Hazeltine Announces New Partnership With Love Golf Design

Chaska, Minn (August 2, 2023). Hazeltine National Golf Club is proud to announce a long-term partnership with the distinguished architecture firm of Love Golf Design for purposes of developing a comprehensive master plan. The design team is led by World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III and is based in Sea Island, Georgia.

This partnership follows the club’s year-long process of thoroughly exploring, conversing with, and interviewing the country’s leading architects. The extensive portfolio of Love Golf Design work includes both new course designs such as the Dunes Course at Diamante in Cabo, Mexico, Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Georgia, and the Love Course at Barefoot Resort in South Carolina, in addition to major renovations at Atlantic Dunes at Sea Pines Resort in South Carolina, Sea Island Golf Club, Retreat Course and Plantation Courses, both in Georgia, as well as TPC Sawgrass in Florida.

“My brother Mark, our architect Scot Sherman, and I are thrilled to be working with Hazeltine National Golf Club to reimagine the golf course and get ready for the 2029 Ryder Cup,” said Davis Love III. “I’ve played major championships here and while serving as the captain of the 2016 Ryder Cup, the support we got from Hazeltine for our Ryder Cup Team was incredible. We’re excited to help Hazeltine move into the next chapter of their major championship life.”

Love Golf Design has been tasked at Hazeltine with examining and master planning the golf course and the entirety of the surrounding property–everything from greens, bunkers, fairways, playing distances, irrigation, drainage, trees, and routing plan. The master plan will also identify infrastructure improvements needed to deliver consistent championship playing conditions every day.

“For us to have success in our mission of hosting major championships and delivering exceptional experiences, we need a leading golf course architect to shepherd our master planning process. Selecting the right team was extremely important to the Board and our Architectural Selection Committee, said Club President Dan Mulheran. Not only were we looking for a partner but also a team who has the right background to ensure our championship course continues to be one of the best in golf.”

Love Golf Design has over 25 completed projects in its portfolio and has garnered numerous design awards. The design team includes Mark Love, Davis’ brother and former longtime Tour caddie, and Lead Architect Scot Sherman.

Davis Love III, whose resume of 21 PGA Tour wins includes the 1997 PGA Championship, is already intimately familiar with Hazeltine, having successfully captained the Ryder Cup team in 2016. The Payne Stewart Award was given to Davis in 2008 as a player whose values align with the character, charity, and sportsmanship that Stewart showed. Davis was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.

Mark Love is the co-founder and President of Love Golf Design. He has guided the firm through all its completed projects and handles the day-to-day business. Mark is also the Executive Director of the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic played at Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia.

Scot Sherman, ASGCA, serves as Lead Golf Architect for Love Golf Design. He has been involved in over 50 designs during his 35-year career working on courses in the U.S. and Europe—most notably The Ocean Course at Kiawah Resort. Scot began his career with the Dye family where the value of designing in the field became a guiding principle of his work. He is a long-time member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work on such a grand scale here at Hazeltine,” said Sherman. “Hazeltine is blessed to have plentiful land, which gives us the room to create some thought-provoking strategies, so we are excited to have the master planning process underway. Davis, Mark, and I believe the variety of the site lends itself for timeless character and we’re pleased to be working with the storied property that’s situated along Lake Hazeltine.”

Hazeltine National Golf Club, opened in 1962, is a vintage design of Robert Trent Jones. Over the next two decades he undertook a partial redesign of the golf course, most notably re-routing the 16th and 17th holes. The club subsequently benefitted from the design input of his son, Rees Jones, through various incarnations of work.

The club was founded on a commitment to championship golf and seeks to preserve and grow that legacy moving forward. The club has previously hosted the U.S. Open (1970, 1991), U.S. Women’s Open (1966, 1977), Ryder Cup (2016), PGA Championship (2002, 2009), U.S. Senior Open (1983), the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (2019), U.S Amateur (2006), U.S. Mid-Amateur (1994), U.S. Junior Amateur (2020-canceled), USGA Men’s State Team Championship (2001) and the NCAA Division I Championship (1999). In the coming years, Hazeltine is set to host its second U.S. Amateur in 2024 and is the first U.S. venue selected to host the Ryder Cup Matches for a second time when it returns in 2029.

For more information, please contact:
Phil Anderson, PGA
General Manager
952-556-5425
panderson@hngc.com