Top down course view
Proposed top down course view

Golf Course Architects

Advising clients in 14 countries on 5 continents.

 

Scroll down

Clayton, DeVries & Pont is the partnership of three of the world’s most experienced golf course architects.

For over a century, the best architects have worked within partnerships. From Colt, Alison & Morrison to Fowler & Simpson to MacKenzie & Maxwell, the sum of the parts was always greater than the individual no matter how talented the individuals in question. CDP has been founded on the same principles.


Our partners have a diverse set of backgrounds and skills. They boast a professional golfer with over 30 years of experience on tour, a hands-on designer whose skilled use of a bulldozer and Sand Pro is second to none, and a trained civil engineer.

Mike Clayton Partner

After a very successful amateur career which included victory in the 1978 Australian Amateur and the 1977 and 1981 Victorian Amateurs, Mike 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.

He 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. 

He is a renowned writer, speaker and broadcaster whose views on the relevance of period architecture in the modern era are required reading and listening for anyone who is a student of golf and golf design. In addition to being an expert in course restoration and renovation, his new designs have won critical acclaim. His course at Royal Queensland will host the tournaments of the 2032 Olympiad.

Mike DeVries Partner

With over 40 years of experience in the golf industry, Mike 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 Country Club in Frankfort, Michigan, and he grew up working on the Downs, developing a deep respect and admiration for the work of Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell.

After graduating from Lake Forest College, Illinois, he 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 design coordinator for Tom Fazio. 

He is one of the leading exponents of the modern minimalist movement. In addition to restoring and renovating many Golden Age courses, his new designs have received much praise. Perhaps best known are Kingsley Club, which is ranked in the US’s top 100 by GOLF Magazine, and Cape Wickham Links in Tasmania.

Frank Pont Partner

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, where his specialist studies were in the works 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. 

He is currently working with over thirty Colt, Simpson and Pennink designed courses across Europe in order to help restore their original strategies and styles. He has also designed several new courses, one of which, De Swinkelsche, is now ranked in the continent’s top 100 by Golf World. Another, The Links Valley, is rated in the world’s top 20 nine-holers by GOLF Magazine.


At present, we are working for clients in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. Examples of our projects – both past and present – are shown. Our full client list is available upon request as are references.