The course architect
Arthur Hills, 72, is the principal in several courses associated with golf course design including Arthur Hills and Associates. Hills has designed over 120 courses including Windsor Parke and Palencia here.
RESIDENCE
Toledo, Ohio
COMPANY
He started Arthur Hills and Associates in 1966.
EDUCATION
He has a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Michigan and a bachelor’s in science from Michigan State.
COURSES
There are almost 40 of his courses in Florida, many in the Naples-Fort Myers area. He is famed for his work in environmentally sensitive areas and his Collier’s Reserve in Naples was the nation’s first Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary Signature Golf Course.
PHILOSOPHIES
• “I think that a golfer wants to hit the ball, and then find it so he can hit it again.”
• “We try to build a course that relates very carefully to the land. We also keep in mind the strategy of golf, and relate the requirements of the game to the elements that provide beauty on a golf course — textures and colors, shadowing and framing.”
MEMBERSHIPS
He’s a past president of the American Society of Golf Course
Architects, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America.
WHAT HE’D LIKE TO SEE
“I’ve designed courses on land where wild pigs live, and I’ve always tried to get one of those developers to call his course ‘Hog Wild’.”
OTHER LINK TO JACKSONVILLE
His daughter is married to local attorney John Tucker Jr., whose father was a co-founder of the Greater Jacksonville Open and is a strong Super Senior player here. Hills and his wife have bought a home in San Marco to “encourage us to visit here more often.”
— by Fred Seely