Indian golf course architect Aashish Vaishnava has won Golf Course Designer of the Year at the World Golf Awards 2026. He is the first Indian golf course architect to win the global title. What is more, he shares the honour with his UK design partner, Jon Hunt, under the banner of their practice, AV IDG. The World Golf Awards announced the winners on 7 November 2026 at its 13th annual gala. This year, the ceremony took place at Madinaty Golf Club in Egypt.
A first for Indian golf course design
The World Golf Awards have named a Golf Course Designer of the Year every year since 2015. The list of past winners reads like a who’s who of the game. It includes Ernie Els, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman and Sir Nick Faldo, who won it in both 2016 and 2025. However, until this year, no Indian architect had been named.
For Vaishnava, the win is about more than a trophy. “For me, this is a moment to put Indian golf design in the international conversation,” he said. He added that he hopes it “encourages more young Indians to see golf as a profession in which they can contribute on the world stage.”
An India and UK partnership
AV IDG brings together Vaishnava’s practice in India and International Design Group (IDG), based in Bristol in the UK. The two have worked together for more than 20 years. Together, their work spans golf courses, golf resorts, luxury real estate masterplanning and landscape design. Fittingly, the partnership sums up the award with a simple line, “Designed Together. Honoured as One.”
Jon Hunt described the recognition as “a chance to celebrate what sustained collaboration between India and the UK can achieve.” He added that the partners share one ambition, to create “golf courses with character and a strong sense of place.”
More wins for India at the 2026 awards
Overall, it was a good year for Indian golf at the awards. Prestige Golfshire Club, a course the practice lists among its design work, won India’s Best Golf Course 2026. It has also won the title in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In addition, Al Dhannah Golf Club, another of the practice’s projects, won the Middle East’s Best 9 Hole Golf Course for 2026.
For travellers who love the game, it is also a reminder that some of the world’s most celebrated golf design now has an Indian name behind it.
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Images courtesy of AV IDG.
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