Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore named recipients of 2021 ASGCA Donald Ross Award

Ben Crenshaw (right) and Bill Coore (left), ASGCA, will be the 2021 recipients of the ASGCA Donald Ross Award. (Photo courtesy of ASGCA)

Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, ASGCA, have been chosen as the 2021 recipients of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) Donald Ross Award. Winners are chosen based on those making a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. The award, given annually since 1976, will be presented to both in October as part of the 75^th ASGCA Annual Meeting in Cleveland.

Crenshaw’s success as a professional golfer has resulted in him securing 19 PGA Tour victories. When Crenshaw was 16 a visit to Brookline Country Club in Massachusetts sparked an interest in golf course architecture that endures to this day. After serving as a player consultant on the design and construction of the TPC Course at Las Colinas, Texas, Crenshaw joined with Coore in 1985 to form the golf design firm that bears their names.

Coore graduated from Wake Forest University and spent the first five years of his golf course architecture career with ASGCA Past Presidents Pete and Alice Dye. He was able to learn about the design, construction and maintenance of golf courses in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Canada. He formed his own design company in 1982.

Together, the pair have designed some of the world’s most unique and well-respected golf courses, including Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Neb.; Sheep Ranch Golf Course in Bandon, Ore.; Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia, Canada; Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui, Hawaii; Streamsong Resort Red Course in Fort Meade, Fla.; Friar’s Head in Riverhead, N.Y.; and the new Te Arai Links, New Zealand. Among their course renovations is Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C.

“Ben Crenshaw embodies everything you could ever ask for in a golf professional,” said ASGCA President Forrest Richardson. “When you combine his love for golf course architecture and his work with a respected golf course architect on an equal basis — hand-in-hand — there may be no better example of how the tour player can have a positive influence on the design of great golf courses.”

Richardson first encountered Coore after Bill had worked with the Dyes, before Coore joined forces with Crenshaw.

“Bill Coore has always taken time to mentor young designers. Generations to come will benefit from his unselfish effort to pass along his philosophy and approach to creating great golf experiences,” Richardson said. “Together, Ben and Bill demonstrate the great benefit that comes from collaboration in our profession, especially when the work is carried out with balance and respect.”