Jon Cummings lives in Clearwater Beach, Florida, and has been a Golfweek course rater since 1996. In his 24 years as a course rater, Cummings has played 53 Pete Dye courses and has grown to admire the “wacky” architecture Dye incorporates into his designs.
He spoke with Golfweek about his experience playing more than 50 Dye courses since 1987, what makes them so unique and Pete Dye’s death on Jan. 9.
GW: How many Dye’s courses do you play per year on average?
JC: “Several a year certainly. Maybe upward to four or five if you count repeats. If you count brand new courses that I’ve never seen before, one or two.”
GW: What is it about Pete Dye’s courses that intrigue you?
JC: “They’re whimsical. They’re fun and he throws oddball things at you that you don’t see (all the time). All the sudden at a fairly flat hole, there will be a huge mound in front of the green or these wildly humorous pot bunkers thrown up on little volcano tops. And then the bizarre scale vertical walls … and impossibly long waste areas that run the entire length of par 4s. This kind of whimsical — he’s amused with designs it seems to me. It’s just like he enjoyed what he was doing and just said, ‘I’ll make this wackier than the last time I did it.’”
GW: You say the best Dye course is TPC Sawgrass. Is it your favorite?
JC: “Of the Dye courses, it’s got to rank up there with the coolest of all of them. So yeah, if you want me to go out on a limb, I’d say that’s my favorite although there are half of a dozen other Dye corses that are right there also.”
GW: What about TPC Sawgrass makes it your favorite?
JC: “There’s a rhythm in the routing there that’s just magical. It ebbs and flows in a marvelous way and it culminates with in my opinion, with what might be the finest finishing for as far as tournament golf. There are others probably equally as good, but nothing’s better than that. The drama that happens Sunday at the TPC there with the pros playing those last four holes can go wildly in any direction, and it’s kind of a genius of the routing there. It’s not long, it’s not hard, it’s not even for us clowns to go out there and play it daily, it’s not that difficult a golf course. Maybe once when it first opened, but it has been softened over the years. It’s a very captivating routing.”
GW: Which five Dye courses would you recommend someone — regardless of skill level — should play in their lifetime?
JC: “Kohler first sure, Whistling Straits, Teeth of the Dog, Long Cove, TPC Sawgrass. I was really captivated by Mission Hills in Palm Springs. That would be high on most people’s lists.”
GW: What do you think Pete Dye’s legacy will be?
JC: “My opinion, I’ve got to believe that it’s going to grow. He’s left a mark it’s certainly going to be remembered. He’s also left a legacy of half a dozen architects that are top of the field out there. Tommy Doak and Gilbert Hanse, who all apprenticed under Pete Dye, and there are others. His two sons, Perry Dye and P.B. Dye, they’re very prolific. He has a niece who designs courses … She’s only done a few, but she’s collaborated with him so he left a legacy of, if you will, pass it down to the next generation, his ideas.”
GW: Did you do anything like play a course or have a moment of reflection to honor Dye’s life when you heard about his death?
JC: “Very much a moment of reflection, but no I did not play a golf course. I met him, he was at a Golfweek event (two decades ago), but I’ve known others who worked and know him very well. It’s always fun to hear the wacky stories of him jumping on bulldozers and not caring about plans or anything and just pushing dirt. Then he sits down with a bunch of raters out in the audience and looks around and says he’s just a farmer. ‘I sold insurance. I’m just a farmer. I just push dirt. You can pass me questions if you want. I don’t know if I can answer them.’ He very much liked to get his hands dirty and didn’t really care about rubbing elbows and getting in a suit and tie and speaking. That wasn’t his forte.”
GW: Is there one Dye course you’re itching to play that you haven’t played?
JC: “I just played his last one, the Links at Perry Cabin in eastern Maryland. I knew it was his last one and I wanted to play that and I did that last summer. Had you asked me right before that that would’ve been an easy answer.”
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