Frank Pont

After qualifying as a civil engineer from Delft Technical University, Frank worked for Shell before earning an MBA from the University of Chicago. This was followed by a career in the consulting sector and investment banking, culminating in him overseeing Deutsche Bank’s global telecoms team in London.

In 2001, he left London to study golf course architecture at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. There, his specialist studies were in the work of Harry Colt and Tom Simpson. Thereafter, he undertook apprenticeships with David McLay Kidd in Ireland and Hawaii.

In 2003, he founded his own practice, which has steadily grown in stature ever since. At present, he is working with over 30 Colt, Simpson and Pennink designed courses across Europe in order to help restore their original strategies and styles. Additionally, he has built 7 new courses, one of which, De Swinkelsche, was named best modern course in the Netherlands by Darius Oliver. Frank is the retained advisor to seven clients in Gold World’s Top 50 Courses for Continental Europe, six of which were originally designed by Harry Colt.

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Hendrik Hilgert

Dr. Hendrik Hilgert has been part of our team ince 2014, when he started running the German office. Since then he has carried out many large projects in Germany and neighboring countries. This includes the renovation work on two of the best German golf courses, namely Hamburg Falkenstein and Köln-Refrath, further renovation projects for well-known golf clubs such as Hanau, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and Ulm as well as the construction of 27 holes for the Patting golf course near Lake Chiemsee. Recently he has also been working on projects in Belgium, Spain and Ireland with Frank.

Hendrik has always been a great admirer of the best courses in Scotland and Ireland such as the Old Course in St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Dornoch, Royal County Down or Lahinch, and these form the basis for much of his design principles.

Hendrik has a degree in business administration and a doctorate in economics from the University of Hamburg. Hendrik and Frank met in 1998 while working in banking and have been friends since then. He is married and has two daughters. He lives with his family in Oberursel.

Edward Cartwright

Edward has been an avid golfer since his teens. He came to golf architecture after a successful career in investment banking and fund management.

His love of early Twentieth Century golf architecture blossomed when he first undertook detailed research into the history of his own club, The Berkshire, almost ten years ago. That project led to him studying Herbert Fowler's work in detail, both in the UK and the US. It was also how he first came to meet Frank.

Edward runs our UK and Ireland operations and has been very hands on involved in the work at New Zealand and The Addington.

He is currently struggling with the stark realisation that golf gets considerably harder as the years roll by but is managing to maintain a plus handicap (just).

Jurrian van der Vaart

Jurrian van der Vaart for many years was one of the Netherlands' best professional golfers on the various Tours in Europe and the United States. Through his studies in environmental technology and agronomy, he has been an ambassador for the NGF for Sustainable Golf, the GEO certificate and the many professional days for the course committees and green keepers.

His passion on the golf course, experience with the agronomy and knowledge of architecture make him an important added value for our team.

Jurrian's focus lies on The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, where he has been working on several large projects with Frank and Hendrik.

Because of his pro golf background Jurrian is an acknowledged expert in the field of practice facilities.

Patrice Boissonas

Similar to Frank, Patrice made his move into golf design after a first successful career in the corporate world. As a marketing executive for L’Oréal and Louis Vuitton, he learnt the value of strong brands and was made to work in competitive environments. When he was a young teenager, golf was Patrice’s first love.

A decent player (hcp 6), he was first exposed to great architecture on some of the domestic classic courses designed by Harry Colt and Tom Simpson (Saint-Germain, Chantilly, Morfontaine, Fontainebleau etc.). Patrice can’t hide his preference for the strategic school of design where golf is as much a mental exercise as a physical endeavor.

In partnership since 2011, Frank and Patrice have retained some high profile clients in France, the best known of which are Le Touquet (Colt) and Hardelot (Simpson) where some significant restoring works are currently under way. Always keen to share his passion for golf in his home country, Patrice is in charge of the Architecture section in le Journal du Golf, the n°1 golf magazine in France.

Mike Clayton

After a very successful amateur career which included victory in the 1978 Australian Amateur and the 1977 and 1981 Victorian Amateurs, Mike Clayton turned professional in 1981 and played on the Australasian Tour until 2007, winning seven times. He was also a regular participant on the European Tour from 1982 to 2000.

Having studied golf architecture whilst travelling the world as a touring pro, Mike formed Michael Clayton Golf Design in 1995 in partnership with John Sloan and the late Bruce Grant. In 2010, that business morphed into Ogilvy Clayton, which later became OCCM.

Mike is a renowned writer, speaker and broadcaster. His views on the relevance of period architecture in the modern era are required reading and/or listening for anyone who is a student of golf and golf design. He is one of the southern hemisphere's most highly rated architects, whose work in Australia has received critical acclaim on a worldwide basis.

To learn more about Mike listen to this podcast

Mike DeVries

With over 40 years’ experience in the golf industry, Mike DeVries remains a true craftsman. He is personally involved in all design and construction aspects of golf course development. His grandfather introduced him to golf at an early age at Crystal Downs C.C. in Frankfort, MI, and he grew up working on the Downs, developing a deep respect and admiration for the work of Dr Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell.

After graduating from Lake Forest College, Illinois, Mike worked with Tom Doak before attending the University of Michigan, where he earned his Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture in 1994. There then followed a stint working as on-site coordinator for Tom Fazio.

Mike is one of the leading exponents of the modern minimalist movement and, over the past twenty years, has also become a renowned contributor to books and magazines. In 2015, he was nominated as the industry’s “most underrated golf architect” when he appeared on Golf Channel’s annual Golf Architecture Week.

To learn more about Mike listen to this podcast