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About
Mike Clayton
Principal
I am a golfer, and whilst many habitually describe those who used to play for money as ex-professional golfers, one is never thus. You just don’t do it anymore. I still play though, primarily for the companionship of friends both young and old, the beauty of a wonderful golf course and the thrill of a nice swing and finding the middle of the club.
I have been fortunate to find other lives in golf, as a writer, a designer of courses and occasionally I go all the way back to the beginning as a young boy caddying at Eastern Golf Club and carry the clubs of much younger friends aspiring to be great players. Giving Su Oh, the first Australian woman to hit a shot in the Olympic games, the wrong club off the first tee in Rio wasn’t exactly the high point of a brilliant week.
My love, though, is golf courses, and my purpose is making new and old enduringly interesting to play, and beautiful places to both walk and play the best game of them all.
Lukas Michel
Design Associate and Shaper
Lukas is probably most well known for winning the 2019 US Mid-Amateur and competing in the 2020 US Open and Masters Tournament. We first got to know each other about 10 years ago when he moved from Perth to study at the University of Melbourne. In 2017, he completed a Master of Engineering which included a 6 month stint at the University of St. Andrews, living an 8 iron's distance from the 18th green on the Old Course.
Lukas has a youthful yet educated eye for golf, shaped by travelling the world playing at some of the finest courses across Europe and America alongside his amateur tournament schedule. He is currently the youngest panellist for Golf Magazine's World Top 100 golf courses.
Recently he has spent time developing his skills in golf course construction, working with Mike DeVries, and Gil Hanse on two renovation projects in the US. In 2022, he broadened his skills and knowledge further, assisting Mike DeVries and I as a design associate and shaper in the construction of Seven Mile Beach Golf Course in Hobart.