Brian Costello elected ASGCA president

Brian Costello, ASGCA, of Belmont, California, was elected president of the ASGCA at the organization’s recent 78th annual meeting in San Francisco.

Costello graduated from the University of California-Davis in 1983 with a degree in landscape architecture. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, at the age of 8, Costello was introduced to golf by his father. He soon became a caddie and competitive golfer, exposed to the renowned public and private golf courses throughout the Bay Area. This early exposure to the game and the historic courses of his home have strongly influenced Costello’s fondness for classic and traditional layouts.

After college, he joined Hargreaves Associates, a San Fracisco-based landscape architecture and planning firm. During his five years there, Costello developed an appreciation for the powerful experiences which can be created through sculptural landforms and contextual landscapes. His golf designs reflect a commitment to experience the game as defined by its’ setting with a dramatic “wow factor” and have been described as “modern classics.”

In 1989, Costello joined JMP Golf Design Group and became a principal of the firm in 1994. Some of his noteworthy designs include: Whiskey Creek Golf Club, Ijamsville, Maryland; Callippe Preserve Golf Course, Pleasanton, California; Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club, Palo Alto, California; The Gorge at Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Washington; Blackstone Golf & Resort, Jeju, Korea; Blackstone Golf Club, Icheon, Korea; 360° Country Club, Yeoju, Korea; Belnatio Golf Club, Tokamachi, Japan; Nasu Chifuriko, Tochigi, Japan; Golden Palm Country Club, Kagoshima, Japan; and Fazenda da Grama Golf Club, Itupeva, São Paulo, Brazil.

“ASGCA members are ambassadors of the game, whether we are crossing county lines, state lines or international date lines,” Costello said. “I always considered it a responsibility to represent myself, my firm and, by extension, the ASGCA in the best light. Having the ‘comma ASGCA’ following your name has value. Having the ASGCA letters and logo on your work product, business card, letterhead and social media presence have value. It identifies a significant achievement and is representative of the favorable impact that our membership has on the golf industry.”

A registered landscape Architect in California, Costello became an ASGCA member in 2001. He and his wife, Sandra, live in Belmont, California. He is a father to two sons and stepfather to one daughter and two sons.