How to design your career future in golf

I’m pretty sure that my appreciation of a golf course is quite different than most. As a horseback rider, I’m convinced that galloping across all those acres of groomed grass and rolling hills would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience! I can just imagine how awesome it would be to set up a course of jumps and feel how happy my horse is to soar over them, landing on such thick, soft, idyllic grass.

Alas, I don’t think my dream will ever come true. I have a feeling it would result in more than one irate golfer trying to putt through a maze of hoof prints, or steering their golf carts around piles of horse poop as if they are unexploded munitions straight from Vimy Ridge.

However, if I can manage to stop drooling over the ultimate riding terrain, I can also recognize the incredible hard work, imagination, and eye for detail that must go into the design and creation of these sprawling works of art.

As a golf enthusiast, you’ve probably dreamed of working on the links. But as you ponder a career as a golf course designer, you should understand what it takes to succeed in this challenging field.

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The golf business has seen a decline recently, yet studies still prove it to be a $72-billion-a-year industry that provides more than 2 million jobs, one of which is held by golf course designer Chris Cochran. This Wichita, Kansas native broke into the field through an entry-level position at Nicklaus Design in North Palm Beach, Florida. Founded by renowned golf legend, Jack Nicklaus, Nicklaus Design is one of the world’s largest golf course design firms.

Twenty-seven years and 53 golf courses later, Chris is still at Nicklaus Design, now a senior golf associate. Ask him how he came to be in this position, and his answer is simple — “I love golf.”

“I realized in college that I wasn’t a good enough player to make it onto the PGA Tour, but I wanted to remain in the golf industry,” he says. “I started out trying to get in through the maintenance industry, but then I kind of stumbled onto design, and I really liked it, so I went that direction.”

Since he understood that the elusive green Masters jacket wasn’t in the cards for him, Chris spent his time in college wisely, pursuing a degree in agronomy with an emphasis in turf grass management from Iowa State University — a brilliant bit of unconscious foresight that proved incredibly useful in his future career. (And if you ask me, who needs to walk around looking like a tweed turtle, anyway? Of course, I mean no disrespect to Chris’ employer, Jack, who with six Masters Tournament wins under his belt, has been presented with golf’s holy grail more times than any other golfer in history).

After joining Nicklaus Design as a Site Coordinator, Chris spent his time at golf course construction sites, overseeing the design aspects, ensuring specs were being followed, and serving as a liaison between the contractors and the designer whenever issues cropped up. I asked Chris what a typical day entails for him now, and quickly learned that ‘typical’ doesn’t exist in this industry — unless you consider a 4 a.m. wakeup call and a 40-hour flight to the other side of the world normal, that is.

“That’s the great thing about the job. Every day is different and there is no standard, set agenda,” says Chris. “It could be getting on a plane and making a site visit to a project across the world, or it could be coming into the office and answering e-mails or drawing plans.”

As for how long each course takes to design, the answer is equally without borders. Chris’ longest record to date sits at 17 years, while the shortest is a mere six weeks. There is, however, a mostly stable procedure that he follows. “Basically, a client will approach us with a piece of property that they will want to build a golf course on. We’ll do a site evaluation, followed by routings to see how the golf course fits onto the site,” he says. “Once the routing plan is approved by all parties, we’ll start a contour plan, which is an earth moving plan, and based off that plan, we develop all of the quantities and costs.”

Once the plans are finalized, Chris’ next step is to bid it out to various contractors with set plans and specifications. After a contractor has been settled on, the actual building takes place, which is often when serious travel is required for site visits in order to ensure the plans are precisely followed and the building is on par with the designer’s vision.

For Chris, the extensive travel can be one of the downsides of the job. “I travel 200 days of the year because you have to go where the work is,” he explains. But in his mind, the positive aspects of the job still outweigh the jet lag. “What I enjoy most is the creativity involved in it, and the opportunity to still be involved with golf.”

However, Chris cautions, “Don’t get into this industry if you think you want to stay in one spot. Right now all of the work is in China. Are you willing to pick up and move to China, and learn there?” Additional advice Chris offers to anyone thinking of entering this challenging industry is to start with the basics by rolling up your sleeves, and putting some blood, sweat, and tears into actually constructing golf courses. “How can you design something if you don’t know how it can be built, how much it will cost, and what is or isn’t possible?” he says. “I don’t think you can be a competent golf course architect if you don’t know how to build one.”

Chris also warns that breaking into the industry at this point in time might not be a hole in one. “I think golf is in a bit of a holding pattern right now, and it might last a while — at least in the States,” he says. “There’s a little too much inventory; therefore, the industry is slow right now.”