Yannick Pilon Golf - Sources of Inspiration

Sources of Inspiration

Our trips on the world's best golf course force us to discover diversified courses designed by architects who have different techniques or different approaches towards design. These continuous explorations constantly influence our design philosophy. Here are our main sources of inspiration:

Links Courses of Scotland and Ireland - A Perfect Integration
The links courses of Scotland and Ireland are perfect examples of courses perfectly integrating irregularities and imperfections that nature has left in the ground to present unique and diversified courses that are some of the most beloved in the world. Their countless undulations and their firm and fast conditions necessitate imaginative shots from golfers.

Alister Mackenzie - Ingenious Routings
Alister Mackenzie is known for his ability to integrate his courses in their natural environment. Courses like Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne are two examples of exceptional golf courses built in two distinct environments using different styles, but both built in perfect harmony with their surroundings.

Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw - Elegance and Nuances
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw always create elegant looking courses that offer a timeless, ageless feel, with fantastic greens and sometimes bold design ideas. Their designs usually appear straight forward, and even simple, but they are full of subtleties and nuances that require multiple plays to fully appreciate or understand.

Charles Blair Macdonald - The Importance of Experiencing the Best Courses
Charles Blair MacDonald pioneered the idea of using template holes and used it to create wonderful golf courses of great interest. He clearly demonstrated the value of travelling extensively to play, experiment and understand the best holes in the world to clearly inspire yourself from these great holes to create holes of your own.

Georges C. Thomas - Multiple Options
George C. Thomas is very interesting for his bold ideas and the fact that he often tried to create holes where multiple options were presented to golfers of all levels. He went as far as creating what he called "courses within the course" to add diversity to the golfer's playing experience day after day.

Mike Strantz - A Varied Mix of Emotions
Mike Strantz had the ability to create intimidating and fear inducing golf courses that are a still a lot of fun to play for most golfers. Not only are his courses usually beautiful to look at, but they are also play easier than they first appear. So not only do they stir up great amounts of emotions as you play them, they also create long lasting memories for the golfers.

Walter Travis - Diabolical Greens
Walter Travis should get more credits for his bold and undulating green complexes. His greens are a good example of what can be done today to build courses requiring fewer bunkers that will be fun for the average golfers, while still being very challenging for the strong players.

Yannick Pilon Golf - Golf Course Architecture, Golf Course Design

Sources of Inspiration