Tournament Players Design

The Cornerstone TPD Design Team

An exceptionally innovative and experienced Tournament Players Design (TPD) business and design team has evolved, tested by the refiner's fire. The creative spirit of TPD was initiated and energized by Brent Turley and Johnny Miller. The team efforts are led by TPD President, Brent Turley, with the assistance of Fred Bliss, Director of Golf Course Design Services. These professionals each have more than thirty years experience in golf course design and development.

Brent Turley
President, Director and General Counsel

A native of El Paso, Texas, Brent Turley completed his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University in 1965. In 1968, he earned the Juris Doctor Degree at U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. From his initial law firm experience, Turley later joined a professional athlete management firm as General Counsel, Director, Executive Vice-President and then President where the creative mix of his legal, business and client relationship talents flourished.

In 1976, Turley established his own law firm specializing in the representation of professional athletes, business negotiations, real estate and international transactions for major international companies. During his representation of Johnny Miller since 1969, Turley has also represented a host of other golf professionals including Sam Snead, Billy Casper, Seve Ballesteros, Craig Stadler, Mike Reid and Eduardo Herrera.

As President, Director and General Counsel with Johnny Miller Design and then concurrently & subsequently with Tournament Players Design (TPD), Turley was and is responsible for all business facets of these design companies. Those responsibilities included business strategy and implementation of the companies' business plans in a fiscally and morally responsible manner with his personal and professional commitment to the ideal that "relationships are the bottom line."

Fred Bliss, ASGCA
Vice President and Director of Golf Course Design Services

A native of the Midwest, Fred Bliss earned his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Degree at Kansas State University in 1969. Over the next few years, he served in several landscape architecture and recreation planning capacities before joining the GolfPlan-Ronald Fream Design Group in 1979 and later becoming Vice President and Director of Design.

In 1989, Bliss formed his own golf course design company, (Bliss Golf Design). Since 1990, he has been associated with Johnny Miller Design (JMD), first as a design associate and then as the Director of Golf Course Design Services for JMD; and now as Vice President and Director of Golf Course Design Services with Tournament Players Design.

Thoroughly versed in the technical aspects of the design, development and construction of golf courses, Bliss takes a decidedly "hands-on" approach. The collective impact of his training as a graduate landscape architect; his practical experience; public acknowledgment of his professionalism as a Member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA); and his deep Midwestern values - all underscore his key value to Tournament Players Design and its continued success.

Johnny Miller, Featured TPD Golf Course Designer

There are three distinct phases in the career of Johnny Miller. First as a brilliant young professional golfer in the mid 70's, winning both the U.S. and British Opens. Then as a more mature player in the 80's and early 90's, closing his PGA TOUR career with a magical victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National ProAm in '94. And finally, Johnny Miller the TV golf commentator, golf course designer, columnist and author whose insights into the game have consistently earned him rave reviews, including numerous Emmy nominations.

Since he began playing the game as a child in San Francisco, Miller has worked to convert a creative interest in golf course design into the realization of a business devoted to that effort. Johnny Miller Design (JMD), founded in 1984 by Johnny Miller and Brent Turley, featured an outstanding business and design team that has evolved into the current Tournament Player Design (TPD) team. JMD and TPD affiliated courses around the world are the creative result of this partnership and team effort - bringing great enjoyment to legions of golfers.

Elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1996, Johnny Miller's career has always been centered around the game of golf. He has demonstrated a great desire to make even more significant contributions to the world of golf with a legacy in the design of golf courses throughout the world.