Brian Silva and Brian Johnson form new design partnership

Golf course architect Brian Silva has partnered with long-time colleague Brian Johnson to form a new design firm, Silva & Johnson.

“More than 40 years ago, Geoffrey Cornish – who got his start as an agronomist working for Stanley Thompson in the 1930s – extended to me the same sort of partnership opportunity,” said Silva. “I’ve worked alongside Brian Johnson for 25 years now. He’s as good a strategist as there is working today, but I might not have recommended this move 10 or 15 years ago. There wasn’t enough work out there.

“Today there is. This move means Brian, who brings so much to the table, can really spread his wings – and we can accept commissions that previously did not make sense, not for a lone ranger with grandkids. I’m excited to pass the torch while there’s still time to work together in earnest.”

The pair have three renovations that will dominate their 2026 calendar. The first is San Antonio Country Club, originally designed by Alex Findlay, revamped by AW Tillinghast in the 1930s and where Silva has overseen updates since 2005. The new partners are already working on at Old Westbury G&CC on Long Island, renovating the 18 holes from William Mitchell and the nine by Gil Hanse. In spring 2026, Silva and Johnson will begin a ‘transformation’ of The Boca Raton club on the east coast of Florida, where Donald Ross and William Flynn have both worked.

Johnson has been working with Silva since 2009, providing hole strategies, AutoCad plan production, grading and drainage development, turf specifications and detailed hole renderings used in the masterplanning process. He has worked closely with Silva in developing the masterplans for San Antonio CC and Old Westbury.

“Brian has been a such a generous mentor to me through the years,” said Johnson. “He and his partners gave me my first job in the design business, but the last 15 years have been different. It’s been a privilege and education to see how he has planned and executed the renovation work at places like Seth Raynor’s Country Club of Charleston, the Ross courses at Interlachen and Brookside in Canton, Ohio, and original designs like The Renaissance Club and Great Horse in Massachusetts.

“To be out front a bit more, as a lead designer and partner, is pretty much a dream come true.”

The pair worked on a redesign at Metairie in Louisiana. Pictured, the reimagined Lion’s Mouth eleventh hole (Photo: Larry Lambrecht)

In 2009, Johnson helped to build Sand Hill Farm, a nine-hole club in Texas. In autumn 2026, he will lead a three-hole expansion alongside Rex VanHoose, a former colleague at Jacobsen Hardy.

“Sand Hill Farm has been an incredible experience for me, and my company will continue to head up the operation there,” said Johnson, who also serves as the facility’s general manager, golf professional and course superintendent. “There’s a special understanding that develops when a course architect is also the guy taking care of the finished product. Add another layer of learning and nuance when it comes to working that maintenance bottom line into an overall facility-operations budget.

“It’s been a full-spectrum learning experience at Sand Hill Farm – a sort of big-picture perspective that, going forward, Silva & Johnson will be able to share with all our design clients… and everything else I learned from Brian Silva.”

Silva said: “I’ve gotta be honest: Brian Johnson's skills made many of my projects what they came to be – in a back-office respect, but also strategically. Back when The Renaissance Club was being planned, I shared my routing and hole strategies with my colleagues at Cornish, Silva & Mungeam, partners and associates. That’s just something we did; always good to get another set of eyes… well, that was 20 years ago. Brian was just a kid, but he got back to me with some stuff that knocked my socks off. Superb. A half-dozen of those holes are his work.

“He’s far more resourceful and experienced today, naturally. He’s more than ready, and I’ve got a few good years left in me. We can’t wait to get started.”