In the world of golf course architecture, few names stir the soul quite like Mike Strantz.
A commercial artist turned golf visionary, Strantz was a rare hybrid — part technician, part dreamer, and all heart.
His great line: “I want golfers to stand on the tee and be dazzled.”
And they are.
As Ben Crenshaw said, “You know immediately when you’re on a Mike Strantz course.”
And you will understand that watching the July 2025 episode of Traveling Golfer that pays homage to Mike Strantz and the legacy, vision, and beauty he created for the golf world.
Traveling Golfer Honors Mike Strantz
And another legend, our Traveling Golfer Host Tony Leodora, actually met Mike many years ago while covering the golf industry. So, it is understandable why Tony dedicates the entire July 2025 episode to Mike and all that is still evident today even though he’s been gone for 20 years now.
Some of you who are new to golf may not have heard of Mike. His life was cut tragically short by throat cancer in 2005 at just 50.
As you will hear from Tony’s guests, if Mike were alive today he would probably be the most influential golf architect of all time.
Before his death, he was already changing the golf course design business.
Before he ever moved dirt, Mike moved people—with a pencil. A former commercial artist, he brought a painter’s eye to golf course design. He didn’t just design courses — he sketched them by hand, often on horseback, letting the land speak to him.
And that legacy lives on in a handful of unforgettable courses that continue to dazzle and challenge golfers across the country – that you need to play.
Four Carolina Strantz Courses To Hit
Tony takes you to three of those courses in South Carolina, along the coast between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. These will be future Traveling Golfer destinations for you – after watching this episode.
First, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club. It opened in 1994 in Pawleys Island, as Mike’s first solo project, after he worked with another legendary golf architect Tom Fazio. Caledonia is built on a former rice plantation. It’s a Parkland-style course that winds through centuries-old oaks and Lowcountry marshes.
According to Bob Seganti, GM of Caledonia and True Blue, the course has only grown in popularity since Strantz’s passing. It’s a visual poem, where every hole feels like a brushstroke on canvas.
That artistry also led to the fun that Mike’s courses bring. At Caledonia, the 18th hole is a grand slam finish as golfers who have finished their rounds sit on the deck overlooking the 18th green — to either applaud or harass – other golfers trying to maneuver a tricky, overwater approach shot.
The next Strantz course design is right next door. True Blue is Caledonia’s bolder sibling. Opened in 1998, it’s a beast of a course—with massive waste areas, flowing water features, and bold elevation changes. The 4th hole, a par-4 dogleg around water, and the 18th, with its beach bunkers and another “Heckler’s Heaven” deck, are unforgettable. The clubhouse deck overlooking the 18th green has become a gathering place for camaraderie, laughter, and second-shot pressure.
Bull’s Bay is the third course Tony lines up for us. It’s a bit further south, just north of Charleston, South Carolina. This is a private course, so we suggest you get to know some members, like Hooty and The Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, to get you a tee time.
If not, it is definitely worth just visiting Bull’s Bay to see the beauty of the course and Mike’s ground-moving mastery. It’s hard to believe the clubhouse is like a Greek Temple on a Greek Island. It took a lot of bulldozers to give you these heightened views. As Bulls Bay GM Frank Antonelli tells Tony, Mike Strantz gets credit for making the Bulls Bay Clubhouse the highest point in Charleston County.
Bulls Bay was also Mike’s final original design before his death, and it reflects his lifetime of accumulated wisdom and creativity as he crafted courses that rewards imagination as much as execution.
Another course you should try that Tony mentions, but doesn’t visit in this episode, is Tobacco Road. It is in Sanford, North Carolina, and it is Mike’s most polarizing and celebrated work. Built on a former sand quarry, it’s a Salvador Dalí dreamscape of blind shots, towering dunes, and wildly contoured greens. It’s not for the faint of heart — but for those who embrace its eccentricities, it’s a spiritual journey.
As Jeff Jones of Maverick Golf Design, Strantz’s longtime partner, might say: “it’s not just a round—it’s a revelation.”
We think this show will be a revelation to you.
Plus, it will give you a chance to create your own Mike Strantz Golf Tour.
You will notice in the episode, Tony does that with a group of friends who join him on Caledonia and True Blue.
You should go to Caledonia and True Blue websites before you plan anything.
Traveling Golfer can be seen nationally on network television, cable, and streaming networks available to more than 170 million subscribers. Or you can just go to travelinggolfer.tv.
Or better yet, click below right now.
Real John Daly is a Producer and fill-in Host for the Traveling Golfer. And, yes he has played all the courses mentioned here. He also writes and produces for the TGD Newswire at www.thegolfdirector.com. He is a former player on the Celebrity Players Tour and still holds a single-digit handicap. He was the host of Real TV, the groundbreaking reality show in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is currently the Co-Creator and Co-Host of Undercover Jetsetter with Susan Anzalone, a show on travel, food, wine, mixology and, of course, golf. They show you how to jet set the world and at home. They also co-authored the book, The TV Studio In Your Hand: How to Shoot, Edit & Deliver the Easy Way on Your iPhone.
