Authentic. Genuine. Dedicated and Passionate best describe the life of the late hall of fame golf course architect, Pete Dye.
Dye passed away on January 9, 2020 at the age of 94, but the Ohio native’s legacy remains intact, in the many great golf courses he created over the years. Dye’s work as a golf course architect began in 1961 in his adopted home state of Indiana, when he and his wife Alice designed Heather Hills (now, Maple Creek) Golf and Country Club in Indianapolis.
Dye courses took center stage in May when the PGA of America and the LPGA conducted tournaments on the same weekend on two Dye designs – the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, for the PGA Championship and the River Course at Kingsmill on the James in Williamsburg, Virginia where the LPGA’s Pure Silk Championship was contested. It wasn’t the first time that a pair of Dye designs were used to host big events on the same weekend and it won’t be the last.
Besides his wife Alice, the only person who worked longer with Pete was his son PB, who has the highest respect for his father. 
“My dad put a shovel in my hand at seven, I drove a tractor at eight, operated a bulldozer at age nine and a backhoe at ten,” recalls PB, which is short for Paul Burke.
According to PB, now 65, one of the reasons why he worked so long with his father is because they had similar mindsets.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” admits PB. “Our philosophies are quite parallel. I had a great teacher for a long, long time. I remember every topographical map that I looked at with my dad.”
PB and his brother Perry, who also works in the golf business, were raised with old-fashioned, traditional values. It’s fair to say that PB and Perry worked for everything they had and earned every dollar they made.
“We were raised as workers and not as the boss’s kid,” notes PB. “My dad was a ditch digger and not an architect. We had a lot of fun building golf courses.”
PB also learned that the commitment it takes to build a great golf course is similar to raising children.
“The more you are there, the better they turn out,”
Pete was a hands-on golf course designer, as well as, a father and succeeded at both. PB is also quick to comment on the important role that his mother, Alice, played in the Dye family.
“Mom and Dad were a great team,” says PB. “They helped a lot of people. Mom was also a great golfer as she won more than 50 amateur titles. She won everything but the U.S. Women’s Amateur.”
Of all the many golf courses that PB and Pete worked together on, he distinctly remembers the last one — The Golf Club in New Albany, Ohio when Pete was in his mid-80s.
“Looking back, that was probably Dad’s first year with Alzheimer’s,” says PB.
Another great memory was building the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Pete designed the course alongside Jack Nicklaus, who served as a consultant. Pete had known Nicklaus for years, his father, Paul Francis Dye played golf with Jack’s father, Charlie.
“We started at Harbour Town in September of 1968 and on Thanksgiving morning in 1969, they played the first PGA Tour tournament there,” remembers PB. “On the morning of that opening round on Thanksgiving Day, I was placing sod above the bunker next to the 18th green when they were teeing off the 10th.”
Four days later, Arnold Palmer came walking down the 72nd hole of the tournament with a one-stroke lead. Palmer pulled his approach left of the 18th green. It finished in an oyster bed at low tide. Palmer chipped to 15 feet and then made the putt to win the tournament.
“Afterwards, Palmer publicly thanked Pete Dye for designing such a great golf course. Thank goodness that it was low tide and Palmer found his ball.”
That endorsement helped launch the career of Pete Dye and gave him the credibility that he needed to become an established, respected, and much sought-after golf course designer/architect.
Any story about Pete Dye would be incomplete without references to his time living and working in the Dominican Republic, which is where Pete died.
There are 11 courses in the Dominican Republic which were designed by either Pete, PB, or the both of them. The most famous being, Teeth of the Dog.
“Dad loved the Dominican Republic.”
On the day that Pete died, PB remembers that his dad had enjoyed a healthy breakfast, was watching reruns of Gunsmoke, his eyes just closed, and he took his last breath.
“It was a great way to go and he was never in pain,” says PB.
To honor the Dye family legacy, PB maintains a home in Urbana, Ohio, where he was born. He sits on the board of directors of the Urbana Country Club and serves as the club’s greens chairman. PB’s grandfather (Paul Francis Dye) designed Urbana’s first nine holes in 1922, PB designed the second nine, in 1992.
“My grandmother, at age 94, told me to design the other nine holes of the Urbana Country Club in 1992 so I did.”
In 2022, the Urbana Country Club will celebrate with a centennial celebration. PB will be there as a way to honor the Dye family. Clearly, PB has the same qualities as his father: authentic, genuine, dedicated, and passionate.
