Several weeks ago, I joined up with nearly 100 of my golf course architect friends from Europe, Australia and the US for five days of golf, architectural study and camaraderie on some of our country’s finest venues. Our destination: Long Island, NY. This is the second installment of four entries, or otherwise the second [...]
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Several weeks ago, I joined up with nearly 100 of my golf course architect friends from Europe, Australia and the US for five days of golf, architectural study and camaraderie on some of our country’s finest venues. Our destination: Long Island, NY. [...]
I’m not attempting to be trite here! The subject of “fun” has become a trendy topic of late and, in all seriousness, FUN is something that has frankly been overlooked in our fine game for some time. Not because of lack of interest, but because the game became perhaps a bit too serious on [...]
The past few years have been exhausting. Golf industry trends have been as depressing as the Nightly News. So when you hear a success story, it really stands out and makes you take pause. One such incidence involves a links style golf course in Rhode Island that I co-designed with Arthur Hills called Newport [...]
Do you ever find yourself wondering what could have been? In 1995, our firm (AHSF) was commissioned to design Donald Trump’s first golf course…Seven Springs, just outside of Bedford in Westchester County, NY. It might be the least known and talked about of Trump’s golf efforts, but it had oodles of potential. The site [...]
After reading a well-penned piece recently from Adam Lawrence, called “Growing Together”, I felt compelled to jot down a few key thoughts that bear highlighting. – Adam, please accept my apologies for any plagiarisms – but your message is very well put and worthy of repeat! The first and perhaps strongest statement made by [...]
It sure has been a heck of a summer, hasn’t it? The upper Midwest has seen some brutally hot periods… very dry, and windy. Not a great recipe for keeping a golf course looking good – not to mention our own yards. Our droughty conditions should serve as a great reminder though – that [...]
My friend, writer Chris Santella placed this interesting piece in the NY Times earlier this week called "Pitch and Putt and Behold the Glory." His placement is a timely one now with waves of non-traditional golf facilities popping up all over North American and the World. Why? The people have spoken and their messages are [...]
This afternoon, I watched from our deck as my 8 year old son marched through the backyard lugging over his shoulder a bag of mismatched golf clubs, an oversized glove on the wrong hand and a fist full of bright colored pin flags. I slumped in my chair so I could watch his event [...]
Masters week… a savored tradition among golfers. For the sport, there is hardly a more sought after ticket. For those without badges, CBS will have us all dialed in to watch what some call their “favorite major”. Without question, we can all recall our favorite moments from the tournaments of the past – on [...]
Donald Ross, architect of over 400 notable golf courses, said once of trees, “As beautiful as trees are, and as fond as you and I are of them, we still must not lose sight of the fact that there is a limited place for them in golf.” So why then is the notion of removing [...]
This past week marked a bit of history, and perhaps the dawning of a new movement in high profile, international golf course architecture. Pennsylvania based Gil Hanse was appointed to design the official golf venue in Brazil for the 2016 Olympic games, and we take with that decision a few, key notes. Much to the [...]