “The Modern Bible of golf course design.”
Hurdzan served his apprenticeship under course designer and Ohio golf legend Jack Kidwell, a former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Together they are responsible for designing more than 200 courses in North America.
Dr. Jurdzan's education , experience and many years around golf (his father was a pro), eminently qualify him to be a golf course architect. Golf to Mike Hurdzan is a way of life. So immersed is he in the sport's tradition, that he has amassed one of the finest collections of golf history and artifacts in America. From a library of more than 3,000 golfing volumes, some dating back to the 18th century, to more than 6,000 historical, hickory shafted clubs and thousands of other equipment and memorabilia.
Hurdzan says, “…besides its sporting requirements, I believe that a great golf course must either enhance the natural habitat or create a new environmentally sound one. And further, the more we harmonize natural surroundings into a golf course, the more aesthetic and memorable it will be.”
Dr. Michael Hurdzan's credentials are impressive. Golf publications have repeatedly cited him as one of the world's best present-day designers. But more than that, he offers what only a precious few golf course architects can offer, a considerable measure of genius, built upon immense technical knowledge and experience, coupled with an enduring love of the game.
