Pete Dye designed or co-designed more than 200 golf courses in different parts of the world. His courses include elements such as pot bunkers, railroad ties, and island greens.

From all Pete Dye–designed courses, we have highlighted three of the most acclaimed layouts, as ranked by Golf Digest.

 Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Located on the eastern end of Kiawah Island, the course includes ten holes along the Atlantic Ocean and eight holes that run parallel to them. The original plan placed the course behind the dunes, but Alice Dye (Pete’s wife) proposed elevating the layout so players could see the coastline from each hole. 

It is rare for a golf course outside the United Kingdom and Ireland to be influenced by wind to the same extent as The Ocean Course. From one round to another, players may face as much as an eight-club difference on certain holes, depending on wind direction and strength. 

Since the course does not have a consistent prevailing wind pattern, Pete Dye designed it in a dual layout, with one routing intended for easterly wind conditions and another for westerly wind conditions.

It's the fourth course to host each of the PGA of America’s major championships. However, it's immortalized for Phil Mickleson's 2021 win.

Whistling Straits

Pete Dye redeveloped a former army air base located along a two-mile stretch of Lake Michigan into Whistling Straits, designing the course with more than 1,000 bunkers and without rakes

The layout was created to function as a links-style course, and players often encounter varying outcomes from uneven lies and natural contours during play. 

Straits is a walking-only course and has hosted major tournaments, including the PGA Championship in 2004, 2010, and 2015, the 2007 U.S. Senior Open, and the 2021 Ryder Cup.

Honors Course 

The Honors Course was established in 1983 and is a private golf club located in Ooltewah, northeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

In the early 1980s, the course gained attention for its use of tall native-grass rough, zoysiagrass fairways, and greens built on rock bulkheads.

Pete Dye made a few changes to the course throughout his career. Bill Bergin designed a new practice facility at the club in 2015, and Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner completed additional refinement work in 2022.

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar