Tom Weiskopf

As soon as 14-year-old Tom Weiskopf saw Sam Snead swing a club at the 1957 U.S. Open at Inverness Club, he was hooked on golf. Not long after, the Massillon, Ohio, native was playing high school golf in Cleveland, then collegiate golf in Columbus. After spending just one year playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Weiskopf won the 1963 Western Amateur at Point O’ Woods Golf and Country Club.

Weiskopf turned pro the following year and made the PGA Tour quickly, breaking through for his first win at Torrey Pines in 1968. In total, he won 14 more PGA Tour events by 1982, including three titles at Quail Hollow Club. His major championship record is also notable, with victories at the 1973 Open Championship at Royal Troon, four runner-up finishes at Augusta National, and four consecutive top fours at the U.S. Open. At the Ryder Cup, Weiskopf helped the Americans win on foreign soil at Muirfield in 1973 with three points, before going a perfect 4-0 two years later in 1975 at Laurel Valley Golf Club. Later in life, Weiskopf rounded out his competitive career with a victory at the 1995 U.S. Senior Open at Congressional Country Club.

As his PGA Tour playing career came to an end, Weiskopf turned to golf course design, partnering with former Jack Nicklaus associate Jay Morrish in 1985. Their first projects together at Troon Country Club and the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale (both in 1986) came early in the Scottsdale golf development boom and set a template for quality desert golf. Further north, they designed the Canyon Course at Forest Highlands Golf Club (1988), which received strong reviews. The Weiskopf-Morrish partnership also laid out highly exclusive courses at Double Eagle Club (1992) and Loch Lomond Golf Club (1993).

In 1998, Morrish split from Weiskopf to establish his own firm with his son, Carter. Weiskopf found a replacement in another Nicklaus associate, Phil Smith. Their partnership, which lasted more than 20 years, featured a number of projects for communities and resorts in scenic, vacation-heavy locations. These included Hualalai Golf Course (2002) on the northwestern coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, Snake River Sporting Club (2005) in the foothills south of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 36 holes at the Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula (2010-12) on the Chinese island of Hainan, and the CDA National Reserve (2012) near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. With Smith, Weiskopf also built current PGA Tour venues TPC Craig Ranch (2004) and Black Desert Resort (2022), the latter being Weiskopf’s last design.

Tom Weiskopf has long been regarded as one of the most talented American players of his generation, but his architecture has perhaps been more influential. Weiskopf was a strong proponent of the short par 4, which never fails to be noted by commentators when his courses host PGA Tour events. He was also a key figure in the development of golf in the Southwestern desert and the Rocky Mountains. Weiskopf passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2022, next door to his two private layouts in Big Sky, Montana.