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USA Today

The words fun, unique and beautiful are music to this architect's ear

The words fun, unique and beautiful are music to this architect's ear Golf course architect Jay Blasi has one main objective for any project. 'The goal that I would have is that if a golfer comes off the golf course, I would love to hear three adjectives come out of their mouth: That was a ton of fun, that was really unique and that was really beautiful,' said Blasi, who grew up in Wisconsin and now lives in California. 'The highest compliment you can ever have is if somebody comes off the 18th green and they want to go again – let me back out there, I can't wait to go back there again.' Blasi worked for years for architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. before hanging his own shingle. His work with Jones included Chambers Bay in Washington, site of the 2015 U.S. Open, and SentryWorld in Wisconsin, site of the 2023 U.S. Senior Open. His builds as lead architect include the highly ranked Santa Ana Country Club in California. He recently renovated Lakeside Country Club in Houston, then shifted focus back to California to complete extensive renovations of Golden Gate Park's short course and the 18-hole Poppy Ridge. Blasi also works as a frequent host to Golfweek's Best raters at courses around the world. Poppy Ridge, in particular, could serve as a boost in showing Blasi's work to the world. He took a tired existing course owned by the California Golf Association and breathed new life into a spectacular site with an entirely new layout that does some 50,000 public-access rounds a year. 'When I had the opportunity to go out and see the site, I fell in love with the property and firmly believed that the property was special enough to give us the opportunity to craft a golf course that would stand up amongst the very best in California and beyond,' Blasi said of Poppy Ridge, which officially opens May 31. 'I think we did it. I'm really excited about this.' Click here to read much more about Blasi's work at Poppy Ridge and to watch a video of him discussing the project.