When we are asked to design an outstanding new golf course, I am always hopeful that we will get an attractive piece of property and a fair construction budget. At Isla Navidad, God was very generous because the property in its natural state was already spectacular. My client was also very generous because he provided us with the budget to support our creative effort. His only instructions to me were to do exactly what you want to with the land, but to also do your very best. Obviously, that two-fold generosity provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to create a premier, world class, 27 holes of golf. I hope golfers from around the world will enjoy the experience.

The design of a great golf course combines two basic missions: the assignment is to create a tactical golfing examination that completely examines the abilities of the three basic levels of golfing prowess. Those levels are: 0-12 handicap equals 8% of all golfers who play, worldwide: 12-26 handicap equals 75% and 16% finally equals 26 handicap all the way up to the beginner. That golfing examination is based on various measures of trajectory, direction and distance with considerations of wind, light and the vertical variance in the designed topography.

The second 50% of the design consideration is beauty. Beauty is imperative and you must create beauty where it does not exist and you must magnify it where it does. There is not a great golf course regarded as such anywhere in the world that is not simultaneously visually magnificent. Great courses are simply beautiful courses. Further, the visual experience must never repeat itself either hole by hole or shot by shot and every vista must be unique and different. A full description of the course, hole by hole is available upon request as seen through the designer's eyes.