Nick Price – Sports – Golf Player – Dramatic Twist as Golf Champion Turns into  Golf Course Designer

Nicholas Raymond Leige Price

 Tapfuma Machakaire

Dramatic Twist as Golf Champion Turns into  Golf Course Designer

Rarely does one come across a sports star who loves his or her game to the extent of designing or building a pitch of their favourable sport. A befitting prize could be in the offing for champion golfer Nick Price, for his innovation in working with architects to design golf courses. Price has even established his own company, Nick Price Golf Course Design which is working on projects in the United States, Caribbean, United Kingdom and South Africa.

According to the magazine, Golf Course Architects, Nick had been collaborating on designing golf courses with several architects including Tom Fazio before he formed his own firm.

Professional golf course architects may not be very comfortable with the involvement of golf professionals in the course design business, as they argue the objective could be just to market themselves.

But Price has gone beyond this “petty” argument and dwells on deeper issues with regards to golf course design vis-à-vis understanding of the game. “The game needs to shout louder about green issues. “There are countless studies and examples of how beneficial golf courses are, “Many courses use grey water for irrigation as a golf course is a wonderful way of filtering water. But getting the point across requires education by golf associations, industry and all who have a vested interest. It also requires the support of the Tour which has the opportunity to educate with the exposure it gets through the media.” says Price.

He says architects have an excitement to create a dramatic look without understanding that the shots they are demanding are virtually impossible.

But who is Price to challenge architects in their own profession?

Nicholas Raymond Leige Price was born on 28 January, 1957 in Durban, South Africa. His early life was spent in Rhodesia. He attended Prince Edward School in Salisbury, where he was the captain of the golf team.

After high school, he served in the Rhodesian Air Force during the liberation war.He was introduced to golf by his older brother Tim, who gave him his first club, a left-handed 5-iron.

Price began his professional golf career in 1977 on the South African Tour, before moving to the European Tour. He won his first tournament outside of South Africa at the 1980 Swiss Open. By then, he was still relatively unknown when he finished tied for second place with Peter Oosterhuis one shot behind Tom Watson at the 1982 Open Championship. Price earned membership of PGA Tour after finishing 3rd place at 1982 PGA Tour Qualifying School. 

In 1983 he won his first PGA Tour event with a wire to wire four-shot triumph over Jack Nicklaus at the World Golf Series. In 1984, Price renounced his Zimbabwean citizenship and began playing as a Briton. He regained his dual citizenship in 1996.

By the mid-1990s, Price was regarded as the best player in the world. He topped the PGA Tour money list in 1993 and 1994, setting a new earnings record each time, and spent 43 weeks at number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.

In 1993 and 1997, Price was awarded the Vardon Trophy which is given annually by the PGA of America to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average with a minimum of 60 rounds. Price is on record as the only one to win the PGA Tour tournaments fifteen times in the 90’s. He also won an additional 12 international events in that decade.

Price is one of only three players in the 1990s to win two major titles in the same season, joining Nick Faldo in 1990 and Mark O’Meara in 1998. He is also one of only seven players since 1945 to capture consecutive majors.

In 2003, Price was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honour given by the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Price received the 2011 Old Tom Morris Award, the highest honour given by the GCSAA for lifetime commitment to the game of golf and helping to mould the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris. Morris was a Scottish professional golfer who was considered one of the pioneers of professional golf and was the first young prodigy in golf history.

Price has represented Zimbabwe twice at the World Cup in 1978 and 1993. Nick Price was named the 2011 Ambassador of Golf by Northern Ohio Golf Charities. The Ambassador of Golf Award is presented annually to a person or persons who have fostered the ideals of the game on an international level and whose concern for others extends beyond the golf course. This is the man who has transformed from a professional player to a designer of golf courses around the world.

Price is married to Sue and has three children. The family lives in Hobe Sound Florida. Nick plays out of McArthur, a course that he co-designed.