By Design - Winter 2018

15 plenty of heated discussions in the north of China when this came to be. The chairman, however, usually eventually saw things my way and we moved on.” “I am not altogether against the general idea of compromise, believing that random input—from project to project—makes each one more unique,” says Brauer. “In fact, I often ask superintendents or pros for ideas, and try to put them in where practical, because it usually gets real buy-in to have one of their ideas in the final product. “In general, the compromises made in bunker shaping are one of the most typical constraints we face. In the past, we didn’t get a lot of questions about bunker design, but now we do, and we also go back to our courses to reduce sand bunkers by 10-40 percent.” “The most common constraint that I have faced through the years is environmental,” says Smyers. “After a thorough environmental assessment, most sites are deemed to be distressed environmentally. Understanding that golfers respond favorably to strong landscapes and to a seamless transition between golf and nature, I find a solution that will both create a unique golf experience and a healthier, more viable ecosystem. “I have made a concerted effort to work with the environmental authorities and embrace their advice on how to make the site healthy again. I have been an advocate to heal the landscape and I ask the environmental community to assist in delivering a unique golf experience while developing a stronger ecosystem.” “I try to not consider anything we are faced with to be a constraint, but a part of criteria we address in making sure the design works as we want,” says Davis. “The best way to work out how to not let anything compromise the design is to get creative with solutions. That creative solution may be pretty simple, or it may require a lot of brainstorming and work.” Davis references his project at Hickory Hills Country Club in Springfield, Missouri, where the constraint was a maximum square “My latest opening, Tempest Golf Club in Gladewater, Texas, probably represents my biggest freedom,” says ASGCA Past President Jeffrey Brauer. “The owner is not a golfer and got excited about the course mostly because of my excitement at what was possible if we explored previously unused parcels of the site. It was nearly total freedom. Even mid-design, he authorized moving the fourth tee up the hill. I had to ask, even though I thought I knew the answer, as it took out a very expensive golf frontage lot. Later, a similar situation occurred on the eighth hole where we moved the green across a creek into land formerly reserved for housing, to turn a short par four into a much better, and somewhat needed, longer par four.” Tempest Golf Club Gladewater, Texas Brian Curley, ASGCA, was left to his own desires for the design of courses at the FLC Quang Binh resort in Vietnam Photo: Brian Curley Photo: Hugh Hargraves