Globe-trotters

Just as Scots and Brits such as Donald Ross, Alister Mackenzie and Willie Park Jr. stormed the shores of America with the game of golf more than 100 years ago, American designers are carrying the torch around the globe during the 21st century.

Long after Robert Trent Jones Sr. became the first globe-trotting American course designer, others are following. Most notable might be his namesake, Robert Trent Jones Jr., who now lays claim to the most golf courses designed outside America – more than half of his 248 courses. The American style is in demand throughout the world so much that many lesser-known designers are busily examining topographic maps to lay out golf courses in almost every country imaginable.

“Throughout Europe, Africa, South America and the Pacific Rim, people realize some of the greatest golf architects in the world are from the U.S.,” says Ray Hearn of Ray Hearn Golf Design in Holland, Mich. “I’m not slighting the fine architects of Australia and the British Isles, but as a group, it’s thought if you want the best, come to America. That’s a testimony to what American architects have done collectively.”

Hearn cites a British developer in southern France who called a site so spectacular it deserved an American architect.

“That’s a hats-off to all of us here who practice golf course architecture,” he says.

The American Society of Golf Course Architects is the predominant brand in the world, says Jones Jr.

“The American brand is something the world wants because we design and build more playable, more interesting, more dramatic, more scenic, more environmental, more competitive golf courses than others do,” he says. “That’s because we know more about it and have the know-how.”

If that feeling is representative among golf developers worldwide, it’s a good thing – and perfect timing – for American architects. Golf projects in the United States have largely withered on the vine, but in many countries, the golf world is in a “Eureka!” frame of mind – wanting more golf courses.

Golf course designer Gary Roger Baird of Brentwood, Tenn., says 90 percent of his workload is overseas right now. That might be the highest percentage among architects, but many of his colleagues report a similar disparity. Rees Jones of Montclair, N.J., Trent Sr.’s other son, and Kyle Phillips of Granite Bay, Calif., peg their international-domestic split at 80-20, while Jones Jr. pegs his at 75-25, Hearn at 60-40 and Steve Smyers of Lakeland, Fla., at 50-50.
Some Americans – such as Bill Coore of Coore & Crenshaw in Austin, Texas, and Jeff Brauer of Arlington, Texas – aren’t testing the global market by choice. That is, except for Coore & Crenshaw’s relenting to do a second course on one of the universe’s great sites: Barnbougle in Tasmania. Others, such as Dan Schlegel of Annapolis, Md., who has gotten a few nibbles from South America, Lebanon and Russia, aren’t abroad because the opportunity hasn’t yet arisen.

Still, others who’ve labored extensively abroad for decades have found themselves on solid ground, unaffected by the U.S. downturn.
“For a while, I didn’t even realize we had a recession, golfwise, going on in the U.S.,” says Phillips, who had worked overseas for Jones Jr. for some time until starting his own firm a decade ago.

Where the work is
For a growing number of architects, the gold rush is on, and they’re not loading up the pack mules here in America. Where then? Here’s a sampling:
• Jones Jr. is working on projects in Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Greece and Poland.
• Brother Rees, preferring to remain in relatively the same time zone, is busy in Mexico, Barbados, Costa Rica and the Bahamas.
• Smyers has projects in Iceland, Dubai, Brazil, Bermuda and the United Arab Emirates.
• Baird is engrossed mostly in South Korea, where he has a half dozen projects, and China.
• Hearn is working in Russia, Kenya, Brazil, Vietnam, Korea, the Bahamas and, soon, France.
• Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest of Toledo, Ohio, have projects in Norway, Russia, Portugal, Morocco, Mexico and the Caribbean.
• Phillips’s jobs abroad are in Ireland, Sweden, Slovakia, Sicily, Holland, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Brazil.

And on it goes. Whatever the hemisphere, whatever the continent, American golf course architects are plying their trade. The reasons are few but powerful.

“There are 16,000-plus golf courses in America alone but only 16,000 outside America,” says Smyers, who first built overseas courses with Nick Faldo in England and with Nick Price in South Africa. “What’s happening is the middle class in all these developing countries is becoming wealthier and more influential. And golf is a sport you can play your entire life, a great socialization sport. Plus, people in other countries don’t have the multiple entertainment choices Americans have, so golf is very attractive.”

