November 11: Aashish Vaishnava and Jon Hunt have won Golf Course Designer of the Year at the World Golf Awards 2026, with the organiser’s official results naming the India–UK partnership as “Aashish Vaishnava & Jon Hunt – AV IDG”. The recognition is a joint designer award, rather than an individual title awarded to Vaishnava alone.
Key highlights
- The World Golf Awards website confirms Vaishnava and Hunt as the joint winners in its 2026 designer category.
- The organiser scheduled its 13th annual gala for November 7 at Madinaty Golf Club in Egypt.
- AV IDG’s press release describes the win as a first for an individually named Indian golf course architect; that historical claim is attributed to the partnership.
- The awards use registered public and industry voting, with industry votes carrying twice the weight of public votes.
What the official result confirms
The published category page identifies both architects and AV IDG. It supports reporting the award as a shared success for the partnership. It does not identify a single winning course, publish a vote total or provide an individual score for either designer.
The organiser’s event page places the November 7 ceremony at Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt. Its programme listed a gala dinner and awards ceremony after a two-day golfing itinerary. The event’s location should not be confused with the location of a course designed by the winning partnership.
At a glance
| Point | Confirmed information |
|---|---|
| Award | Golf Course Designer of the Year 2026 |
| Listed winner | Aashish Vaishnava & Jon Hunt – AV IDG |
| Programme | World Golf Awards |
| Ceremony venue and date | Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt; November 7, 2026 |
| Selection framework | Registered public and industry voting under the organiser’s rules |
The India–UK design partnership
In a press release dated November 9 and supplied to The Press of Asia by AV Golf Design PR, the partnership says AV IDG brings together Indian and British design experience across golf design, masterplanning, architecture and landscape consultancy. The release describes a working relationship of more than two decades.
Vaishnava said in the supplied statement that he hoped the recognition would encourage young Indians to consider golf-related careers. Hunt described the shared award as recognition of sustained collaboration between India and the UK. These are statements supplied by the winners’ representatives, rather than comments obtained in an interview by this publication.
The partnership’s own background page identifies Hunt as group director of International Design Group in the UK and describes Vaishnava’s involvement in planning courses, driving ranges and golf-linked developments. Those professional descriptions come from the designers’ own published account.
How the award is selected
World Golf Awards’ published voting rules distinguish between public and industry voters. Public participants register with an email account, while industry participants must meet the organiser’s professional registration requirements. An eligible industry vote has twice the weight of a public vote.
Under those rules, the nominee with the highest number of valid votes is the category winner, subject to the organiser’s determinations. This makes the result a recognition within that awards programme. It should not be read as a government certification, an architectural licence or a numerical assessment of every golf design practice worldwide.
The “first Indian” claim needs precise wording
AV IDG’s release calls Vaishnava the first individually named Indian golf course architect to win this category. The current winner page confirms the 2026 result, but does not itself establish the nationality or personnel behind every earlier winning practice. Accordingly, the historical distinction remains attributed to the partnership in this report.
What to watch
The most useful follow-up will be evidence about the partnership’s completed work: the precise design roles on individual courses, how projects manage water and land, and what new commissions are confirmed. An awards announcement establishes the recognition; project records and on-the-record answers can explain its practical significance for golf development in India and elsewhere.
Sources
- World Golf Awards: Golf Course Designer of the Year 2026
- World Golf Awards: Gala Ceremony 2026
- World Golf Awards: Voting Rules
- AV Golf Design: Jon Hunt and Aashish Vaishnava partnership background
- AV Golf Design PR: AV IDG World Golf Awards 2026 press release, dated November 9, supplied to The Press of Asia by email on November 11, 2026.
The Sports Desk covers cricket, the Asian Games and Indian and international sport. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
