1965–Present · United States · Minimalist
Gil Hanse is the architect the game trusts when something sacred needs fixing. Born in 1965, he didn't follow a conventional path — he played college golf at University of Denver, then worked a series of golf jobs (pro shop, grounds crew, construction) before realizing design was the thing he couldn't stop thinking about. He started Hanse Golf Design in 1993 with his wife Tracey, and for the first decade, they mostly did restorations. That's where he learned the craft: studying Ross, MacKenzie, Tillinghast — not from books, but from the dirt, rebuilding their work hole by hole.
The restorations built his reputation. Winged Foot's West Course before the 2020 U.S. Open? Hanse. Los Angeles Country Club before the 2023 U.S. Open? Hanse. Oakland Hills' South Course? Hanse. Southern Hills? Hanse. The list doubles every few years because Hanse does something rare: he makes old courses better without making them different. He removes trees that shouldn't be there, recaptures lost green edges, and rebuilds bunkers to Golden Age specs — but the course still plays like itself. That's harder than it sounds.
His original design breakthrough came on the biggest stage possible: he won the commission to design the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Games, beating out Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Annika Sörenstam's team in an international competition. The Rio course was built on a sandy, wind-scraped site that had been a sand mine — essentially a blank canvas with no trees and exposure to the Atlantic. The result is a naturalistic, links-style course with wide fairways, rugged bunkering, and greens that fall off into collection areas. It proved Hanse could do more than restore — he could create something entirely new that stood up to the world's best players without tricking it up.
Hanse's philosophy sits squarely in the minimalist tradition, and he's open about his debt to Tom Doak, under whom he worked early in his career. The rule is: let the land speak first. Hanse moves dirt when he has to, but his preference is to find the golf course that's already in the ground. His greens are built on natural contours — not dramatically wild like Doak's sometimes are, but subtle, with borrows that take a few rounds to read. His bunkers look like erosion did the shaping: ragged edges, blowout forms, irregular depths.
What distinguishes Hanse from other minimalists is his versatility. He can build a commercial resort course (Streamsong Black), a municipal gem (The Park in Palm Beach), an Olympic venue, and a faithful restoration of a 1920s classic — and each one feels authentic to its site, not like a Gil Hanse Signature Product™ stamped on different parcels of land. His shaping crew is famously small (6–8 people), and he's on-site for every project, not just the routing and a few site visits. The hands-on approach means Hanse courses have a coherence — a sense that one mind made 18 sequential decisions, not a committee filling in a master plan.
He's also a ferocious student of golf architecture history. His restorations don't just follow old aerial photos — they're informed by deep research into what the original architect was trying to do, what the land was like before it was cleared, and how the course evolved through decades of tree growth, irrigation changes, and green committee meddling. When Hanse restores a course, he's not freezing it in amber. He's restoring the intent.
Rank #24 · Bowling Green, FL · Inland Links
Rank #25 · Palm Beach, FL · Parkland
Rustic Canyon (2002, Moorpark, CA) — the course that put Hanse on the map for original design. Built on a tight budget northeast of Los Angeles, it's a walking-only links on sandy soil with wide fairways, massive greens that play as ground game, and a routing that uses the natural barrancas brilliantly. Often cited as the best value in American public golf.
Boston Golf Club (2005, Hingham, MA) — a private club carved from New England forest with sandy subsoil. Hanse routed it through pine and hardwood, creating wide corridors with heathland character. The greens are among his best: subtle, fast, and built on natural ridges.
Ohoopee Match Club (2018, Cobbtown, GA) — maybe the most interesting course in America that almost nobody has seen. A private match-play club built on sandy Georgia soil with massive scale, centerline features, and green complexes that would look extreme if they weren't so natural. Hanse himself has said it's among his best work. The club doesn't seek publicity, which has only added to its mystique.
Olympic Golf Course (2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) — built for the return of golf to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. A links-style course on a former sand mine with views of the Atlantic. Justin Rose won the gold medal. The course received strong reviews from players who notoriously hate everything.