Background
Richard Mandell’s lifelong ambition has been to create a lasting impression on the world of golf architecture. Since 1992 he has been delivering on that goal. His firm has worked on more than eighty golf course projects ranging from consultation to preliminary master planning to complete golf course architectural services. Richard Mandell's dedication to the game of golf runs deeper than his primary avocation of golf architecture and it started long before his professional journey began.
“Since I was fifteen years old, I have been captivated by the playing fields of the game of golf. Growing up surrounded by some of the greatest golf courses in the world, it was easy for me to fall under the spell. Winged Foot, Shinnecock Hills, Bethpage Black and many others shaped my early ideals and philosophies about the art of golf course architecture.
Nestled among these courses throughout the Met Area, Rye Golf Club and its quirky routing laid the foundation for my love of golf course architecture. As a thirteen-year old, my friends and I walked up the wooded dirt path from Chamberlain Street with three or four clubs to share among the eight of us. We’d start on five tee and, if we were lucky, would get through six, seven, two, three, and four before scurrying back down the hill, happy we made it without getting caught.”
Richard graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture. His years with Dan Maples Design in Pinehurst and Denis Griffiths & Associates outside Atlanta exposed him to high-end domestic and international work in an apprenticeship with two of the best in the business, both former Presidents of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Richard, himself a member of ASGCA, developed a strong knowledge of civil engineering in his first venture as a principal with Whole In One Design Group in the nineties. He is a licensed Landscape Architect in four states and is a Certified Arborist as well.
The turn of the twenty-first century saw the transition to Richard Mandell Golf Architecture as he returned to Pinehurst with a wealth of practical knowledge and a catalog of historical reference to practice his craft. From 2008 to 2012, Richard penned a blog for The Washington Times which became a platform for a grass-roots movement to return the game of golf to its origins. In the process, the goal was to re-capture the elements of golf design and the game which went missing in past decades. Long before it was vogue, Richard stressed the importance of fun and enjoyment over difficulty in golf architecture. Richard also taught the only fully accredited, professionally taught class on golf course architecture at North Carolina State University from 1997 to 2015.
“A. W. Tillinghast was my first real favorite, mostly because I was exposed to places like Winged Foot and Bethpage Black early in my life. Tilly’s dramatic bunker placement spoke to me in a big way. I appreciated the scale of the bunkering and how it still laid softly in the landscape. But his routing ability is what led me to fall in love with golf architecture, especially at places like Bethpage Black. The fourth hole, to this day, is one of my absolute favorite holes.
“When I was fortunate enough to gain the commission of Erie Golf Club back in the early 2000’s, I dove deeply into the details of Tillinghast. As I started to encapsulate his approach in note form, it amazed me as to how much of my own philosophy reflected his approach. Then it hit me: Of course my philosophy mirrored his; those early experiences in high school playing his courses formed much of my own philosophy; I just never actually saw it written down. That was an amazing full-circle revelation.”
A noted golf architecture historian, Richard Mandell has appeared in and written articles for national publications such as Golf Digest, Golf Course Architecture Magazine, and Links Magazine. In addition to chapters shared in multiple compendiums on golf architecture, Richard wrote and published Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf (The Evolution of a Legend), the International Network of Golf Book of the Year for 2007. In 2022, Richard produced his eponymous work, Principles of Golf Architecture. Past 600 volumes now, Richard’s own golf book collection is one of his passions, particularly those first editions focusing on golf architecture.
“My favorites are Thomas’s treatise (Golf Architecture In America) as well as Mackenzie’s posthumous The Spirit of St. Andrews. But over time, as I read it over and over, the one I get the most out of is Wethered and Simpson’s Architectural Side of Golf. Tom Simpson’s approach to architecture speaks to me, especially his shared philosophy of how hazards are to serve the purpose of challenging us to play certain shots to gain an advantage. My personal philosophy that a hazard is to challenge, not penalize came from Simpson’s writings. But it is his sketches of golf holes which blew me away. I don’t believe there have been any better ever drawn for the purpose of advancing the art of golf architecture.”
Richard Mandell’s versatility is shown in the variety of his project experience. He has worked on private country club projects yet also created accessible facilities enjoyed by beginners and experts alike. He has created or renovated tournament courses, short courses, and everything in between, as well as all-encompassing practice facilities. For his work, Richard has received more than twenty awards spanning four decades. He has won design awards from such prestigious organizations as Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, DuPont North America, and Boardroom Magazine (Golf Architect of the Year).
His passion for golf architecture comes not only from big picture elements such as routing golf holes but to the smallest details of shaping and the connection between landforms, spending countless hours in the field to ensure the smallest shaping details are properly addressed, both within putting surfaces and beyond the greens.
“One day a few years ago I visited Shoreacres in Chicago. It had been a long time since I stepped on a Raynor/Macdonald course and it was a reminder of so many details of their work that I enjoy. I’m not talking about template holes. I’m talking about square greens and the extreme precision with how fairways seamlessly transitioned into those greens at the approach. I absolutely love the simplicity of a continuous elevation from fairway to putting surface. It hearkens back to the days of playing another Devereux Emmet course. Working at Bedford Golf & Tennis Club in New York during my college summers, I played a lot of daytime to dusk rounds with no one around. Being short with my approaches more than I prefer, I gained a penchant for the bump and run, especially into those seamless transitions like what Raynor did at Shoreacres and elsewhere. Being at Shoreacres brought those memories back after decades. I was again in a full-circle mindset as I thought of all the details I apply in my own work borne out on the shore of Lake Michigan.”
In addition to his many awards, Richard’s projects have been recognized in numerous “Best of” lists. He was voted One of Golfinc’s Most Influential Architects in 2011. Sports Illustrated featured Richard as one of “4 Golf Architects You’ll Be Hearing More About” in January of 2022 despite Richard’s thirty years experience in the business, meaning the best is yet to come as the passion to craft fine architectural detail in all of his golf courses is as strong as ever.
