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Knowing how to golf and enjoying it are definitely requirements for a golf course designer, and a college degree may be required too. (Look in college catalogues under "Landscape Architecture.") Designers also know the types of trees, shrubs, plants and grasses best used on a golf course, how each land parcel slopes in all parts and which way the wind generally blows for that particular area. In short, a golf course designer has to be a landscape architect, a water feature specialist and a mini-roadway builder as he or she designs the paths for the golf carts.
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Going to the site and making sketches and drawings of the land, hills, ponds or other natural features are among the first steps in designing a golf course. A portable desk is often brought to the site. Photos and video may also be made, and detailed, precise measurements are a necessity. Back in the office, the golf course designer makes her first set of plans.
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Those first plans will be checked, re-drawn and checked again, as many times as it takes for the designer to get the plans to fit exactly what he sees in his mind's eye. Golf course designers don't usually have to go to the area where the course is being built again until most of the heavy equipment has done its work and the course is roughly laid out, although a few noted designers like to check every detail repeatedly. Designers walk a lot and play golf in all kinds of weather at courses all over the world, to see how wet grass or a wind-blown sand trap affects a golfer's game.
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The best golf course designers build in "secrets" for some of the holes on the course too. Sometimes a putting green may have a special little "break" built in, or grass may be grown which has a coarse blade to it, affecting the roll of the golf ball. Designers try to combine challenge and enjoyment as much as possible. Many courses have breathtaking views of the ocean, mountains or tree-covered hillsides. Golf course designers also have to be aware of what animal life might be attracted to the course.
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Lighting for a course and natural windbreaks can also be part of the equation. The cart paths and even the holes in the course have to have drainage planned for them too. Grounds must be accessible to groundskeepers, tree surgeons and large crowds of fans, if the course is going to be hosting some of the top golf matches. A clubhouse and storage buildings, maintenance equipment buildings and golf cart repair facilities may all be needed and have to be figured into the design as well.
