In a statement, PGA President Suzy Whaley said, “Dye left an imprint on the world of golf that will be experienced for generations, painting wonderful pictures with the land that continue to inspire, entertain & challenge us.”
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus wrote on Twitter, “Golf world lost a great friend today in Pete Dye. First met Pete when I was 16 years old. Pete was 30 and we played an exhibition with Sam Snead in Urbana, Ohio. We became friends; we played a lot of golf together; and we designed courses together.”
Dye got his start in the game at Urbana Country Club. His dad Paul built the first nine holes on an old farm.
"My dad had me out there when I could barely walk,” Dye told the Springfield News-Sun in 2006. “My first job was watering the greens. I must have played a thousand holes of golf there."
Dye’s son P.B., who built the second nine holes at Urbana Country Club in 1992, said his grandfather wanted a course in Urbana because he heard Springfield was going to get a Donald Ross course, which was located at Springfield Country Club.
"My grandpa always thought Urbana was the center of the universe,” P.B. told the News-Sun in 1996. “He figured if Springfield was going to have a golf course, then doggone it, so was Urbana. So he had five holes built one year and four the next."
Credit: News-Sun photo
Credit: News-Sun photo
Pete Dye was world renowned and celebrated for his amazing talent, but he was a kind and simple man who did things his way. Fame never changed him. He was born in tiny Urbana, Ohio, and whenever I saw him, he always asked me about any news from Urbana. Never forgot his roots.
— Dave Shedloski (@DaveShedloski) January 9, 2020
It is with much sadness that we announce our leader, mentor and hero Pete Dye passed this morning at the age of 94. Pete made an indelible mark on the world of golf that will never be forgotten. We will all miss him dearly. pic.twitter.com/1bAqZWSTbp
— Dye Designs (@ILoveDyeGolf) January 9, 2020
Dye won the state golf championship for Urbana High School in 1943, beating Marvin Kurjan, of Youngstown Rayen, in an 18-hole playoff at Ohio State’s course in Columbus.
Dye played golf at Rollins College and won the Indiana Amateur championship in 1958. He
Dye rose to fame when he started designing courses in the 1960s. Among his creations are: Crooked Stick; Harbour Town; the Ocean Course. the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass; Whistling Straits; Blackwolf Run; Teeth of the Dog; Oak Tree; and PGA West.
Dye was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008. Prior to his induction, he told the Palm Beach Post he never drew his plans for a course.
"I get an idea of what I want the routing of the course to look like,” Dye said, “and pretty soon you have all the lines where you think they should be. You try to do whatever has to be done to make it turn out the way it's supposed to turn out. I'm just an old dirt-digger."
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