The #1 Name in Disc Golf Course Design
Meet The Team
HouckDesign's team brings over 150 years of combined experience in the business and sport of disc golf. We understand the importance of a good financial decision. The team is experienced in venues & event management, course management, creating greater sustainability on courses, mapping, projections for economic impact and tourism, project engagement, retail and wholesale operations, horticulture, and more. We have multiple team members who will be listed below soon.
John Houck
Premier Master Designer, Co-Founder
The most distinguished and experienced course designers in the disc sports industry, Master Designer, John Houck started playing disc sports around the age of 15 (1975) and has devoted his whole life to disc sports. John grew up playing golf as a small child with his father, and learned design concepts from golf and applied them to disc golf course design. He has worked exclusively in this industry continuously since the age of 18. He is known as a “living legend” for his contributions. He is an inventor of disc golf design concepts, creator of some of the largest disc golf events, a published writer, a public speaker, an MC of Freestyle Championships, the commentator of National Championships, creator of the PDGA Doubles Championships, tournament director of over 100 PDGA tournaments and owned two venues with multiple Championship disc golf courses. John is a member of the World Disc Golf Hall of Fame and the World Freestyle Frisbee Hall of Fame. He is a two-time world champion in Freestyle Frisbee. John has been focused on the quality of design, not quantity -- innovating with each new design and continues set the bar higher. His courses have ranked #1 in the world for over 12 years. He is an expert at showcasing the natural beauty of the land to create a superior playing experience. He has solo-designed over 135 and he continues to passionately design and consult regularly.
Dee Leekha-Houck
Co-Founder, Managing Director
Dee’s background includes almost 40 years of entrepreneurship with ventures in the insurance, commercial real estate investing, and the disc golf industry. She was introduced to the business of real estate investments and property management by her father as a teen-ager. Dee was inspired to create HouckDesign in 2007 with her husband, John Houck — the sports leading designer. She continues to devote herself to promoting the growth of disc golf through design innovation and carving out new business paths within the disc golf industry. She regularly shares her business and design knowledge with other designers through workshops and her industry-wide discussion and educational group: 3 Disc Golf — safer, smarter, and more sustainable disc golf. She is available for disc golf consulting for course designs, business models for venues, design reviews, and planning & developing disc golf projects with public and private sector clients worldwide. She created the concept of Micro disc golf courses in 2017 and is also the Founder of M Disc Golf, LLC, a company focused on the design and development of recreational and tournament disc golf courses offered by designers who use HouckDesign principles and concepts. Dee has designed and/or co-designed over 10 courses. She has worked with John and given input on every HouckDesign course design for more than a decade.
Dee is also the host and creator of the annual disc golf course design conference.
Adam Harris
Master Designer
Adam is the designer of a Top 40 rated course in the world every year since 2017. That course rated as high as 23rd in the world at one point on UDisc.com. Adam achieved the title of “Master Disc Golf Course Designer” in August 2021 (only the 12th Master Designer in the world). Adam has also been working as a Commercial Property loss consultant as a Project Manager and a Senior Project Manager on large losses for multiple insurance companies for over a decade. He is an expert at identifying and understanding “risk”. Adam has directed over 100 disc golf tournaments and designed 12 courses in 3 states and has consulted on another 5 in 4 different states. Adam has played on 125 golf courses in 22 states and he has played on 400 disc golf courses During the last 15 years Adam has traveled much in the USA for playing in tournaments, for insurance work, and for hosting tournaments. He brings a solid background in golf and has a wealth of knowledge on what features, amenities, and course layout options that could be used on courses. He looks forward to seeing you at his personal disc golf venue, Harris Hillside, in NY, where he continues to build his destination dream disc golf course and venue.
Ric Evans
Designer
Ric was the first designer to join our team in 2022 He has been a huge fan of flying discs since he was a kid in the ’70’s, which eventually led him to designing and building Northern Michigan’s first disc golf course at Timberlee Resort way back in 1996. He’s designed and built several other courses around Northern Michigan since then, as well as helping start several clubs, and hosted countless league nights, work-bee’s and tournaments. He went Pro in 1996 ~ #12633 ~ and never looked back. While he absolutely loves playing disc golf, his passion for perfecting a fairway or tweaking a green is as apparent as his love for teaching folks how to play or improve their game. Ric enjoys working on expanding Odyssey Farm with his wife Jenn, playing music, and growing the great game of disc golf in as many ways as he can.
Mike Harrington
Designer
Mike’s background includes a Horticulture Degree and 25 years of property management, starting off as a landscape laborer, turf management at a few golf courses, as an entrepreneur in the lawn/landscape industry and then the past 6 years Mike has focused on growing his disc golf businesses which includes disc golf leagues and tournaments, a retail disc golf store, an online store, and disc golf course design. Over the past 14 years since Mike discovered disc golf, he has travelled to 39 states playing more courses than over 99%+ of disc golfers in the world. He has played over to 1,300 courses. Through his passion for disc golf and his background in turf management and landscape design/management, Mike brings his expertise to our team. Mike envisions a world where everyone knows what disc golf is, and disc golf is available to all ages and people of different demographic backgrounds. Mike wishes everyone can experience the joy disc golf has brought to him and so many others.
Paul Wright
Designer
Paul is a six-time PDGA Disc Golf Amateur World Champion including four years as a PDGA Amateur Doubles World Champion and two years as a PDGA Amateur World Champion in the MA50 and MA60 division. Paul loves the sport, and its many health benefits. Paul worked with John on a project in Monroe, WA in 2013-2014 and has since designed 10+ courses including some internationally. Paul was also a firefighter for 28 years in Kent, WA and served as the Battalion Chief 16 of those years. Paul is involved with the sport of disc golf in multiple ways including serving on the PDGA Senior Committee and volunteering with the Paul McBeth Foundation. He continues to play in tournaments, leagues and enjoys promoting the sport to others. Paul says he has seen disc golf enhance the lives of people around him including many seniors. He states, "it is an honor to be a part of sharing our sport."
Finlay Buchanan-Jacobs
Designer
Finlay has been in disc golf for 10 years, and he has been playing in DGPT tournaments since 2016. He has played in 32 states and has played over 300 courses. He was lucky enough to discover the sport of disc golf when he was still in elementary school. He quickly fell in love with the sport, dedicating himself to both improving his disc golf game, and the quality of his local courses. What began as side hobby quickly became a huge part of his life. After spending countless hours refining his game, Finlay set his eyes on becoming a touring professional. Despite finding some success playing professionally for most of the last decade, Finlay came to the realization that course design must improve if the sport is to reach its full growth potential. After over a decade of learning and volunteering alongside some of our games best mentors, Finlay decided to take the next step in his disc golf journey. He has designed 2 courses and worked on 6 others. With a unique combination of competition experience and course design knowledge, Finlay’s background will provide an opportunity for Finlay to contribute in the goal of designing in a way that’s safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Finlay looks forward to completing a par 72 design on his property in NY where he plans to host tournaments and create a disc golf destination like no other.