DESMOND MUIRHEAD /
GOLF-COURSE DESIGNER

Golf architect created
innovative course designs

Richard Cleveland / Swimmer
More Obituaries

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By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Internationally renowned golf-course designer Desmond Muirhead died May 2 in Newport Beach, Calif., of cardiac arrest at the age of 79.

Muirhead, a former Hawaii resident in the 1960s and frequent visitor in recent years, has been described by various golf publications as the most innovative golf-course architect in the world and one of the greatest, according to the Executive Golfer, a magazine for which he wrote for 16 years.

Muirhead is credited with laying the groundwork for the Hawaii Kai master plan.

Geoffrey Paterson of Kailua, a friend of more than 40 years and architect/office manager of Muirhead's Hawaii office in the 1960s, said Muirhead was one of the original master planners of Hawaii Kai when the area was unmarked by development.

The English-born and Cambridge University-educated designer wanted Hawaii Kai to be an "integrated community separated from Honolulu, an idea that was a forerunner of Kapolei" and to coordinate the design of the community with its golf course, Paterson said.

Edward Pazdur, publisher of Executive Golfer magazine, said in a 1997 article Muirhead coined the phrase "golf course community," and every golf course and community built in the last 30 years were based on his innovative designs.

Muirhead partnered with Jack Nicklaus to build five golf courses, among a hundred others worldwide. He spent many years taking on the challenge of building golf courses in Japan, where cultural and spiritual influences forced him to come up with design solutions.

Three of his most innovative golf courses are in Aberdeen, Fla.; Stone Harbor, N.J.; and Shinyo in Nagoya, Japan.

According to a recent tribute article to Muirhead in Executive Golfer, his designs were "controversial and provoked hypocritical criticism from the staid world of golf architecture."

Paterson said Muirhead was a "very outspoken person, a fascinating person, but he could rub people the wrong way."

"He was a rebel in a way over here" in speaking out against overdeveloping the slopes of Diamond Head, Paterson said.

In 1961, Muirhead made a plea before the City Council to save the landmark's beauty by not allowing apartment zoning. He said allowing high-rises on Diamond Head would be "a national disaster."

Paterson said Muirhead had many friends in Hawaii and visited several times a year, staying at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel or at Paterson's Kailua home.

His friends sent leis to the memorial gathering in Newport and remembered him at a similar dinner two weeks ago at the Halekulani Hotel, Paterson said.

Muirhead is survived by his wife, Helen, and daughters Romy, Phillipa and Christine, who live in California and England.