Ed Ault: The Architect Who Built Washington's Golf Scene

From Pepco Engineer to Golf Course Architect

Ed Ault spent more than two decades working for Pepco, Washington's electric utility, before he ever drew a golf hole for money. That engineering background ended up being central to everything he built. Born in 1908 in Washington, D.C., Ault was a scratch golfer who qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Baltusrol and won his club championship multiple times. By his mid-40s, local clubs had started calling him for advice on drainage problems, bunker placements, and course improvements. He retired from Pepco in 1958 and enclosed a porch on his house to serve as his first office, with his wife as his secretary.

That modest start produced one of the most productive careers in American golf course architecture. Ault is estimated to have designed or remodeled roughly a quarter of all the courses in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C. His firm ultimately completed more than 150 original designs across 19 states.

The Design Philosophy: Drainage Above All

Ault's engineering instincts shaped his philosophy in ways that separated him from more ornamental designers of his era. His son Brian once recalled that Ed said if he ever wrote a book, "the first three chapters would be on drainage, drainage and drainage." That priority ran through every project. Ault favored large greens, minimal bunkering, and natural site drainage. He avoided decorative elements he considered unnecessary expenses, designing courses that could be built economically and maintained without constant intervention.

He was also a pioneer in the systematic coordination of pin placements with tee marker positions, an early form of course management thinking that golfers take for granted today. His goal was a layout that challenged the skilled player who tried to take on too much while giving the higher handicapper a navigable path around the course.

Building the Mid-Atlantic's Golf Infrastructure

Ault's most active period ran through the 1960s and into the 1970s, when the post-war golf boom created enormous demand for new courses. He was well-positioned: based in the D.C. area, connected through his roles as president of the District of Columbia Golf Association and his service on the USGA Green Section, and already known to the region's clubs and developers.

The courses came quickly. Crofton Country Club in Anne Arundel County opened in 1964 and stretches to more than 7,100 yards. Bretton Woods Golf Course in Bethesda followed in 1969, running just under 7,000 yards. The West Course at Baltimore Country Club, completed in 1962, remains one of his best-regarded private works in the state.

Ault's reach extended well beyond Maryland. Toftrees Resort in State College, Pennsylvania opened in 1968 and became one of his most recognized projects in the region. Quail Brook Golf Course in Somerset, New Jersey opened in 1970. He built courses in Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arkansas, among others. Las Vegas Country Club, designed in 1965, still operates as one of the city's long-standing private clubs.

Some of his designs put up significant yardage numbers. Christmas Lake Golf Course in Santa Claus, Indiana measures 7,275 yards from the tips. Brighton Dale Links in Kansasville, Wisconsin stretches to 7,024 yards with a slope of 132.

TPC Avenel and a Firm That Kept Growing

The project that perhaps brought Ault the most national visibility was TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Bethesda, Maryland, which hosted PGA Tour events for more than two decades. It became one of the most prominent public-facing products of the Ault design lineage.

Ault brought Tom Clark into the business in 1971, fresh from earning his landscape architecture degree at Penn State. His son Brian joined two years later. In 1986, the three formally restructured as Ault, Clark & Associates. Ault achieved Fellow status in the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1984, having joined in 1973 and chaired its Design Standards Committee.

He died in 1989. The firm he built continued under Clark and Brian Ault, eventually completing work in more than 40 states and more than a dozen foreign countries. Tom Clark alone has designed more than 125 courses. That output traces back to the wave Ault caught in the 1960s and the operational and design principles he established from the beginning.

94 Courses on Stymie

Stymie has 94 Ed Ault courses catalogued across 16 states, from Maryland and Virginia to Arkansas and Nevada, spanning work from the early 1960s through the late 1990s. For golfers in the Mid-Atlantic, there is a real chance that the local muni or the old country club down the road carries an Ault connection, whether a full original design or one of his many course renovations.

View all courses by Ed Ault on Stymie