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By Design
FIVE TO FINISH
Jeffrey Brauer, ASGCA
I like the
relaxed rules of
golf
that the USGA and
the R&A have just proposed
H
aving begun his career
as an apprentice in the
Chicago area, ASGCA Past
President Jeffrey Brauer, ASGCA,
has been working in the golf course
architecture industry since the late
1970s. One of the first courses
he ever worked on was Kemper
Lakes, which hosted the PGA
Championship in 1989.
Brauer formed GolfScapes in 1984
in Arlington, Texas, which remains
his base to this day. He has designed
golf courses for private, public
and resort clubs, including The
Wilderness at Fortune Bay in Tower,
Minnesota, Sand Creek Station in
Newton, Kansas, and The Bridges at
Preston Crossings in Gunter, Texas.
He has been a member of the
ASGCA since 1981, and served as
the association’s president during its
50th anniversary year in 1995-1996.
How is your game?
It’s a little hard to tell at the moment,
but I do know I have lost distance
and touch over the years. It can be
hard to break 80, and sometimes
even 90, but getting out on the course
is the most important thing.
Which three people would make
up your dream four ball?
I’m personally more enthralled with
the idea of taking to the course with
other architects, rather than golfers
or celebrities.
I would go with some of the old
guys, and maybe not even the bigger
‘Golden Age’ guys like MacKenzie,
Ross or Tillinghast. Having grown
up in Chicago, I think I would like to
play with some of the architects who
were active there, like Harry Colt,
Charles Hugh Alison, Tom Bendelow
and Ed Dearie, who did the courses
I liked best when I lived there. Any
three of those four would be fantastic!
What is your favorite hole in golf?
There are a few to pick from, but the
sixteenth at Cypress Point comes to
mind as a first among equals.
If you could change or add one
rule, what would it be?
I have to say I like the relaxed rules
of golf the USGA and the R&A
have just proposed. It’s sort of like
setting speed limits by how the first
hundred cars drive a road, and it
seems they are adjusting the rules
closer to how ‘real golfers’ play. One
they could address for casual play
is stroke and distance. No one goes
back to the tee if they have lost a
ball—they just drop and add one (or
more correctly, two) strokes.
What project are you currently
working on?
I’ve just finished an 18-hole
renovation at a course in Minnesota
called Superior National, and a new
18-hole co-design in St. George,
Utah, which is tentatively called
Copper Rock.
Another design, at Tempest Golf
Club in Gladewater, Texas, is currently
under construction for a summer 2017
grassing, and I’ve also been working
on a masterplan for Tuckaway Golf
Club in Franklin, Wisconsin.
Beyond this, I’ve been doing the
typical array of different routing,
renovation and business related
studies my work covers.
•
The front nine at Superior National opened last year,
and the full 18 is set to open in 2017
Photo: Bryan Hansel