Golfweek Rater host Jim Hansen chats with John Strawn. Strawn is currently a founding principal at Strawn & Sampson, partnering with best-selling author Curt Sampson to research, write, design and print high-end golf course and golf club histories.  His most recent book, Creating Calusa Pines, narrated the origin story of a Top 100 course in Naples, FL designed by Mike Hurdzan and Dana Fry.  Golf Digest's Ron Whitten called Creating Calusa Pines "a hefty volume that belongs on the bookshelf of every golfer who has even a passing interest in golf course architecture. This club history is almost as fascinating as the golf course itself.”

Writing the Calusa Pines book was a return to Strawn's roots as a writer after three decades working in golf course architecture.  His first golf book, Driving the Green(HarperCollins, 1991) chronicled the creation of an Arthur Hills course in West Palm Beach, FL.  Soon after its publication, Hills invited Strawn to join his firm. Strawn ran Hills' west coast office until 2000, when he joined Robert Trent Jones II, serving as its CEO for eight years.  During that time, RTJ II created some of the finest courses in its distinguished history, culminating in Chambers Bay, the first Pacific Northwest course to host a US Open. In addition to his work with Strawn & Sampson, Strawn keeps his hand in golf design, most prominently as a member of the team which has restored Gearhart Golf Links, the oldest course in the western United States.