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

J. B. Mackenzie

Paul Mogford

Victoria

World Cup of Golf

Australian Open

Australian Amateur

Australian PGA

Women's Australian Open

Australian Women's Amateur

Australia

Australian Open winners at The Metropolitan Golf Club:


Lee Westwood (Eng) 1997,
Brad Faxon (USA) 1993,
Rodger Davis (Aus) 1986,
Jack Newton (Aus) 1979,
Peter Thomson (Aus) 1951,
Gene Sarazen (USA) 1936,
Frank Eyre (Aus) 1930.

All the Sandbelt courses are celebrated for the rugged beauty and challenge of their bunkering, many from the sketching pad of the itinerant Alister MacKenzie, Metropolitan has common features to the other benchmark courses. Whereas you marvel at the expanse of sand at 

, many of Metropolitan’s bunkers are cut into the greens’ edges in the most stunning way. There is simply no better hand finishing of a golf course to be found anywhere else in the world.

Indeed, Metropolitan and the Melbourne Golf Club (before the Royal was attached) were one in the same before the loss of land to the encroaching city necessitated Melbourne’s move to Port Philip Bay. The remaining members authorised the purchase of land and a two-storey farmhouse and formed Caulfield Golf Club in 1908, playing on a course designed by club member J.B. MacKenzie, an engineer. Tournament play began here in 1930 following a series of modifications suggested by Alister MacKenzie in 1926.

Much of the back nine was reconstructed by American architect Dick Wilson on adjacent market garden land during a visit he made to Australia in 1959. As a consequence the 7th and the back nine between the 10th and 17th are markedly different holes to the original layout.

Seven Australian Opens, five Australian PGAs and ten other professional tournaments have been hosted at Metropolitan. The World Golf Championships Match Play Championship was held here in 2001 where Steve Stricker prevailed over an illustrious field to beat Pierre Fulke in the final. The world’s finest arrived and heaped praise on the course. Memorable comments included Ernie Els who said: “I’ve checked my schedule (for the year) and I’d say this is the best course I’m going to play for the whole year.” Stuart Appleby risked the ire of the committee at Augusta National when he made the following comments: “I think it’s a whole set of clubs ahead of 

 in condition. This is a natural golf course where the grass is playable twelve months of the year.”

Metropolitan is a fine members’ club with a tremendous course and a just reputation for excellent all-year-round conditioning.

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia

 by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.

In 2015, the club appointed the firm of Crafter + Mogford to improve a number of Dick Wilson’s holes. Crafter + Mogford take up the story:

“The club engaged Dick Wilson to design a number of new holes and to fit them into the fabric of the existing course. While he certainly designed some fine holes, with the 7th, 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes being the stand out – there were also some less than fine ones, holes that have some compromises. Overall the terrain of the new land was flatter than the lost land and this loss of character was difficult to replace. And here lies our challenge – to imbue these holes with similar features which abound holes 1 through 5, the 8th, 9th and 18th and bring greater unity to this already tremendous golf course.”


The Metropolitan

Settlers Run

Oceania

Seven Australian Opens, five Australian PGAs and ten other professional tournaments have been hosted at the Metropolitan Golf Club.