Consider the results of a KMPG study released last month: In 2006, more than 160 new golf courses and almost 100 significant course expansion projects were underway in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The revenue generated by these capital projects (including renovations and facility improvements) was $5.5 billion – almost two-thirds of that generated in the much bigger U.S. golf economy.

A tremendous catalyst in many of these countries is how well their professional golfers are doing, Smyers says, citing Argentinian Eduardo Romero’s win in the U.S. Senior Open. Additionally, golf academies and instructors are expanding rapidly in these countries. Though they’re way behind the U.S. regarding the knowledge and development of the game, it’s a fast-growing sport.

“Because you’re getting winners such as Romero and Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Michael Campbell (New Zealand) and Trevor Immelman (South Africa), that’s generating a phenomenal interest around the world,” Rees Jones says. “They’re hiring American architects because we’re the ones who’ve had the technology to build on all kinds of sites, and we’re recognized as being in the top echelon of the business.”

“Look at the sports column any week,” Baird adds. “Who are the LPGA winners? Seven of the top 10 ladies are from Korea. In Korea, there’s a social strata so different from ours. Kids don’t play on computers every day. They’re walking to school, working and serious about life. They start playing golf at age 3. They don’t hang out and do nothing like American kids.”

Slow in America
Hills acknowledges the oversaturation of golf courses in some parts of the U.S. but also thinks there’s still underdevelopment elsewhere, adding many people in Europe are prospering and looking for second homes, thus the development of more golf communities. In Europe alone, the number of courses and players has doubled since 1985, according to the KPMG report. In the U.S., the number of courses and players has leveled off since 2000.

In the U.S., a piling on penalty could be called against the forces that have converged to stop golf projects. Overconstruction is combining with flat-lined golfer growth and a variety of fears born from a soft economy. The subprime mortgage meltdown is one of the painful factors.

“We were doing fine with these real-estate developments until the subprime mortgage problem occurred,” Rees Jones says. “And now people are waiting to see how the real-estate market is in certain vicinities. Those projects will go, but it’s a matter of waiting to see how the real-estate market is selling in their areas.”

Smyers sees domestic projects moving at a slower pace, but says that’s occurring with all businesses in America right now.

“We talk about the downturn of golf in America – it’s a cycle that had to happen,” he says. “Throughout the world, there has been growth in golf, and then it has slowed. Thailand went through it. So did Japan. We did and so did Europe. You reach your maximum capacity, and it stagnates for a while.”
The American style

Meanwhile, the dozers keep chugging abroad. And while the Scots and Brits brought the linksland style of golf course design to U.S. shores, Americans are exporting a site-specific style. The overseas market, as a whole, wants parkland courses, Smyers says.

“We’re trying to be site specific,” he says. “We’re from the strategic school of design. We try to assess the site and do what it will allow us to do to produce the most dramatic product. That means something different in Iceland than it does in Bermuda or Brazil because the sites, climates, elements, wind, water and topography are all different.”

Styles are predicated on location, Rees Jones says.

“If you’re next to the ocean, you’ll have a rolling links-look golf course,” he says. “If you’re on sandy soil, you’ll have a heathland design. If you’re among trees – and in a lot of European countries, you can’t take out the trees – you’ll have a parkland course. The style, whether links-like, heathland or parkland, will be thought out. But it will be more of an American style on the inland golf courses.”

Baird tells clients site distinctions become design distinctions. He says the Asian market demands the manicured Augusta National-type look; it’s not ready for the Scottish look yet. The Augusta National look – highly manicured turfgrass, beautiful trees and color galore – is basically thought of as America’s style. And most of the requests overseas are for the manicured parkland-type courses prolifically seen in the U.S., Hearn says.

Hills equates “American” with “parkland” but says it depends on whether the site is sandy.

Phillips, who works a lot in Europe, disputes the idea most foreigners want the American style, which he defines as artificial-looking, generally featuring big mounds, flatter and perimeter-weighted fairways, and big, in-your-face stuff with high-fertility maintenance programs.

“So far, you’ve seen the American style in Dubai and China, but in the U.K. and Europe, people aren’t big fans of that style of golf,” he says.

But a significant factor in whatever is done is the client on the project.

“Budgets have a lot to do with it, too,” Jones Jr. says. “If Michelangelo hadn’t been given a piece of Carrara marble and had to create ‘David’ on a budget, it would have been a lot smaller.”

The bottom line, though, even visible from Brauer’s perch in Texas, is this: The American style is in demand.