Perry Dye began his apprenticeship under his father, Pete Dye, at the age of twelve. Full-time work in golf course design and construction began in the 1980s, with Colorado courses Plum Creek Golf and Country Club in Castle Rock, Glenmoor Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, and Riverdale Golf-The Dunes Course in Brighton. Perry also designed Rancho Santa Fe Farms Golf Club in California, and he collaborated with his father on Big Island Country Club in Hawaii. Perry first took Dye Designs to Japan in 1986 and has since been involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of twenty-two courses there. Golf course projects in Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Australia, Austria, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, and the United States are keeping Dye Designs busy around the globe.
I’m very proud to be part of a strong golf family dedicated to the advancement of design.
Mind you, the job is not always glamorous.
Working for my father when I was thirteen, I was directed to clean out a wet well intake structure. Since I could fit into it, I had to crawl up inside the pipe and drag out the mud bucket-by-bucket.
Someone came along and asked my father why I was cleaning out the pipe.
“It might be dangerous, and Perry can’t sue me ’cause he’s my son,” my father answered.
Obviously, I was lucky my father introduced me to golf at a young age. He was convinced that the motorized golf cart would mean the end of golf. He felt that the absence of caddies would result in the deterioration of the game because young people, who served as caddies, wouldn’t get an introduction to the game.
But the golf cart has allowed people to continue playing into old age, which has benefited the game greatly. In addition, the golf cart has allowed us to put golf courses on land that we could not have used without carts.What the walkers say is true, but they should walk while others should ride.