 Vardon was involved in golf course architecture, designing or helping with the design of 40 courses.Pamphlets that survived the clubhouse fire at White Bear Yacht Club in 1937 record that although the original golf course design was by William Watson, there was further development by Vardon and Donald Ross.Along with Robert W. Diehl, Vardon also wrote a how-to manual on golf, the "Diehl-Vardon Golf Manual" which was published in 1927 by the Western Golf Publishing Company.