A Golfer, By Design

Meet Olivia Herrick: graphic designer, mother of two and successful competitive golfer.

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Never far from the competitive golf scene, even considering the demands on her time and attention after motherhood and running a successful design business, Olivia Herrick found herself five shots out of the lead after the first round of the 2021 Minnesota Women’s Open championship. Had the 30-something golfer with 16 individual state golf championships to her credit—including two state Amateurs and two Opens—faded over the final 18 holes, would anyone claim surprise?  

Instead, Herrick, 36, of Hugo, and a member of the MGA board of directors, carded the low-round for the day (73) and finished tied for third, just three shots back of the leader. It seemed she was making a statement. 

As a youngster, she would tag along with her dad, Tom Lansing, to play golf, and soon became hooked. Herrick developed her talent, earning a spot on the varsity roster as a 7th grader, ultimately becoming the first Mounds Park Academy student-athlete to earn an NCAA DI scholarship. 

Herrick picked Drake University as much for the Des Moines campus’ proximity to home as for its arts and design school, which she felt would complement her dual focus on competitive golf and academics. She would win nine times in college, including the 2009 Hawkeye Invitational; be named the Missouri Conference Player of the Year twice; and be selected for the National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team two years in a row. In 2010, she was Drake’s female Athlete of the Year. 

As a teen, mightily influenced by her mother, Karen—an art director who brought an amazing creative energy into their home—Herrick realized, “My dream was to become a graphic designer.” She got the design bug and would frequently mockup logos for local brick-and-mortar establishments seen during her daily travels. 

After graduation, Herrick pursued a design career and ultimately ran her own design studio, Olivia Herrick Design, for more than a decade. She also authored two children’s books, “Good Morning World, I Love You So,” and “Good Night World, I Love You So,” and has amassed an Instagram following of 227,000. 
  
A few of her logo designs include The Lido, a recreation of a C.B. Macdonald course at Sand Valley; the Sandbox, also at Sand Valley; Shorty’s, the par-3 course and newest addition at Bandon Dunes; Rodeo Dunes; and Sedge Valley, in addition to many more golf courses around the world.  

Herrick credits another local golfer and graphic designer, Brenda Williams, as an important mentor and influence: “I’ve known Brenda for nearly 20 years and she has always been so open about her business, and how golf and design can intersect. She has encouraged me from day one.” 

Herrick was recently named the creative director for Dream Golf, a growing collection of destination golf courses and properties owned by the Keiser family. According to a New York Times profile, company founder Mike Keiser, after selling a highly successful greeting card business in 2005 (remember Sandra Boynton’s whimsical animal-themed greeting cards?), followed a hunch that domestic golfers would embrace Scottish links-style golf if he created the experience in America. Keiser launched Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast in 1999 with its namesake course designed by David McLay Kidd—and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Keiser’s sons, Michael and Chris, opened Sand Valley in 2017 with the namesake course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (the Kidd-designed Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley followed in 2018), and they are working on two new destinations: a Coore and Crenshaw golf design outside of Denver on Colorado’s eastern flank, named Rodeo Dunes, and Wild Spring Dunes in East Texas.
 
 As creative director, Herrick will lend her design and branding talent to the resort marketing teams at Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley, and work with Dream Golf to build new destinations from the ground up—including everything from logo and web design to signage, marketing and crafting what she calls “the lived brand experience.”  

“Each destination has a really unique feel, but I was surprised by the magic and the spirit of the eastern plains,” Herrick says, referring to the Keisers’ newest destination, Rodeo Dunes, located on a stunning property with towering dunes about 35 minutes from Denver International Airport. 

According to Links magazine, Rodeo Dunes will feature a second 18-hole course by Coore and Crenshaw associate Jimmy Craig, with plans for a short course and a Himalayas-style putting course. It is set to open in 2026. 

Herrick, who is in the process of winding down her design business, says, “It’s the end of an era, but I could not be more excited about this opportunity [with Dream Golf]—I can’t wait to start.” 

With all that is going on in Herrick’s life, she still finds the time and discipline for competitive golf. 

True to form, Herrick won the MGA Women’s Mid-Amateur for the fourth time Aug. 28 at the Chaska Town Course. Just days later, after qualifying for match play at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, she earned enough player points to secure her 7th MGA Women’s Player of the Year award.
  
“I truly believe that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” Herrick says. Whether it’s in the pursuit of her next championship or a creative brainstorm, who is surprised?