Born in Melbourne and surrounded in his youth by the famous Sandbelt courses of his hometown, Harley Kruse is a member of the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects and the only golf course architect to have worked for the design companies of Australia’s two greatest golfers, Peter Thomson and Greg Norman.
After completing Degrees in Landscape Architecture (RMIT) and Horticulture (University of Melbourne, Burnley), Harley began his career in the golf industry in 1989 with the firm Thomson, Wolveridge and Perrett (TWP), headed by 5 times British Open champion Peter Thomson. During his time with TWP Kruse was active in the Asia region, moving to China in 1997 to oversee the construction of two golf course projects including the Binhai Golf Club in Shanghai, where he was Project Manager / Lead Designer.
On return to Australia in 2000, Kruse was employed to work in the Sydney office of Greg Norman Golf Course Design, where he would spend ten years alongside company veteran Bob Harrison. Harley’s experience in Asia proved tremendously valuable to Greg Norman Golf Course Design, who engaged him as lead design on several highly acclaimed projects including The Norman Course at Mission Hills, Jade Palace in South Korea and Settlers Run Golf & Country Club in Australia. His most significant project, however, was his last for the Norman company – the impressive Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club in Vietnam.
In 2010 Harley Kruse left Greg Norman Golf Course Design and established a partnership with long-time collaborator Bob Harrison. Kruse resides in Sydney with his wife Patricia and son Mitch. He remains a member at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, likely to forever remain his favourite place in the world of golf.
“During his tenure with GNGCD, Harley’s dedication, knowledge, work ethic and level of professionalism made him an extremely valuable asset to our company. He proved to be very capable of representing GNGCD and we could confidently and consistently rely on his performance and ability to deliver in all areas of golf course design.”
Greg Norman