Jay Blasi
Golf-Course Mastermind
Jay Blasi BS2000 has been fascinated by golf for as long as he can remember. Even as a toddler, he played on the putting green that his father built in the family’s backyard.
As a teen, Blasi told the local newspaper that his goal was “to design a course that will play host to the U.S. Open.” And his dream came true when Chambers Bay, a Washington golf course that he helped design, was chosen for the 2015 U.S. Open, making Blasi one of the youngest contributing golf architects ever to design a U.S. Open course.
The site for the course was a former sand and gravel mine on the shores of Puget Sound. Since it opened in 2007, Chambers Bay has raked in accolades, including being named by LINKS magazine as the number one municipal course and the number two most eco-friendly course in America.
Blasi was a 2015 winner of the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Forward under 40 award, which honors young alumni for significant achievement. He credits the University of Wisconsin for bringing his family together — he’s a fourth-generation Badger, and both his grandparents and parents met on campus — and for jump-starting his career. He worked at University Ridge during high school, and during college he designed a hypothetical second course there as part of an independent-study project with Professor James LaGro, Jr. After graduation, Blasi landed his dream job at Robert Trent Jones II, a world-renowned golf design firm where he worked on Chambers Bay, University Ridge, and numerous other projects.
Blasi started his own firm in 2012. Since then, he’s been busy with projects in California, Wisconsin, and Illinois, including a major renovation of SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. His complete redesign of Santa Ana Country Club in Orange County, California, will reduce the club’s water use by 30 to 40 percent.
“In the years to come, I hope to make a positive impact on the game of golf, the environment, and the lives of others by designing timeless courses that capture the hearts and souls of all those who visit them,” he says. “And I will do so wearing Badger red.”