Jacobsen Hardy continues to grow

Houston, Texas – Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design hired Brian Johnson as design associate and retained Donnie Freeman as design consultant.

Houston-based Jacobsen Hardy is the architectural partnership of PGA Tour and course development veterans Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy. Both Johnson and Freeman will report to Rex VanHoose, Jacobsen Hardy’s senior vice president/managing architect.

Johnson’s main responsibilities include the development of golf course design drawings, preliminary and final. Johnson also communicates with Jacobsen Hardy’s allied and partnering professionals – engineers, environmental consultants and various government agencies – to ensure that plans are understandable and adhere to the Jacobsen Hardy design philosophy. Johnson will also venture into the field, working alongside Jacobsen, Hardy and VanHoose during construction phases.

Prior to joining JH, Johnson spent four years as a design associate with the course architecture firm of Cornish, Silva & Mungeam. He graduated from Iowa State University in 2001, earning a bachelor’s in landscape architecture. While at Iowa State, he completed the school’s first landscape architecture undergraduate thesis, “The three schools of golf course design,” which took him to Scotland. There he photographed, sketched and played 16 of the links courses, absorbing the characteristics that make them classics.

“We couldn’t be happier to have attracted someone like Brian, who has accomplished so much in his young career,” VanHoose says. “Brian has worked in all facets of the golf industry, including golf course maintenance in Wisconsin and golf course construction with Florida-based McCurrach Golf. This multi-disciplinary background dovetails with the Jacobsen Hardy philosophy, which offers specific expertise to clients in all phases of golf course design – from the initial routing and strategy phase to the development of construction documents, on-site direction of construction activities and long-term maintenance consulting.”

Jacobsen Hardy further bolstered its multi-disciplinary approach with the hire of Freeman, former owner of Eagle View Golf, the Spring, Texas-based course construction firm. As design consultant, Freeman will visit JH projects during their construction to ensure quality control and design integrity.

“Donnie has one of the keenest design and construction minds in the business and we’re thrilled that he’s elected to ‘cross-over’ into the design world with Jacobsen Hardy,” VanHoose says. “We’ve always taken great pride in our ability to work effectively with contractors – at the drawing board (by providing accurate drawings) and in the field – for the ultimate benefit of our clients. Having Donnie on board gives our designers an in-house construction perspective; he also provides our contracting partners a credible construction resource right there in the field.”

Freeman grew up on the grounds at Galveston (Texas) Country Club where his dad was the golf course superintendent. His construction career got started in 1993, working for Wadsworth Golf in creating La Cantera GC in San Antonio. A shaper, Freeman would ply his trade at a host of Wadsworth projects including The Raven in Tucson, The Bandit in New Braunfels, Texas, and The Bear Trace in Jackson, Tenn. Freeman first came in contact with Jacobsen Hardy during construction of the firm’s 36-hole design at Blackhorse GC in Houston. Freeman was originally the development company’s project superintendent but he soon formed his own contracting firm, Eagle View Golf, which finished construction of Blackhorse in 2001 and would go on to handle JH renovations at Galveston CC and the Salishan Golf Links in Gleneden Beach, Ore.