‘Very hard to live with’: Course designer Tom Doak reveals personal toll of his job

Golf course designer Tom Doak has a stunning list of design credits, but it never hurts to list a few standouts as a reminder: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Old Macdonald, Streamsong Blue, Ballyneal, Barnbougle Dunes and Cape Kidnappers, to name a few.

In addition to his personal design work, Doak has also been a part of many high-profile renovation and restoration efforts at illustrious tracks like Bel-Air, Pasatiempo and San Francisco Golf Club. His resume speaks for itself, but GOLF’s Michael Bamberger wanted to dig a little deeper on Doak, the man.

That’s why Doak was a natural fit for the second episode of Bamberger’s new series, GOLF Originals. (Check out the debut episode featuring David Feherty here.)

“He fulfills everything we’re trying to do in this series,” Bamberger says of Doak. “He’s a true original in how he thinks about golf courses, how he builds golf courses, how his whole long career has unfolded.”

Doak gave Bamberger a behind-the-scenes look at his new project, Sandglass, in Hobe Sound, Fla. As Doak showed Bamberger around, the duo covered a number of topics, including Doak’s favorite underrated architects and his experience working alonsgide Jack Nicklaus on Sebonack in Southampton.

One moment that was particularly insightful involved Doak speaking honestly about the challenges of his work-life balance. Being a revered golf course designer may seem glamorous, but Doak acknowledged that the lifestyle can take a toll.

Travel

“As my ex-wife said, and as my current wife has said more than once — you’re always either coming or going,” Doak says. “It’s not like being an actor or a soldier, where you’re away for six months or a year and then you’re home for a while and then waiting for the next big project. I’m here for five or six days at a time, and then maybe I’ll go to one of my other projects before I go home so I don’t spend as much time traveling back and forth in between. To me, that’s wasted time.

“But, you know, I’ll leave here, and then I’ll have to be back here in a month, four to six weeks, again, to see how the next batch of holes is coming along. So your life is always kind of governed by the construction schedules for the golf courses and it’s very hard to live with.”

The difficulty of operating on Doak’s schedule is further exacerbated when you have young kids, he says.

“So, I’m divorced and remarried. Fortunately, my wife compares me to being a single mom, and I’m better than being a single mom,” Doak says with a laugh. “And now our kids are grown and gone and we’re playing with grandchildren now, that’s a whole different world. But certainly raising a family when you’re away 150 days a year is hard. And your wife better be really good at it.”

For more from Doak, check out his GOLF Originals episode in its entirety below.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.

• Author Twitter Account
• Author Instagram Account