Geoff Ogilvy was guiding me around some of the vast property at Taboo Muskoka in Gravenhurst, Ont. He and his associates at the highly regarded Melbourne-based OCM design firm are creating two golf courses there.

“We’re trying to make the best golf experience in the country,” Taboo’s longtime managing director Nigel Hollidge said.

Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, expressed a similar objective as we walked in the dirt where golf holes were taking shape.

Ogilvy has long been a serious student of golf course architecture, and his fellow company directors are equally studious and observant about what makes a memorable golf experience. The C stands for fellow Aussie Mike Cocking, and the M for his countryman Ashley Mead. Each has extensive experience in designing and renovating courses.

OCM recently completed renovation work on Medinah #3, a course that has held five majors and the 2012 Ryder Cup. That course reopened for members last month and golfers the world over will see it September 22-27 when it hosts the Presidents Cup. Ogilvy is the captain of the International team that will take on the U.S. side that Brandt Snedeker is captaining.

We had just come onto the property from lunch at the Boathouse restaurant overlooking Lake Muskoka at the resort, which is itself in the early stages of a complete redo. Completion date for the infrastructure — accommodation, restaurants, etc. — is slated for 2032, perhaps 2033. Both courses should be open by 2029, with the first possible for 2028. It’s an understatement to refer to the project on 1,200 acres as anything but visionary.

As far as I’m concerned from knowing Ogilvy and having spent time with him over the years, Great Gulf Homes, which developed and owns Taboo under the direction of chairman Elly Reisman, has hired the right group to design the course. They consulted other architects and their firms, including Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, to cite a couple of prominent names. They were taken with Ogilvy and OCM when they first met, and hired them.

It was enlightening to chat with Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead at lunch. Hollidge was there, as was project manager Al Chud — a friend from way back who renovated Ron Garl’s original 18 holes at Taboo and has long been involved in course buildouts. Reisman sat opposite me and addressed what he envisaged for the project. It was all fascinating to me. I had gone to school a hundred years ago with Elly’s late brother Norman. They founded Great Gulf Homes in 1975. It’s one of the world’s most successful developers.

So it was that I was out on the property with Ogilvy and Hollidge. It became apparent as we bounced around in carts and some holes in their very early stages became visible that Hollidge wasn’t exaggerating when he spoke of OCM’s and Great Gulf’s ambitions for the project. Hyperbole? It’s early days, to be sure, but stay tuned.

OCM has become recognized for its philosophy and work, in Australia and internationally. OCM has redesigned Shady Oaks in Fort Worth, Texas, which was Ben Hogan’s home for some 40 years. The company provides ongoing consultation at the magnificent Kingston Heath in Melbourne’s Sandbelt, which will host the 2028 Presidents Cup. To go through its website is to understand why OCM is attracting so much attention and work. Ogilvy and his associates believe in spending time — a lot of time — on the properties where they work.

We got out of our carts to stand on the clubhouse site, overlooking what will be golf all around. Reisman said that when the clearing of the property had started, “I saw space and vistas I’d never seen before.” This opening of the forested property became central to the vision.

“The expansiveness of the property gave us the ability to create two distinctively different courses,” Reisman said, “not necessarily tree-lined, sort of a new vision for Muskoka. I see these really dramatic views and vistas.” Hollidge spoke of a 360-degree view from the clubhouse. There will also be a short course and a first-class practice area. Golf and all golf as the heart of the resort, that is.

“There will be no mistaking what you do here,” Ogilvy said. “You’ll be immersed in golf. We want you to feel the experience as you come into the property.” He spoke of the unforgettable entrances to some courses, referring to Magnolia Lane at Augusta National, the rise up Golf Road to Royal Dornoch, the understated drive through mature trees and hedges — classic English heathland — to Sunningdale Golf Club in London. He views a round of golf as a series of journeys to the hole through a distinctive landscape.

I asked Ogilvy what he thought some of the critical elements were in making a course memorable.

“There should be more than one way to play a hole,” he said, adding, “Short grass is golf’s best hazard.” He meant that short, tight turf provides a variety of ways to play a pitch or chip shot. Choice can create confusion in a player’s mind, which makes it golf’s best hazard. Then he said something that I think is at the heart of how Ogilvy sees the game and its playing fields.

“It’s so democratic,” Ogilvy said of the essence of golf on short grass. “It’s a test for a tour player, but a 30-handicap golfer can also play it.” He mentioned that too much of golf, and too many golfers, “are led by the tour.”  At one point he spoke of how golf should be about much more than power, which has become almost the default form today. At Taboo, he and his partners mean to enable strategic golf. Golf for the thinking player. A cerebral experience.

Ogilvy’s home in Australia is on the sixth hole of the West course at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. There’s a gate from the back of his home out onto the hole. It’s not unusual for him to go out with a persimmon driver that Honma made for him, and a few old clubs, just to play, truly “play” golf. By the way, he believes golf should be a ground game as well as an air game. That’s what makes links golf so enjoyable and tricky. You have to figure in the bounce of the ball. Contour, texture, width, scale, shot options: they’re all crucial elements.

We were deep into the property when I was introduced to Pete Zarlengo, one of OCM’s creative shapers. He was, well, shaping some ground, moving dirt. The best shapers are artists who work with the earth, creating mounds, humps, bumps. Zarlengo lives in Denver and shapes land into golf forms all over for OCM.

Winner of the 2006 U.S. Open, Geoff Ogilvy has turned much of his attention to golf course architecture these days. (Photo: Getty Images)

We spoke about these very early days of shaping and construction at Taboo. The mound he was sculpting near a green wasn’t there the day before. We talked about when grass will start to grow. “It’ll jump out of the ground next June, July, August,” he said. The excitement in his voice was evident.

I learned so much. Chud told me they’ve brought in 20 tons of sand so far from down the road at a local aggregate pit, and that this could grow to 300,000 tons — the budgeted amount for all the playing areas. That could mean 15,000 truckloads. All the soil and sand already on site is also being used. As I say, this is a massive project.

I was about to leave the property. Cocking and Mead were off to Ireland the next morning to continue some design work OCM has there. Ogilvy would head back to Scottsdale, Ariz., his base in the U.S. where he rents a home.

Ogilvy speaks only when he feels he has something to say. That’s impressive in a world where silence isn’t exactly golden. He’s a careful observer and a listener who asks questions of others in his company. I’ve also admired the way he plays, and he intends to play some on the PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 next June.

I covered the 2006 U.S. Open that Ogilvy won and observed the economy and control in his swing. I don’t know of many players who set the club at the top as beautifully as Ogilvy, fluid swing after fluid swing. That’s helpful in winning a U.S. Open and eight PGA Tour events.

Bottom line is there’s a reticence and calmness about Ogilvy. He exemplifies the adage, “never speak unless you can improve on silence.” I mean to convey that he values words and carefully considered conversation.

“I measure whether we’ve done our job by if players want to go out again right away after their round,” he said.

From what I learned during my site visit I’d bet golfers will want to go out immediately for another round at Taboo when the new courses are finished. I look forward to staying in touch with the project as golf holes take shape and emerge from the ground.