Pioneer Information
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Packard began working on golf-course design as a teenager, serving as a draftsman for his father, golf architect Edward Lawrence Packard. The younger Packard earned a degree in landscape architecture from Colorado State University in 1969, thereafter joining his father’s design firm, Packard, Inc., in Hinsdale, Illinois. Among his first projects were two golf courses (completed by 1972) at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. He was the lead designer on many other projects, including the public courses at Chaska in Appleton, Wisconsin; Sunflower Hills in Bonner Springs, Kansas; Eagle Ridge Resort (North and South courses) in Galena, Illinois; Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas; Cyprus Run Golf Club in Tarpon Springs, Florida; and Timber Ridge in Minocqua, Wisconsin. Packard’s designs were noted for their panache; the course he developed for the Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois, for example, featured a bunker in the shape of comic-book hero Dick Tracey. In 1988 Packard formed the design firm Packard & North with designer and two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North. The firm’s work included Trappers Turn Golf Club in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and, notably, the course called ‘The General’ (opened in 1997) at Eagle Ridge Resort. The firm was, however, dissolved by the end of the 1990s. In the wake of financial difficulties and in search of work, Packard resided outside the United States for the last many years of his life, finally living in Shanghai, China. Among his designs in Asia is the 54-hole course at the Empark Grand Hotel in Tengchong County, China. Several of Packard's golf courses have been recognized as superlative, including the course at the Cantigny Golf Club, which was named the Best New Public Course (and one of the top 25 public courses in the nation) by Golf Digest. He died of esophageal cancer in a Palm Harbor hospice at the age of 70.