Born

• 1986 in Omaha, Nebraska

Degrees

• Bachelor of Fine Arts - Painting, The University of Montana, 2009

• Master of Landscape Architecture, The University of Georgia, 2013

Dundee Golf Projects

• Old Barnwell Kids Course (2024) [co-design with Brian Schneider]

• Old Barnwell (2022-23) [co-design with Brian Schneider]

• Shorehaven GC (2023) - Master Plan

• Watchung Valley GC (2022) - Short Course and partial renovation

• Tin House Club (2021) [co-design with Kye Goalby and Brian Schneider]

Experience with Renaissance Golf Design

• Childress Hall GC (2024)

• High Pointe GC (2023)

• Pinehurst no. 10 (2023)

• Skokie CC (2022)

• Montclair GC (2021)

• Salem Country Club (2021)

• St. Patricks, Ireland (2019-2020)

• Llanerch Country Club (2019-2020)

• Memorial Park, Houston (2019)

• The National (Ocean Course), Australia (2018)

• Washington Golf & Country Club (2018)

• Bel-Air Country Club (2017-2018)

• Round Hill Club (2016)

• Milwaukee Country Club (2015)

• Stoatin Brae (2015)

• Hollywood Golf Club (2013-2014)

• Medinah Country Club (Course One) (2013)

• Dismal River (Red) (2012)

Other Shaping Experience

• Lakewood Country Club (2020)

• Denver Country Club (2020)

• Oakland Hills (2020)

• El Niguel Country Club (2018)

• Twin Dolphin Resort (2017)

• Pinehurst no. 3 and no. 5 remodel (2017)

• Winter Park Nine (2016)

• Virginia Country Club (2015)

• Quail Lodge Resort (2014-2015)

• Brentwood Country Club (2014)

I didn’t know it at the time, but from an early age I was a solid encapsulation of the above Herbert Warren Wind quote. I had a slight obsession with golf. My first job was at a driving range and I would bang balls or play the local par 3 course nearly every day. When I wasn’t playing golf I was drawing or coloring or making something. And in 4th grade I was top of my class in the multiplication tables (my crowning academic achievement)! I had no idea who Herbert Warren Wind was in 4th grade, but when I finally did stumble upon his quote I realized I had the tools of an ideal practitioner of golf course architecture. After graduating with a painting degree in 2009 I realized the timing was right to give golf design a shot.

My first experience in golf design was a summer internship with Tom Doak building Dismal River in the Nebraska Sandhills. The opportunity helped me understand the effort required to build a great course, but also confirmed something I didn't know: I wanted to be on site, in the dirt, and collaborating with others.  Now, since forming Dundee Golf in 2013, I feel grateful for the opportunity to travel the world doing what I love, building cool golf courses. 

I love a good problem, mostly because it’s so fun to come up with creative solutions. Having lots of creative problem solvers working together is paramount to good golf design. Not one person has all the answers. One of the great things I’ve learned from Tom is to gather as many bright people as you can and look at the design from as many perspectives as possible. To get the most out of the land you need talented, creative people who love golf and enjoy collaborating with one another.

Being in a creative field, understanding the history of the craft and what’s come before you is necessary for good design. For golf architects that starts with the origins of the game: links golf. All great golf architects have studied the ancient seaside links courses of the British Isles. You start to understand that golf is a game for the adventurous spirit and inextricably linked with nature. I also like to seek out interesting golf courses whenever we’re working in a new area. You learn a lot seeing how different architects, in different eras, with different budgets, different equipment, and different clients route and design golf courses in the same region, sometimes on similar ground and in similar soils. Not only does that exposure build a lexicon of cool greens, bunkers, and landforms, but it also informs the process and gives insight into different ways to solve a problem, successful or not.

All told, I’ve learned there aren’t many constants from one project to the next. Each one presents its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. That’s a big reason why I’m a proponent of place-based design. Trust the process and let it guide site-specific solutions while prioritizing the golf design.  Many decisions are made on a project, and if every decision is made with golf’s best interest in mind, you'll get a lot right.  The concept is simple and provides a sturdy design foundation, but it also creates a free-flowing framework that provokes unique ideas, melds differing aesthetics, and encourages constant conversation and critique. Those are the projects with which I most like being involved and the environments in which I most enjoy working.

Blake Conant