BY RICHARD MANDELL
Since Richard Mandell was fifteen years old, he has 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 him to fall under the spell. Winged Foot, National Golf Links of America, Bethpage Black and many others in New York shaped his early ideals and philosophies about the art of golf architecture.
Nestled among the courses throughout the Met Area, Rye Golf Club and its quirky routing, influenced by a myriad of rock outcroppings, laid the foundation for his love of golf architecture. As a youth, he and his friends would hike up the wooded dirt path from Chamberlain Street with three or four clubs to share among the eight of them. They would start on the fifth tee and, if they were lucky, get through holes six, seven, two, three, and four before scurrying back down the hill before getting caught.
Since those halcyon days of his youth, Richard Mandell, ASGCA, has gone on to design more than 75 golf course projects of varying shapes and sizes in fifteen states and China. His firm, Richard Mandell Golf Architecture, has earned 31 different awards and accolades in four different decades of practice. In addition to being a golf architect, he is a licensed landscape architect, certified arborist, and accomplished writer. Richard is also a member of the USGA Museum Committee. Principles of Golf Architecture is Mandell’s fourth book and he lives on the border of Pinehurst and Southern Pines, North Carolina, with his wife Mary and their sons, Thomas and Joshua.
Guy Cipriano
Editor-In-Chief for
Golf Course Industry Magazine
"Richard Mandell's recently released "Principles of Golf Architecture" is one of the most consequential books by a modern golf course architect. The writing is clever, concise and candid. Images are practical. A must-read for anybody seeking to learn more about golf courses."
Jim Dodson
"Classic golf course and fine golf books are welcome perennials. My friend Richard Mandell's comprehensive table-top work is no exception to that rule. Not only does Richard, an outstanding young course architect with a rapidly growing resume, understand what makes a great golf courses tick, but as a longtime resident of Pinehurst and environs he's uniquely qualified to dissect the Donald Ross mystique and reveal insights and anomalies of the creation of Pinehurst that make this book a must-have for any serious student of the game."
Ron Whitten
"Nobody knows Pinehurst golf like Richard Mandell. He's not just a golf architect who has lived in the Village of Pinehurst, he's studied its courses, investigated their origins and absorbed their design nuances. The Legendary Evolution of Pinehurst combines the tenacity of a private investigator with the eye and ear of a practiced course designer. This updated version offers additional insight and commentary on the continuing evolution of golf in one of the grandest communities in the world."