Stanley Thompson (September 18, 1893 – January 4, 1953) was a Canadian golf course architect, and a high-standard amateur golfer.
[1] Stanley Thompson studied at Malvern Collegiate Institute from 1908 to 1911, played on its rugby team in 1911, and graduated.
[4] During periods of leave from his military service, and after the war ended, Thompson visited and played many of the top courses in the British Isles.
In the 1920s there was a rapid expansion of golf in North America, and new courses were needed to accommodate the millions of new players, so Thompson and his peers were kept very busy.
Thompson designed courses from 1912 to 1952, mostly in Canada, with a philosophy of preserving the natural lay and flow of the land.
Thompson also hired Norman H. Woods and Robert Moote while they were young graduates; each became a significant golf course architect.
In 1948, Thompson was a co-founder, with Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones, of the American Society of Golf Course Architects,.
[13] Nicol, William, Frank and Mathew each assisted Stanley at various times with his course design work and construction.
In 2000, golf historian James A. Barclay wrote a biography of Thompson entitled The Toronto Terror.
The Canadian golf magazine SCORE ranks, on a biennial basis, Canada's top courses.