Orlando, Fla. – At the Golf Course Builders Association of America’s annual dinner, held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show, Golf Course News presented its annual Builder Excellence Awards to SEMA Golf, Scottsdale, Ariz., and Ryangolf, Deerfield Beach, Fla.
SEMA took home the Creative Award for best new construction with the development of The Outlaw at Desert Mountain, the sixth and final course at the Desert Mountain facility in Scottsdale, Ariz. Ryangolf was awarded the Heritage Award in the best renovation or reconstruction category with the reconstruction of the North Course at Frenchman’s Creek in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
“Working with Jack Nicklaus and Desert Mountain was great,” said Bob Steele, president of SEMA Golf. “It’s the only golf community worldwide with six courses with such high standards. It’s great to have this on our resume.
“Having an on-site coordinator from Nicklaus Design was key to the success of the project,” Steele added. “If something wasn’t working right, he could sketch something and send it to Jack. We were always under a microscope because the owners expected perfection. This project helped our company go to the next level.”
Phil Garcia, president of Ryangolf, said his company earned the Heritage Award.
“This award is something that our people worked for,” he said. “They can see the fruit of their labor. It will be a challenge to win it again. This is one of those projects that we looked back on and asked ourselves if we could have of done anything better, and we couldn’t have. The fun part is, we know how to do it again.”
Garcia said the two mains reasons why the reconstruction of the North Course at Frenchman’s Creek was successful was that the company planned the job for a month before breaking ground and that architect Jim Fazio was there daily.
Kevin Gilbride, publisher of Golf Course News, said the magazine’s expanded awards program with the GCBAA aims to recognize and promote the importance of golf course construction to the industry.
“Golf course builders make a critical contribution to the golf industry,” he said. “Modern course construction is an art that makes the game more challenging, reduces maintenance costs and enhances the environment. Many builders are doing great work in the United States and abroad. We congratulate SEMA Golf and Ryangolf for their well-deserved recognition as leaders in modern course construction and renovation.”
The 2005 Golf Course News awards were judged by a panel of two owner representatives, two superintendents and two architects. The judges were Henry Delozier, vice president – golf for Pulte Homes; Ken Gorzycki, director of golf course maintenance at Barton Creek Resort & Club in Austin, Texas, and senior regional superintendent for Club Corp.; Terry Buchen, CGCS, president of Golf Agronomy International; Ray Davies, CGCS, director of golf course maintenance and construction for CourseCo; Chris Wilczynski of Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest Design; and Jeff Brauer, president of GolfScapes.
Criteria for the judging included attention to detail, quality of finish work, return on investment, response to change orders, finishing on time and under budget, effective communication, goals met, weather incurred and anything else that made the project noteworthy.
To enter the awards program, builders must have been at least associate members of the GCBAA and have completed construction and/or renovation of no fewer than 27 holes in the previous two years. Entries were for any 18-hole golf course completed and put into play between September 2003 and October 2004. Foreign golf courses were allowed to be entered.
Entry information for the 2006 Golf Course News Builder Awards will be available this spring at www.golfcoursenews.com or at www.gcbaa.org.