BIOGRAPHY
Donald Steel – Golf Architect Extraordinaire
Donald Steel was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, in 1937, second son of a Scottish doctor
and a graduate of St. Andrew’s University.
In 1961 he was appointed the first Sunday Telegraph golf correspondent, the youngest
ever to hold the post at 34 years of age and a position he held for 30 years.
Donald became a golf course architect in 1965 when he joined Cotton (C.K.), Pennink,
Lawrie and Partners after graduating with a Masters of Arts degree at Cambridge
University in 1960.
He founded his own firm, Donald Steel and Co in 1987 and has since built 70 new
courses in more than 20 countries, including four in the US – Cherokee Plantation, SC;
Carnegie Abbey, Newport, RI, The Vineyard, MA and The Highland Course At
Primland, VA.
Others include: Redtail (Canada), Vila Sol and Aroeira (Portugal), Efteling (Holland),
The Carnegie Links at Skibo Castle (Scotland), the Strathtyrum at St Andrews (Scotland),
Harleyford and Brocket Hall (England), The Abaco Club at Winding Bay (The Bahamas)
and Rajawella (Sri Lanka).
A believer in building courses that blend easily with the landscape and represent value for
money, six courses designed or redesigned either wholly or in part by Donald have
hosted major tournaments on the PGA European Tour or the Ladies Professional
European Tour in the last few years.
Donald was the first Hon. Secretary of the British Institute of Golf Course Architects
from 1971-85 and has held the office of Chairman and President. He is also the author or
editor of several books on golf including The Classic Links of Great Britain and Ireland.
More
-2In 1993, he was elected the eighth President of the Association of Golf Writers. He is the
first person to have combined careers in writing and golf course architecture and is
therefore the only person to have been President of both the BIGCA and AGW.
To complete one of the most varied and distinguished careers in the game, he was an
international golfer who played competitively in many countries. He took part in the
Open championship at St Andrews in 1970.
He is also the only person to have advised EVERY course or club in the UK that has
staged the British Open Championship.
In Volume 111 of the History of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the book notes:
“Donald Steel’s playing and working life has seldom strayed far from St. Andrews – the
university in which his father was a medical graduate. He was also commissioned by the
St. Andrews Links Trust to carry out extensive redesigns of the Jubilee and Eden courses,
to design the Strathtyrum and Balgove and provide the master plan for most of the new
and revised facilities so familiar today. He has been a member of the Royal and Ancient
since 1962.”
He is currently President of the English Golf Union.