Dick Wilson was literally born into construction as the son of a golf course contractor, helping his father as a young man during the building of the West course at Merion Golf Club.

He enrolled in the University of Vermont on a football scholarship but dropped out in 1924 to join the design partnership of Howard Toomey, where he then worked on the revision of the East course at Merion.

, Wilson graduated from construction superintendent to design associate, remaining with his employer until 1942, when he contributed to the war effort by constructing and camouflaging airfields in Florida.

After serving in World War II, Wilson started out on his own as an architect. Originally working out of Delray Beach Country Club as the golf course manager, he designed a string of well-regarded Florida layouts, starting with West Palm Beach Country Club in 1947.

He then moved further north, where his two 18-hole layouts for the National Cash Register company in Ohio gained a lot of attention in the early 1950s. Keith Cutten, in his excellent book 

“A six-year period, from 1956 to 1962, saw Wilson at the peak of his architectural powers. His new-build projects included the following: three courses at Royal Montreal (1959); two courses at Doral Country Club (1962); and Pine Trees Country Club (1962).

He also completed some excellent renovations to the following classic layouts: Colonial Country Club (1956); Winged Foot West course (1958); Aronimink (1961); Bel-Air Country Club (1962); and Cog Hill Country Club courses 3 and 4 (1963).

In 1964, Wilson completed a renovation to the East course at Merion: the facility where his career in golf had begun. Less than twelve month later, in the summer of 1965, Wilson suffered a fall at Pine Tree. He died three weeks later, aged sixty-one, of a pulmonary embolism.”

His design traits included broad fairways and large greens and in the flat landscape of Florida he developed a style in which the putting surfaces were slightly raised, making them more visible and also helping with drainage.

The greens would often be offset at a 30 to 45-degree angle to the fairway, with a large bunker guarding the approach. Wilson's courses typically included man-made lakes, largely to provide fill for the elevated tees and greens, but also for the sake of adding challenge.

Wilson also did some work for the Metropolitan Club in Melbourne, Australia in 1960. Land had been taken from the club's course for a school development and he used adjoining ground for replacement holes that are now fully integrated with the originals.

Along with Joe Lee, he designed the 18-hole layout for the private Lagunita Country Club in El Hatillo Municiplaity, Venezuela, a prosperous part of Caracas, and this course (part of a real estate development) opened in 1964.

“Wilson did relatively few courses in the later years of his life in an attempt to give personal attention to each work bearing his name. He maintained a staff of loyal and talented assistants who handled much of the actual design and construction work on some projects, including Joseph L Lee, Frank Batto, 

“Sadly, Wilson’s legacy became more about his addiction than the excellence of his golf designs. Some have short changed his contribution to the industry, associating him with alcohol dependence and what, otherwise, could have been accomplished. However, he should be remembered for what he did accomplish.” Keith Cutten, author of The Evolution of Golf Course Design.

Dick Wilson

Ron Forse

Florida

Dick Wilson originally laid out the course for the members of the Hole-In-The-Wall Golf Club in 1957 and it opened for play in 1958. According to folklore Gene Sarazen said: “If I only had one golf course to play, it would be Hole-in-the-Wall.”

A number of architects tinkered with the course down the years, including “The Squire” himself, Robert Trent Jones, Arthur Hills and Ron Garl, but the course was rejuvenated in 2009 by Ron Forse, an admirer and student of Dick Wilson's designs. Forse commented: “The project was drainage driven. The property was settling, while the water table was rising. Our goal was to make it drain better, but not change the character of the property.”

In November 2020, Ron Forse was interviewed in 

 and he mentioned his work at Hole in the Wall:

“It is one of only a handful of courses in all of southwest Florida with no houses or buildings. Pure golf in a pristine, natural setting. The entire course was reconstructed to solve some severe drainage problems. Storm water retention on site was required by the city, resulting in water feature expansion and a new, large lake. Excavation provided fill to raise the elevation of the course.

Here, we used old photos, taken from an airplane, to recapture the footprints of the putting surfaces, which had become mundane in shape and uninteresting over time. With our knowledge of Wilson’s later work at Pine Tree – the pinnacle of his art form – we implemented a more robust bunker scheme with much more character and interest than was originally built. This is another good example of ‘interpretive restoration’ where the course can remain entirely authentic yet significantly upgraded.”

Today’s thoroughly modernized Hole-In-The-Wall has a new 8.5-acre lake, back tees have been installed to increase length (the course now measures almost 6,600 yards, extended from its previous 6,200-yard measurement) and additional bunkers have also been installed.

While still relatively short by today’s standards, the Hole-In-The-Wall is now once again a members’ delight and fit for purpose in the modern era.

Hole-In-The-Wall

Calusa Pines

North America

Dick Wilson originally laid out the course for the Hole-In-The-Wall Golf Club in 1957 and it opened in 1958. According to folklore Gene Sarazen said: “If I only had one golf course to play, it would be Hole-in-the-Wall.”