A half-century of
shaping the land
Since 1974, Roy Bechtol and Planned Environments Inc. have planned, designed, and reworked some of the most admired golf courses and communities in Texas and beyond.
Roy Bechtol
Roy Bechtol founded Planned Environments Inc. in 1974 and has been a trendsetter in golf course architecture and land planning ever since — staying on the cutting edge of designing, planning, and reworking courses across five decades.
His work spans championship resort layouts, residential and master-planned communities, and the short-game and practice facilities that have become signatures of the modern game. Across every commission, the method is the same: read the land first, and let its topography, ecology, and character lead the design.
Roy has collaborated with many of the most decorated names in the field — Pete Dye, Tom Weiskopf, Tom Fazio, Tom Kite, Jay Morrish, and Jordan Spieth among them — bringing the firm's planning discipline to courses that have set the standard for the regions they serve.
A division winner of the 2016 United States Senior Long Driving Championship, Roy brings a player's instinct to the drawing board. As the firm likes to put it: the long and the short of it — Bechtol can do it for you.
Work With RoyFive decades, one through-line
Planned Environments Inc. is founded
Roy Bechtol establishes the firm in Austin, Texas, with a land-first philosophy that still defines its work today.
Collaboration with Pete Dye
Work at Austin Country Club alongside one of the most influential architects in the history of the game.
Collaboration with Tom Weiskopf
La Cantera Resort Course, San Antonio — the celebrated Weiskopf & Morrish resort layout.
Tom Fazio & Jay Morrish era
Multiple collaborations including Barton Creek's Foothills and Canyons, Vaquero, Escondido, and Grey Rock.
Partnership with Tom Kite
Course work with the Hall-of-Fame Austin native — including Gaillardia Country Club & Comanche Trace.
U.S. Senior Long Driving Championship
Roy wins his division — proof that a designer's instincts and a player's power can live in the same hands.
Collaboration with Jordan Spieth
Spieth's Lower Forty at the UT Golf Club, Austin — a modern short course built with a generational talent.
From Dreams to Reality
The firm continues to plan communities, courses, and landscapes across Texas — still site-specific, still imagination-led.
Have a site with
untapped potential?
Whether it's a championship course, a master-planned community, or a single signature landscape, it starts with a conversation about your land.