By Design – Issue 49, Summer 2020

26 | By Design JUNIOR GOLF DESIGN CHALLENGE Young design stars! By Design showcases a few of the many wonderful designs created for ‘The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge of 2020’. T he ASGCA launched The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge of 2020 to encourage creativity among young people spending time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial idea came from aspiring golf course architect Jay Smith of McAlpin, Florida, with the help of his wife Rebecca. “It started as a simple idea of getting kids involved in the shadows of an unprecedented pandemic,” said Smith. “We thought it would boost morale and could evoke art, engineering, and geometry—in a fun way. Our youngest son, Johnny, enjoys watching me sketch and draw, submits his own ideas for my review. From there it just snowballed.” The ASGCA developed Smith’s idea, and asked those aged 17 and under to submit their design ideas for a golf hole with no limitations: any par, style or strategy, from fun to serious. Young people responded with enthusiasm, with hundreds of designs submitted from around the world. Here are a just a few of the exciting and innovative hole designs submitted, along with comments from ASGCA members. • Check out even more of the designs submitted to ‘The Great Junior Design Challenge of 2020’ at: asgca.org/great-junior-golf- design-challenge-2020 Designer: Jack From: Michigan Age group: 9-13 “Very neat options. Having the water come all the way back to the tee is a psychological ‘trick’ that will certainly put fear in the mind of the golfer!” said Forrest Richardson, ASGCA Designer: Nik From: Austria Age group: 14-17 “Very impressive detail, featuring a hole with lots of risk versus reward options and alternate lines of play. A thinking- players’ golf hole.” said David Johnson, ASGCA