“An ideal golf course is a test for both the expert and the everyday player.
It is my goal to bring out of the player the best golf they have in them.”
~ Donald Ross
ASGCA has encouraged a growing intelligence of golf
course design and development, and also produced the
resources to help developers, planners and those interested
in producing projects which improve the environment.
The romantic conception of the golf architect
is a distinguished-looking gentleman strolling through a
meadow perhaps with pipe in hand -- dropping a series
of stakes into the ground as he walks. If only it were that
easy.
The reality is designing a golf course today is
more complicated and challenging than ever. Golf course
architects must consider many factors in their designs.
Unlike the early days foursomes are no longer composed
of just adult men. Now they’re likely to include men and
women, low handicappers and high handicappers, seniors
and youngsters. As ASGCA Past President Bob Cupp puts
it, golf course architects must plan for both “John Daly
and Grandma Moses.”
Golf course architects also must consider nature
www.csgalinks.org
and environmental issues. Protecting wetlands, promoting
wildlife habitats, incorporating conservation areas,
protecting water quality and preserving green space are
some of the more important goals golf course architects
seek to achieve in their designs.
“ASGCA members have to respond with innovative
solutions,” said the late Geoffrey Cornish, ASGCA past
president and co-author with Ron Whitten of “The
Architects of Golf,” an authoritative history of the
profession.
Indeed they do. ASGCA members design courses
with multiple teeing areas that welcome higher handicap
players as well as provide conditions which comply with the
Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines to accommodate
the disabled. Further, they design and remodel courses with
an eye on the continuing technological advances in the
golfing world.
~ For more information, visit www.ASCGA.org.
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