Woods’s first project is a $40 million, 7,700-yard, par-72 course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, called Al Ruwaya, which means “serenity.” This will be Dubai’s ninth golf course, and with plans that call for a 60,000-square-foot clubhouse, a golf academy, 320 private villas and a luxury hotel, it’s sure to make a big splash.

Transforming a slice of Dubai’s desert terrain into a grand resort is certainly a bold undertaking for a company debut, but Woods is hardly blazing a new trail in becoming a course architect. Numerous current and former PGA professionals have dabbled in course design, either on their own or in collaboration with an experienced architect.

While Woods may be closing in on The Golden Bear’s playing record, he has a way to go before he can be considered on par with Nicklaus’s reputation as a golf course designer. Nicklaus has arguably become the most successful pro-turned-architect and is one of the world’s top course designers.  

“Like many golfers, at an early age I became an ‘armchair architect,’ constantly visualizing ways to improve my home course, Scioto, in Columbus, Ohio,” Nicklaus notes in an e-mail to AAGolf. “But if I had to put a date on the beginning of my ‘second’ career, that of golf course designer, it would be around 1966.”  

It was around that time when Nicklaus began to consult his long-time friend and architect Pete Dye on a few of Dye’s ongoing projects. It wasn’t long before Nicklaus officially caught the design bug...For full story, subscribe to our FREE digital edition....