“The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody would put a flagstick on top…golf is not a fair game so why build a fair golf course.”
This quote from Pete Dye can be found inscribed at the base of the bronze statue that sits near the clubhouse of the Dye Course at French Lick. The French Lick course doesn’t sit atop Mt. Everest, but it does traverse the second highest peak in Indiana.
Upon first seeing the site Pete said a satisfactory course could not be built atop Mount Airie. After more urging from French Lick, Dye sketched out a routing on a napkin and the new course opened to rave reviews in August, 2009.
Dye created several masterpieces in his lifetime. Just to name a few, the Ocean Course on Kiawah, Whistling Straits, The Golf Club, Harbour Town Links at Sea Pines, on Hilton Head and TPC Sawgrass. 
Dye never got tied up in fancy drawings or topographical maps. He preferred to observe the landscape and visualize what a golf hole should look like, given the available terrain. He got his boots and hands dirty laying our his ‘Dye-abolical’ creations.
Dye was an accomplished golfer and competed in the U.S. Amateur, plus he qualified for the 1957 U.S. Open at the Inverness Club. While in the Army and stationed at nearby Ft. Bragg, Dye would often make the 30-mile to Pinehurst and came to know Donald Ross.
In fact, Chris Lutzke, who worked for Dye for over 30 years told us,
“Pete’s relationship with Mr. Ross was one of the things of which, he was most proud.”
The Director of Golf at French Lick Dave Harner, was privileged to know both Pete and Alice Dye well, he said,
“The most amazing thing was how Pete lived his life. Alongside his bride Alice, they changed the face of golf course architecture, and never really set out to. Even though they were two of golf’s rock stars, they remained humble, lived a simple life, and gave back so much to so many.”
Another insight into the life of Pete Dye was his joy at identifying talent among his younger employees, helping them obtain college degrees and passing on the knowledge that would serve them, when they ventured out to operate their own golf design businesses. The list of former Dye employees that rank among the top designers in the industry is long and distinguished.
Even Jack Nicklaus learned much from Dye, when the Golden Bear teamed with Dye to build Harbour Town Links.
Nicklaus said of Dye,
“It was Pete who inspired me to start designing courses more than 50 years ago, and so in many ways I owe my second career to him. I think Pete Dye was the most creative, imaginative and unconventional golf course designer I have ever been around.”
Pete Dye will be remembered as one of the most innovative golf course designers of his time. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on forever in the world of golf.
