Floyd Farley

Golf Course Architect

2006

Floyd Farley is the first person to enter the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame in the category of Golf Course Architect. A Past President and Fellow of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, Farley was Kansas’ best known and most prolific golf course architect. He passed away in 2005 at the age of 98 has left an indelible mark on the game of golf in Kansas.

Farley designed or remodeled more than 100 golf courses in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, and New Mexico, far more than any other architect in the area. He studied under two Kansas legends, Harry Robb and James Daigleish, who were the foremost pioneers of golf architecture in the state. He was also an accomplished golfer: Floyd was a teammate of Kansas Hall of Famer Jug McSpaden on the Rosedale High School team of 1925 that was renowned as one of the great high school teams of all time. Farley also played the pro circuit but by 1947 was devoting all his time to golf course architecture.

According to Architects of Golf by Topekan Ron Whitten and architect Geoffrey Cornish of Massachusetts, Farley designed or redesigned 15 Kansas courses: Milburn Country Club, Rolling Hills Country Club, Clay Center Country Club, Hidden Lakes Golf Course, Lake Forest Golf Course, Leroy Ring Private Course (Newton), McConnell Air Force Base Course (now Twin Lakes), Overland Park Municipal Golf Course, Salina Municipal, Crestwood Country Club, Four Oaks Golf Course, Indian Hills Country Club, Kansas City Country Club, Lake Quivira Country Club, and Mission Hills Country Club.

Mr. Farley passed away at the age of 98 in October 2005.