USGA to host golf course architecture forum

The USGA (United States Golf Association) will host a free public symposium about golf course architecture from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT on April 18 at its campus in Far Hills, N.J.

The panel discussion will feature four guest speakers: Gil Hanse, Robert Trent Jones II, Michael Hurdzan and Forrest Richardson. Hanse will talk about golf’s return to the Olympics in 2016, Jones will discuss Chambers Bay and the 2015 U.S. Open, Hurdzan will speak about the 2017 U.S. Open site Erin Hills and sustainability, and Richardson will explore golf course design as art and the work of golf course architect Desmond Muirhead.
 

Gil Hanse

Hanse began his career in golf design while studying at Cornell University in the late 1980s. He was a design partner with Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design. In 1993, he founded Hanse Golf Course Design Inc. He is one of only a handful of Americans to build a course in Scotland, where he constructed the Craighead Golf Links. He was chosen to design and oversee creation of the Olympic golf course in Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games. He also designed and constructed the nine-hole Pynes Putting Green on the USGA’s campus.
 

Robert Trent Jones II

Jones II has designed more than 270 courses in more than 40 countries in six continents. He learned about golf from Tommy Armour while at Winged Foot Golf Club and started working with his father on golf course design after completing his studies at Yale University and Stanford University. Known by some as “the father of environmental golf course design,” Jones designed Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., the site of the 2015 U.S. Open.
 

Michael Hurdzan

Hurdzan is an internationally recognized authority on golf course environmental issues. He is a past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and serves on the USGA’s Museum Committee. His book, “Golf Course Architecture: Design, Construction & Renovation” has been described as one of the definitive modern volumes on the subject. He is one of the architects of Erin Hills, the host site of the 2017 U.S. Open Championship.
 

Forrest Richardson

Richardson studied golf course architecture in Scotland, learning under Arthur Jack Snyder. He established his own firm, Forrest Richardson & Associates, in 1988. He has authored four books on golf course architecture, including “Bunkers, Pits & Other Hazards.” Richardson is a member of the USGA Museum Committee and has studied the work of Muirhead for several decades.