La Jolla, California, United States: Steve Smyers has been elected President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) at the organisation’s 69th Annual General Meeting.
Smyers spent his formative years in Houston and is a graduate of the University of Florida. As a ‘Gator’, he was a member of the golf team that won the 1973 NCAA Championship.
He has more than three decades’ experience as a golf course architect, serving as owner of Steve Smyers Golf Course Architects and working on projects across the United States and around the world in Australia, Zimbabwe, England, France, Brazil, the Philippines, Ecuador and elsewhere.
“There are 25 million golfers and nearly 16,000 golf courses in America, plus another 16,000 around the world,” Smyers said.
“Those players and courses need ASGCA members to continue being the ‘forward-thinking guys’ who bring innovation to the game; as we have ably done since the days of Donald Ross. We should continue to pioneer improved standards and focus on striving to make what is already a great game, even better.”
His first solo 18-hole design was Wolf Run Golf Course, Zionsville, Indiana. At the time, Gary Player described it as ‘the best new course I’ve seen in 20 years’.
Additional Smyers’ designs include Old Memorial, Tampa, Florida; Chart Hills Golf Club, Kent, England; Southern Dunes, Haines City, Florida; Four Streams, Beallsville, Maryland.
Redesigns including Isleworth, Orlando, Florida; Olympia Field, Chicago; and Fort Myers Country Club, Fort Myers, Florida.
Smyers continued to play at a high level, competing in a number of USGA championships.
He also served on what is now the USGA Equipment Standards committee, which led to a six-year term on the USGA Executive Committee.
Smyers also called for greater collaboration among industry partners. “A deeper and stronger collaborative effort will benefit all of us, but most importantly the golfer. Working together, we can inspire golfers to play 10 per cent more golf each year,” he noted.
Smyers will serve as ASGCA President through April 2016.