ASGCA Recap: Collegiality, Practicality And A Ross Tartan Yarmulke

I couldn't help but chuckle at some of the observations from the annual American Society of Golf Course Architects annual gathering as seen through the eyes of a compassionate Bradley Klein, filing for GolfAdvisor.com.

Incoming ASGCA President Jeff Blume spoke powerfully about the collegiality that lies at the core of the group. 

So nice all of the men in plaid are getting along these days.

There was this, which sounds like the practicality highlight of the session:

Among the most ambitious of these efforts that served as a case study at the meeting is The Preserve at Oak Meadows in the Chicago suburb of Addison, Ill. Golf architect Greg Martin described the scope of a 285-acre project costing $18 million that involved 19 regulatory government agencies, conversion and a small army of consultants. Martin called it “a forest preserve with a golf course,” with the priority placed on reclaiming the native Illinois prairie and wetlands landscape while providing a revenue producing recreational amenity that was both "resistant and resilient" in the face of perennial flooding. It’s the kind of project where the golf course has to fit within a larger strategy of land management. Not the sort of thing that you can just improvise in the field.

And there was this lovely gesture to Klein from the society, who had already given him the Donald Ross Award:

The honorary membership status that came with the award qualified me for a share of the red tartan cloth, which they thoughtfully presented in the form of a Ross-plaid yarmulke.