Labor of love.

• Position: SPECIAL SECTION - Interview

Davis Love III was born in Charlotte the day after the 1964 Masters Tournament. His father, Davis Love Jr., was head professional at Charlotte Country Club. The family soon moved to Georgia. Love was a three-time All-American at UNC Chapel Hill and the Atlantic Coast Conference individual champion in 1984. He turned pro the following year and has won 20 PGA Tour events, earning more than $37 million. In 1994, he and brother Mark founded Love Golf Design, based in St. Simons Island, Ga. Now living in Sea Island, Ga., he recently discussed the company, his game and the PGA Tour.

Love Golf Design has been praised for The Club at Irish Creek, on the site of the former Kannapolis Country Club. Are you surprised at the buzz?

No. It's a special piece of property. The first time Mark and I saw it, we just loved it. I'm an old-style-golf-course kind of guy, and it had rolling hills and that lake. It was a little like Forest Oaks [Country Club in Greensboro] in that the club wanted it modernized but kept to where the members could enjoy it. We had to abandon a few original holes, but that provided us the opportunity to create new holes. And any hole looking across the lake was going to be pretty dang good.

Is the design company more of a hobby?

For Mark, it's more of a business because he has to be responsible for it. For me, it's one of the things that I enjoy doing away from the golf course. Building golf courses was something we talked about as kids. When he was caddying for me, we'd talk about what we liked and didn't like on the courses we'd play.

What is the company's goal?

To build courses that the members will enjoy. We're not really building to see how hard or how long a course we can make or to worry about the course rating and the slope. Honestly, I don't even understand slope. Sometimes we'll get a call, and they'll say, "We want a Davis Love III golf course, but here's what we want it to look like." If we hear those words, we're not interested. But Mr. [David] Murdock and on down at Irish Creek, those guys said just the opposite--that we want a Davis Love III golf course because we like what you guys do. That's what we want to hear.

Which of the 15 courses the company has completed stand out?

It's a lot like winning a tournament in that your first one is great, but the others all have special meaning, too. Fripp Island is where Love Golf Design came together. It was our first course, and while it was built on a small piece of property...