WORKING TOGETHER Collaborations are now increasingly commonplace. From Balmain x Beyoncé to Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, good partnerships can yield success in all spheres of life. While golf course architecture has a long history of famous ‘collabs’ – Robertson and Morris, Jones and MacKenzie, Thompson and Trent Jones, to name just a few – attitudes towards working together have evolved quite significantly over recent decades. “Formal collaboration between architects wasn’t common in the 1970s and 1980s,” says ASGCA Past President Lee Schmidt on his early years as a golf course architect. That’s not to say there wasn’t a fraternal spirit. Schmidt recalls one of his first ASGCA Annual Meetings, in Bermuda in 1980, which he attended with his mentor, and ASGCA Fellow, Pete Dye. “As we arrived at the hotel, Art Hills was there, looking concerned. Pete discovered that his luggage had been lost by the airline. He turned to me and said, ‘can you give Art some of your clothes?’” A somewhat shocked Schmidt complied, and picked out a few items. “I remember how bizarre it The extent to which golf course architects work together, and with others in the industry, has evolved and had a positive effect on facilities, the industry and the game. We asked some of ASGCA’s longer-serving members for their reflections on how cooperation in golf has developed. 14 ASGCA Past President Bill Amick (pictured right, with ASGCA Past President John LaFoy) says comradeship with other golf architects has been a constant in his life Photo: ASGCA collaboration Advancing
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