Ground Games

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GROUND GAMES is a richly layered exploration of golf course architecture, history, and philosophy—told through Dave Zinkand’s personal and professional journey of a modern-day designer navigating both the land and the people who play upon it.

Blending memoir with insight, Zinkand traces the evolution of the game from its early strategic roots to today’s modern challenges. From the disruptive arrival of the Haskell ball to the enduring influence of golf’s “Golden Age,” GROUND GAMES reveals how innovation has continually reshaped not only how the game is played, but how courses are conceived. At its heart lies a compelling argument: that the most engaging golf is not dictated through rigid punishment, but discovered through options, angles, and imagination.

Central to Zinkand’s design philosophy is the ground game—a style of play that embraces firm, fast conditions and invites creativity at every skill level. Rather than forcing aerial precision, great design encourages players to think, adapt, and find their own path to success. In this way, golf becomes less about perfection and more about possibility.

Woven throughout are candid accounts of real-world projects, including the transformation of Desert Forest Golf Club. Here, the Zinkand confronts the realities of design: member politics, resistance to change, and the delicate balance between playability and challenge. These experiences reveal that building a course is as much about managing human expectations as it is about shaping land.

Thoughtful and thoroughly grounded in experience and story-telling, GROUND GAMES offers a fresh perspective on exactly how makes golf course architecture provides greater viability for our sport. Through telling the stories of three distinct design projects, Zinkand provides readers interested in learning more about golf course architecture an inside look at the actual work, as Zinkand thinks through real-life projects and situations, to show how inspired and compelling golf course design is possible. 

“Dave’s journey has been interesting and unique, and in Ground Games he shares insights and lessons learned, highlighting the personal and professional rewards and frustrations that are so a part of this profession. His descriptions of working within the politics and personalities of private club memberships and their design and project committees are particularly insightful and take the reader into a process of golf course design seldom talked about but very real. Numerous books on golf course architecture have been dedicated to its history and the principles of design. Ground Games gives us a personalized perspective of those principles and the process and challenges of bringing them into reality.”   —BILL COORE, from his foreword

“Dave has experienced the proper training and education. He is a hard worker—thoughtful and intelligent—and our work with him supports the idea of letting himself go! From our eyes, Dave’s devotion to his work and talent leads us to the conclusion that we would recommend him for any future ventures, and are only too happy to do so enthusiastically!”   —BEN CRENSHAW, from his foreword

“I enjoyed working with Dave Zinkand at Bandon Dunes, where his contributions to Bandon Trails and Preserve left a lasting impression. Dave uses a bulldozer to create exciting landforms for golf courses the way a surgeon uses a scalpel to enhance life forms. Ground Games is a fantastic look into the craft, and anyone interested in golf course architecture will benefit from reading it.”   —MIKE KEISER, founder of Bandon Dunes and Dream Golf

“Whatever projects Dave Zinkand touches—be it on his own at places like Old Elm and Sharon or courses where he worked for Coore & Crenshaw like Bandon Trails and We-Ko-Pa—I seem to adore the end result. And having read Ground Games, I now understand why! Here is a man that won Cornell's Dreer Scholarship and studied in the UK for a year in 1997, touring and absorbing the best the British Isles has to offer. Shrewdly, he started at Woking, the think-tank of design in the first decades of the 20th century. The book is littered with exceptional quotes from the greats, from MacKenzie to Simpson to Coore, but one of the best is from Dave himself when he notes, "As enjoyable and complex a pursuit as golf architecture can be, its strategic success really comes down to employing angles to introduce engaging challenges." It is remarkable how much knowledge is imparted in those few words. The same can be said for the book as a whole - I can't recommend it enough. His narrative of his own work at Desert Forest - and the initial firestorm it kicked off - is the most riveting account of a project I have read. If you like honesty and want to gain insight into how the best designs unfold, read Ground Games.“ —RAN MORRISSETT, Golf magazine and Golf Club Atlas

“In Ground Games, David Zinkand draws on more than a quarter century of building and designing golf courses for Coore & Crenshaw and under his own banner. From youthful explorations of the Surrey Heathlands to shaping holes at Bandon Dunes, he recounts a professional education defined by discovery, collaboration, and problem-solving. Zinkand considers how we find our way, build consensus, handle criticism, and balance family life with the demands of a career. Along the way, he shares warm and often funny stories of everyone from golf’s leading figures to the muddy-boots crews working behind the scenes. Steeped in a passion for natural, sustainable, soul-nourishing golf, Ground Games is an original and valuable contribution to the literature of the game.   —THOMAS DUNNE, golf writer and historian

"Being a longtime member at Desert Forest Golf Club, I have seen Dave’s expertise, talent, and knowledge with golf course architecture. His work and redo of Desert Forest is incredible—it’s my favorite course in Arizona."  —AARON BADDELEY, former professional golfer