Wayne Doran, former chair of the PGA TOUR’s Golf Course Properties Advisory Board, passes at age 87

Wayne Doran, a former chair of the PGA TOUR’s Golf Course Properties Advisory Board, died February 10 in Dearborn, Michigan, his family confirmed. He was 87.

Doran joined the Board in August 1995 and became the organization’s chair in 2001, serving in that position until 2007 and remaining on the board until 2018. He actively helped oversee all the TOUR’s properties, including its network of TPC facilities.

“Wayne was someone who worked in construction and land acquisition his entire career, and he was ideally suited to serve on our Golf Course Properties Advisory Board,” said former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “He had such a sound business judgment, and after I became Commissioner, I significantly relied on Wayne and his expertise in many different areas of our business. He was a great friend to the TOUR and to me personally through the years. On behalf of the PGA TOUR, we send our sincere condolences to his family.”

Doran was born May 30, 1934, in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended and graduated from Arizona State University and did graduate studies at the University of Chicago.

After graduation, Doran began working for John F. Long Homes, Inc., a residential construction company located in Phoenix. After six years in that position, in 1963, he left to join Del E. Webb Corporation’s Community Development Division, also in Phoenix. During that time, he simultaneously served as President of the Phoenix Construction Information Committee. He moved to the Ford Motor Company in 1969, eventually becoming Chairman of the Board of Ford Motor Land Development Corporation in Dearborn, Michigan.

During his storied career at Ford, he was instrumental in securing the property for and the construction of TPC Michigan on a 2,400-acre plot of land adjacent to Ford’s headquarters. World Golf Hall of Fame member Jack Nicklaus designed the golf course, which opened in 1990.

“The building of the first Tournament Players Club golf course in Michigan should delight golf fans as well as players,” Doran said in announcing the club’s construction, starting in 1986. “Jack Nicklaus has pledged to design a course that not only will be a great place for watching the world’s top professional golfers compete in a major PGA TOUR event but also a course that will be an enjoyable and challenging place for both amateur and professional golfers to play.”

A year after its opening, TPC Michigan became the host site of a PGA TOUR Champions tournament, an event then known as the Ford SENIOR PLAYERS Championship (now the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship). In all, TPC Michigan hosted 16 PGA TOUR Champions tournaments.

In addition to his work on the Golf Course Properties Advisory Board, Doran was a Trustee at his alma mater and a Board Ambassador for Homes for Our Troops.

Doran is survived by his wife, Maureen, and three children: Roselle Brown, Susan Reisner (Joel) and Randy Doran (Lisa). He also has three grandchildren. His daughter Rhonda Doran and a grandson preceded him in death.

The family will hold a funeral February 17 at The Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn.