Tom Doak Launches $50,000 Scholarship for Course Architects
By Staff Writer
2 min read
LoopGolf
Key takeaways
- Tom Doak has launched the Doak Award, a roughly $50,000 travel-and-study scholarship for aspiring golf course architects, funded with Texas private club Childress Hall.
- The award will be given every even-numbered year starting in 2026, modeled on the Cornell scholarship that funded Doak's own trip through the UK and Ireland in 1982.
- Applications for the inaugural award are due Nov. 1, 2026, and target candidates under 30.
- A three-person committee will select finalists to interview in early 2027, with travel costs covered.
- Gil Hanse, another prominent architect, won the same Cornell scholarship in 1987.
Golf course architect Tom Doak has created a scholarship to fund travel and independent study for young designers entering his field, modeling it on the award that helped launch his own career more than four decades ago.
How did the Doak Award start?
In 1982, Doak was a 21-year-old landscape architecture student at Cornell University when he won the school's Dreer Award, a $10,000 grant for travel and research. He spent nine months visiting 170 courses across the United Kingdom and Ireland, pacing off yardages and studying famous holes at the urging of his mentor, architect Pete Dye. The Doak Award turns one architect's lucky break into a repeatable path for the next one. Gil Hanse won the same Cornell award in 1987, five years after Doak, before becoming one of his peers in the profession.
The Doak Award turns one architect's lucky break into a repeatable path for the next one.
How does the new award work?
The Doak Award will provide roughly $50,000 every other year, beginning in 2026, to fund a self-designed program of travel and practical study. It targets applicants under 30, though older candidates may apply at a competitive disadvantage. A three-person committee of Doak, one of his associates, and Childress Hall owner Arif Mawji will select finalists to interview in early 2027, and can award the full sum to one applicant or split it among several. Past Doak clients, including Chicago Golf Club and Royal Melbourne, have offered to host future winners.
Childress Hall, the Texas private club co-funding the award, is home to a Doak-designed course ranked among the World Top 100 and a newer Hanse design. Proposals for the inaugural cycle are due by Nov. 1, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How much money does the Doak Award provide?
The award is expected to provide roughly $50,000 per cycle, awarded every even-numbered year starting in 2026.
Who can apply for the Doak Award?
It targets aspiring golf course architects, primarily those under 30, though older applicants may apply and will face a tougher selection process.
When is the application deadline?
Proposals for the inaugural award are due on or before Nov. 1, 2026.
Who is funding the Doak Award?
It is funded by Tom Doak and Childress Hall, a private Texas club owned by Arif Mawji that is home to one of Doak's designs.
- Tom Doak
- Doak Award
- Childress Hall
- Gil Hanse
- golf course architecture
- Cornell Dreer Award
- Arif Mawji
- scholarship
