Our studio reinvigorates the game you love by collaborating with clients to produce works rich in substance, as well as aesthetic character. We tantalize golfers with thoughtful strategies and naturalistic contouring that stir the imagination and beg to be played again and again. Our layered, playable and often rugged landscapes are founded on time-tested principles of golf design. We are guided by the ethos that fundamental inspiration should not merely be sought in the designer’s head, but also within the genius of the landscape itself. Our style isn’t for everyone and we’re okay with that.
About Zinkand Golf Design
Blending Art, Strategy, and Nature in Golf Course Design
David Zinkand, an Ohio native and avid Buckeye fan, who now resides with his wife and daughter in Charlotte, North Carolina, graduated from Cornell University in 1997, where he studied Landscape Architecture and played on the golf team. As a senior, he received a scholarship from the Dreer Award, an endowment for the study of landscape architecture and horticulture abroad. Dave applied the award towards a year of touring more than two hundred golf courses in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, providing insight into Britain and Ireland’s finest heathland and linksland layouts.
Since that journey, he has worked for many esteemed architects, including Gil Hanse, Arthur Hills, and Mike DeVries. As a Design Associate with Coore & Crenshaw, Dave managed projects and contributed feature shaping for more than fourteen years. Several of his key contributions to the team include the construction of Bandon Preserve (Bandon, OR), Bandon Trails and the Saguaro Course at Wekopa (Fountain Hills, AZ).
In 2008, Dave collaborated with Jeff Bradley, a.k.a. the Bunker Guru, for a renovation of Weekapaug Golf Club in Rhode Island. The results drew inspiration from Dave’s experience with seaside golf and the coastal site itself. This collaborative effort was the first move in Dave’s transition from Design Associate and shaper for Coore & Crenshaw to engaging as a lead architect on both solo and collaborative design projects. This was followed by work with Desert Forest Golf Club, the very first course naturally integrated into the desert, located in Carefree, Arizona. As Dave strives to ensure with all his clients, these initial ventures have led to ongoing relationships with each club today, as well as an honorary membership at Desert Forest.
The Postage Stamp at Royal Troon Golf Club, United Kingdom, captured by Dave during his Dreer Awards travels.
Links magazine cover: Dave Zinkand (center) amid construction of Bandon Trails, ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, for his contributions while a Design Associate with Coore & Crenshaw.
Dave’s inspiration and sustainable ethos come from the minimalist philosophy that we should first seek to draw from nature and the land itself. The combination of his shaping and management experience in golf course construction, familiarity with many of the finest golf courses in the world, and formal education in landscape architecture continue to provide the foundation for his career in golf design. Dave is also a passionate advocate of the running game, believing that compelling design and firm playing conditions dramatically improve golf’s fun and playability.