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Design Contest: Design Contest Winner Meet Doug Wright, a civil engineering major at Lehigh University, winner of the LINKS Magazine Design Contest and architect of the 13th hole at the Arthur Hills-designed Westhaven Golf Club
By Hunki Yun For a 20-year-old, Doug Wright has accomplished a lot in golf. Growing up in Brunswick, Maine, Doug was a very good junior golfer, winning 48 consecutive matches in high school. But as much as he enjoyed playing, Doug was passionate about courses and architects. While most junior golfers just blast away with little regard for strategy or nuance, Doug studied architecture, further honing his interest by working on the maintenance crew at Falmouth Country Club. Doug also learned plenty about the game from his father, Eric, who also entered our contest. Eric, a lawyer and a former assistant attorney general for the state, has taken Doug on golf trips to both Scotland and Ireland. At Lehigh, Doug is majoring in civil engineering, and even parlayed his passion into a semester at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he hopes to return to receive a master’s in landscape architecture on his way to becoming a golf architect. If his entry in the LINKS Magazine Design Contest is any indication of his abilities, Doug will be a success. The architects of Westhaven Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee—Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates—and the editors of LINKS picked Doug’s design for Westhaven’s 13th hole from the 1,159 entries we received from readers in 49 states (Hawaii was the only state not represented), the District of Columbia, Canada and Scotland. Doug’s wining design features a split fairway of sorts that challenges players to place their tee shots on the narrower right side for a clear shot to the angled green. As the winner, Doug will make several site visits as the hole takes shape, working with renowned architect Arthur Hills and his associates, Chris Wilczynski and Joel Hornickel. “This contest has only increased my interest in architecture,” Doug says. “It will be great to see how things are done firsthand and to learn from someone like Mr. Hills.” “We all think Doug’s hole is great, a neat design with some out-of-the-box thinking,” says Hills. “The split-fairway concept is something we hadn’t used elsewhere at Westhaven, so it brought diversity to the routing. He created a hole that relies on the strategic use of angles. That is something we value.” Doug studied both Westhaven—the course and the community—as well as Hills’ design philosophies and drew some preliminary drafts before deciding upon his final design. His preparation was evident in his entry. “We appreciated the detail he provided in his plan,” says Wilczynski. “He showed grade changes, bunker depths and undulations within the green surface. Doug very effectively communicated his ideas to us.” Doug’s interest in course architecture is indicative of the passion our readers bring to the subject, and we thank every one who entered our contest and made it successful, especially Chris Fremuth of Marriottsville, Maryland. Chris drove eight hours through the night to deliver his entry to Hills’ offices in Toledo, Ohio, so it would arrive by the deadline. We think everyone hooked on the game would understand. The Winning Design The Runner-Up Design Contest Entries Other Top Design Contest Entries Creative Design Contest Entries

Design Contest:
Design Contest Winner
Meet Doug Wright, a civil engineering major at Lehigh University, winner of the LINKS Magazine Design Contest and architect of the 13th hole at the Arthur Hills-designed Westhaven Golf Club

By Hunki Yun

For a 20-year-old, Doug Wright has accomplished a lot in golf. Growing up in Brunswick, Maine, Doug was a very good junior golfer, winning 48 consecutive matches in high school. But as much as he enjoyed playing, Doug was passionate about courses and architects. While most junior golfers just blast away with little regard for strategy or nuance, Doug studied architecture, further honing his interest by working on the maintenance crew at Falmouth Country Club.

Doug also learned plenty about the game from his father, Eric, who also entered our contest. Eric, a lawyer and a former assistant attorney general for the state, has taken Doug on golf trips to both Scotland and Ireland.

At Lehigh, Doug is majoring in civil engineering, and even parlayed his passion into a semester at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he hopes to return to receive a master’s in landscape architecture on his way to becoming a golf architect.

Design Contest Winner Dour Wright with Arthur Hills If his entry in the LINKS Magazine Design Contest is any indication of his abilities, Doug will be a success. The architects of Westhaven Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee—Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates—and the editors of LINKS picked Doug’s design for Westhaven’s 13th hole from the 1,159 entries we received from readers in 49 states (Hawaii was the only state not represented), the District of Columbia, Canada and Scotland.

Doug’s wining design features a split fairway of sorts that challenges players to place their tee shots on the narrower right side for a clear shot to the angled green. As the winner, Doug will make several site visits as the hole takes shape, working with renowned architect Arthur Hills and his associates, Chris Wilczynski and Joel Hornickel.

“This contest has only increased my interest in architecture,” Doug says. “It will be great to see how things are done firsthand and to learn from someone like Mr. Hills.”

“We all think Doug’s hole is great, a neat design with some out-of-the-box thinking,” says Hills. “The split-fairway concept is something we hadn’t used elsewhere at Westhaven, so it brought diversity to the routing. He created a hole that relies on the strategic use of angles. That is something we value.”

Doug studied both Westhaven—the course and the community—as well as Hills’ design philosophies and drew some preliminary drafts before deciding upon his final design. His preparation was evident in his entry.

“We appreciated the detail he provided in his plan,” says Wilczynski. “He showed grade changes, bunker depths and undulations within the green surface. Doug very effectively communicated his ideas to us.”

Doug’s interest in course architecture is indicative of the passion our readers bring to the subject, and we thank every one who entered our contest and made it successful, especially Chris Fremuth of Marriottsville, Maryland. Chris drove eight hours through the night to deliver his entry to Hills’ offices in Toledo, Ohio, so it would arrive by the deadline. We think everyone hooked on the game would understand.

The Winning Design
The Runner-Up Design Contest Entries
Other Top Design Contest Entries
Creative Design Contest Entries