JMP Golf Design Group

JMP Golf Design Group is an American practice that works in golf course architecture and nothing else. Its website gives 1985 as the founding year, and the firm works today from two offices: Belmont, California on the West Coast and Chapel Hill, North Carolina on the East Coast. J. Michael Poellot, the founder whose initials give the firm its name, took a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture at Iowa State University in 1966, served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, and was a vice president at Robert Trent Jones II Group, the office of Robert Trent Jones Jr., from 1972 to 1980. According to his profile at the ASGCA (American Society of Golf Course Architects), Poellot led his own practice from 1980 to 2001 and designed and supervised more than 200 projects in the United States, Mexico, Central and South America and across Asia. He was elected a Fellow of the society in 2013.

The man who carried the firm into Southeast Asia is Bob Moore, one of its two current principals. Moore graduated from Wake Forest University in 1979 and took a master’s degree in landscape architecture at North Carolina State University in 1983. After a spell at Jerry Turner & Associates he joined JMP in 1990 and became a principal in 1994. In 1999 he moved to North Carolina and opened the East Coast office. His work in Asia includes Mount Malarayat Golf Club and the renovation of Manila Golf Club in the Philippines, The Rajpruek Club in Thailand, and Bukit Pelangi Country Club, Royale Jakarta Golf Club and the renovation of Senayan National Golf Club in Indonesia. JMP is now run by Moore and Brian Costello as partners, and the firm’s website notes that between them they have more than 65 years of design experience.

The project list on JMP’s website shows just how much of its work is in Asia: 19 courses in China, 15 in Japan, five in South Korea and eight in Indonesia, with Lake Wood Country Club (1993), The Rajpruek Club (1994) and Sai Golf Club (2022) in Thailand. Among them, Bukit Pandawa Golf & Country Club in Bali is a par-54 layout on which all 18 holes are par 3s, and it was named World’s Best Par-3 Course at the 2017 World Golf Awards. Senayan National Golf Club in central Jakarta reopened in December 2012 after a full renovation begun in 2011.

Nine of the courses listed on GoGolf are credited to JMP or to Poellot personally. Seven of them can be booked through GoGolf, spread across Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung and Bali in Indonesia and Samut Prakan province in Thailand. Araya Golf and Family Club in Malang dates from after Poellot had left JMP; the club’s own website credits the design to J. Michael Poellot.

JMP courses you can book on GoGolf

• Senayan Golf Club (Jakarta, Indonesia) — a full renovation by Bob Moore, begun in 2011 and reopened in December 2012
• Rainbow Hills Golf Club (Bogor, Indonesia) — a hillside course that appears in JMP’s project list under 1995 as Bukit Pelangi (Rainbow Hills)
• Royale Jakarta Golf Club (Jakarta, Indonesia) — designed by Moore; listed by JMP under 2008
• Parahyangan Golf Bandung (Bandung, Indonesia) — a highland course designed by Moore, held in the arms of the mountains
• Lakewood Country Club (Samut Prakan, Thailand) — the 27 holes of the Lake, Wood and Rock nines, designed by Poellot
• Bukit Pandawa Golf & Country Club (Bali, Indonesia) — all 18 holes are par 3s. Named the world’s best par-3 course at the 2017 World Golf Awards
• Suvarna Jakarta Golf Club (Jakarta, Indonesia) — 27 holes designed by Moore, described as an Indonesian take on links golf

Courses listed for information only

The following two courses are not currently open for booking through GoGolf. They appear on the site as information pages only.

• Padivalley Golf Club (Makassar, Indonesia) — designed by Moore; listed by JMP under 2010
• Araya Golf and Family Club (Malang, Indonesia) — the club’s website credits the design to Poellot. Two nines, Lake and Hill

Tee times and rates for a given day can be checked on each course page or in the GoGolf app.

See the other golf course architects here.