Change of course: Tom Fazio might be North Carolina's most esteemed course designer, but even he had to adjust to life after the recession.

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Tom Fazio has designed roughly 200 golf courses--18 in North Carolina--during his nearly 50 years as an architect, including almost a fifth of those listed on Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Courses for 2011-12. Still Fazio Golf Course Designers Inc., which has eight employees at its office in Hendersonville, where he lives, and five more at its headquaters in Jupiter, Fla., wasn't immune to the economic downturn. Once committed almost exclusively to working on courses in the U.S., he's had to traverse the globe to find gigs. He talks to Business North Carolina Senior Editor Spencer Campbell about the change, the state of the Tar Heel golf industry and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

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How did you, a native of the Philadelphia area, come to live in western North Carolina?

No other reason than my wife said we were going to live there. In 1981, when I was planning Wade Hampton Golf Club in Cashiers and my family was living in Florida, we decided to buy a summer home in Hendersonville. After a couple of summers, my wife, who had just had her sixth child, decided that she wanted to live in western North Carolina full time.

Why do you think your courses are so well-received?

I don't know. I ask people why, and the common answer seems to be that they're fun. I agree, but I'd rather have someone else say it.

But every designer has a distinctive style, such as Donald Ross and his turtle-back greens. What's yours?

I don't agree with that at all. I purposely don't have a style. If you look at Forest Creek, Pinehurst Nos. 4, 6 and 8, all designed by me, they're completely different. I do want people to have a good time. If someone asked me to build the most difficult course in North Carolina, the first thing I'd do is try and talk them out of it. The second thing I would do is pass.

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What's distinctive about golf in North Carolina?

The environment. From the Outer Banks to the mountains and the Sandhills to the rolling hills of our Virginia border, there's so much variety, uniqueness and beauty.

The courses may be great, but the shape of the industry isn't.

What's going on here parallels what's going on nationally. There was such a boom in the 1990s and early 2000s, so we have an oversupply of golf courses. It's certainly not good for people in the industry but I'm a positive person. At least it's good for the consumer because prices are down.

How have you adapted?

The work now is offshore in...