I’ve always enjoyed playing Joe Lee-designed golf courses. He might not be wild and spectacular like a Pete Dye or have the artful bunkering of a Rees Jones, but his courses are always low-key, thoughtful and well thought out.

He designed a course in Delray Beach, called the Hamlet Country Club, one of his so-called “flagship” courses, which is private. A Welsh architect by the name of Ian Scott Taylor – Welsh-sounding enough for you? – has been commissioned to do an in-depth study on restoring the course.

Lee designed the course in 1972, but the years and hurricanes have changed the layout somewhat to the point it needs work.

“I just feel Joe’s keeping an eye to make sure I get it right,” Scott Taylor said in a press release.

“Gentleman Joe” Lee died in 2002.

Renovation work is scheduled to start in May, 2008.

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