Willard C. Byrd

(1919 - 2004)

Born: Whiteville, North Carolina Died: Atlanta, Georgia, at age 85

Byrd served aboard a minesweeper in World War II. He subsequently graduated with a landscape architecture degree from N.C. State in 1948.

After founding the Atlanta-based firm Willard C. Byrd & Associates in 1956, Byrd went on to design and remodel more than 100 golf courses, primarily in the southeast United States. Among the courses credited to his firm were Atlanta Country Club, Atlanta, Ga.; The Country Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst, N.C.; Heather Glen Golf Links, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Wild Wing Plantation, Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Willow Creek Golf Club, High Point, N.C.