Arthur Hills
Signature Collection

Arthur Hills has designed so many golf courses in southeast Central Florida that he has been called "the Prince of Naples." Yet his demeanor is anything but royal. He is a quiet man who prefers to go about his work rather than to hype it. Born in 1930 in Toledo, Ohio, he played on the golf team at Michigan State University while earning a degree in Horticulture. After a stint as a landscape contractor, he received a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan with a thesis on golf course design. The path he took into the business was, in his own words, "pretty mysterious." He got his first taste of course design in 1966 when, following up on a friend's suggestion, he built nine new holes for the Orchard Hills CC in Bryan, Ohio. By then he had five children and was making a pretty good living, so he was reluctant to make a career shift. But while working as a landscaper, he put a listing in the phone book as "golf course architect" and the phone began to ring. It hasn't stopped since.