Mike Clayton

Melbourne native Michael Clayton grew up caddying as a young boy at the NLE Eastern Golf Club in the suburb of Doncaster. On his home city’s turf, he was a successful amateur player, winning two Victoria Amateurs at Metropolitan Golf Club (1977) and Commonwealth Golf Club (1981), as well as the 1981 Australian Amateur at Royal Queensland Golf Club. After turning pro, Clayton established himself as a master of the Sandbelt, notching wins at the Victorian Open at Metropolitan Golf Club (1981) and Commonwealth Golf Club (1989), and the Mercedes-Benz Australian Match Play at Kingston Heath Golf Club (1992). In 1983, Clayton started playing full seasons on the European Tour, where he won once, at the 1984 Timex Open at Golf de Biarritz le Phare.

Inspired by the great courses where he had competed, Mike Clayton formed a golf course architecture firm in 1995 with John Sloan and Bruce Grant. After writing a letter to Victoria Golf Club praising Alister MacKenzie’s original, lost bunkering, he was hired by the club in 1995 for restoration work. His next commissions were also renovations, at Victorian coastal gems Port Fairy Golf Club (2000) and Portsea Golf Club (2000), as well as the inland Curlewis Golf Club (2001) and Kingston Heath (2002). The success of this work brought Clayton his first original design project at Ranfurlie Golf Club in 2002.

With architectural minimalism becoming fashionable around the world, Clayton teamed up with Tom Doak for more new designs, on ideal dunescapes at Barnbougle Dunes (2004), and St. Andrews Beach Golf Course (2006). Clayton was also brought in to spruce up more Australian classics, from minor tweaks to Metropolitan Golf Club (2006), the West Course at The Grange Golf Club (2007), and Lake Karrinyup Country Club (2007), to more substantial changes at the Lakes Golf Club (2007), Royal Queensland Golf Club (2007), and RACV Healesville Country Club (2009). At Royal Queensland and Healesville, Clayton teamed up with Mike Cocking. He then partnered with legendary Australian golfer Geoff Ogilvy in 2010, and Cocking joined them soon after. Ashley Mead, another quality player and architect, became a partner in the firm as well, creating Ogilvy, Clayton, Cocking & Mead (OCCM).

The all-Australian firm split design responsibilities and received acclaim for their renovations of Royal Canberra Golf Club (2016), Bonnie Doon Golf Club (2018), and two courses at Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club (2019). Having expanded outside Australia with a redesign of Yangtze Dunes (2018) outside Shanghai, the firm was about to open its first American renovation project at Shady Oaks Country Club (2020) when Clayton left the firm in October 2019. 

In part because of his desire to be a more global architect, Clayton immediately teamed up with American Mike DeVries and Dutchman Frank Pont to form Clayton, DeVries & Pont (CDP). With CDP, Clayton has consulted at Enville Golf Club and The Addington Golf Club in England and worked on a new-build in Tasmania at 7 Mile Beach, with future plans to consult at Monifieth Golf Links and Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland. In addition to his tangible architectural work, Clayton remains an important essayist, commentator, and podcaster on golf course design. His written work is a fantastic resource for those seeking to learn more about the subject.