Club History

The Dye Preserve, although young in comparison to other golf clubs, nevertheless has a history. Joe Webster, the former Club president, and three partners bought the land in 1988. An existing golf course had fallen into disrepair, so Webster decided to call his old friend Pete Dye and ask him to design a new course. The architect agreed, bulldozed the old course and laid out a new one. A clubhouse was built, members signed up and Cypress Links, as the new club was called, opened its doors and ran successfully for more than a decade.

By 2001, however, the rapidly changing world of golf persuaded the owners that it was time to upgrade the golf course and the Club. Cypress Links was dissolved - the members had their financial stakes returned and the clubhouse was demolished. Pondering the next step, Webster picked up the telephone one day and called Pete Dye. "How would you like to rebuild that golf course of yours down here in Jupiter, Pete?"

"You know I love rebuilding my own golf courses, Joe," Dye said with a laugh. "That's what I call my estate play. I'lI use up all your money so that when I'm gone, you can't change a damn thing!"

Pete Dye and Joe Webster first met when Pete was building Harbor Town back in 1968. Over the years they continued to collaborate, building the first twenty-seven holes at Amelia Island, Long Cove Club, Cypress Links Golf Club and The Dye Preserve. The land in Jupiter, they knew, was special, but it would still be a mighty undertaking, physically and financially, for the golf course to fulfill its promise. What they had going for them was a mutual passion for building golf courses and a shared vision for the new venture. "We had this loose plan about Pete building a completely new Pete Dye golf course," Joe Webster recalled. "Then 9/11 happened and things were put on hold."

But not for long.

"We knew we had to tear the old golf course apart and rebuild it," he went on. "We shut it down on April 1, 2002. Acting as our own contractor, we rented the equipment and Pete's guys came pouring in from all over the country. It was exciting and scary! We worked 100-plus hour weeks through the summer and most weeks we paid out more in overtime than we did regular time."

Pete Dye always has worked to his own rhythm. "With Pete you get no plans," continued Joe Webster. "But he has a complete understanding of the golf course in his head, and he was here nearly every day building it by hand. When we opened six months after we had started, it was clear that he had built a remarkable golf course."