Tom graduated from North Carolina State University in 1976 with an Associate's degree in Turf Grass Management. He went back to school and received his Bachelors of Landscape Architecture from North Carolina State University in 1981. From 1981 to 1983 Tom worked as a site representative for Kirby Player & Associates, Inc. Beginning in 1983 he worked for Wadsworth Golf Construction Company as a job superintendent. In 1987 he started working as a project architect for Denis Griffiths & Associates, Inc. Tom started up his own company, Tom Johnson Design, in 1992 and did projects around the world including the USA, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Italy, Greece and China.