Lawrence Hughes

Lawrence Hughes belonged to the architects who developed a specifically American response to arid landscapes. Born in 1909, he built his career in the Southwest as Phoenix, Scottsdale and winter resorts expanded. Rather than attempting to convert desert into an eastern park, Hughes learned to follow washes, mesas and natural corridors. Experience in construction and project management gave him an approach closely attentive to cost, water and practical execution. His work is characterised by précurseur du desert golf; routages économes suivant washes et reliefs; limitation des surfaces engazonnées; stratégie adaptée aux vents, au désert et à la rareté de l’eau. Principal associations include Desert Forest; Paradise Valley; Arizona Country Club (travaux); El Dorado; San Marcos; courses in Arizona and Southern California. Attribution nevertheless requires care: courses of this period were frequently products of firms, site associates and successive alteration. His significance lies as much in routing decisions as in detailed greens, bunkers, drainage and maintenance conditions. Influence also travelled through people he trained, regions he helped open to golf and professional methods he transmitted. In the broader history of architecture, his career helps explain the transition from a largely craft-based occupation to an organised international industry connected with property, tourism and public golf. The finest courses should not be judged only in their present condition, because many have been lengthened, renovated or altered by vegetation. Serious interpretation compares original plans, photographs, club archives and later work.