A. John Harvey, ASGCA, ASLA - President




John at Royal Dornoch Golf Club - 

Dornoch Scotland   Hole #13 "Bents" -  2008       

                              

                                                                                                 

        A . JOHN HARVEY, ASGCA, ASLA

       Golf Course Architect / Landscape Architect

 

EDUCATION

MEMBERSHIPS & ASSOCIATIONS


EXPERIENCE

Prior to forming A. John Harvey Golf Course Design, LLC in 2011, he joined forces with The RBA Group, in September of 2002 as Senior Golf Course Architect and Director of the Golf Division. Starting in 1995, he was Golf Course Design Associate of the Roger Rulewich Group, LLC where he served 7 years with the course design and construction firm. In addition, he worked with Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and Roger G. Rulewich for 8 years as Design Associate as part of the Robert Trent Jones Companies who offered its clients both design and construction. It was with Jones’ firm in 1988, where he got his start in the profession of course architecture. This experience also allowed him to work closely with the Mr. Jones’ construction arm of the company, Florida Golf Corporation. During his senior year of college, he studied at Gloucester College of Art and Technology in Gloucester, England and Warsaw College of Design in Warsaw Poland. This experience exposed him to the golf courses and their landscapes throughout his travels in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and much of Europe.

             It was during his studies abroad as he spent many hours sketching and admiring the landscape of the Old Course at St. Andrews and Westward-Ho that he was profoundly influenced and developed a keen interest and passion for the game realizing his calling to golf course architecture.

Upon completion of his course work at MSU, he accepted a position as an entry-level golf course designer to Mr. Jones and Mr. Rulewich at their offices in Montclair, New Jersey. John soon became involved with a busy workload of projects both stateside and abroad. Under these talented and prolific golf course architects, he assisted in the preparation of layouts, plans, specifications and proposals for numerous new design and remodeling projects. This included hands-on involvement with courses during the design and construction process and on-site supervision of all work through completion.

Many of the projects he has worked on required extensive planning on environmentally sensitive sites and John has developed the skills necessary to shepherd design projects through the complex and sometimes lengthy permit and approval process. He has successfully demonstrated the need and negotiated environmental impacts necessary for the construction of projects with Local, State and Federal Agencies on numerous renovations and new course design projects. This process often involves a complete route plan alternative analysis to reduce site impacts to the maximum extent practicable while still developing quality golf.

He understands the need to balance site conditions with sound golf design principles and the importance of assembling a qualified, well-disciplined team to coordinate the complex planning and approval process for timely construction. His projects have involved designing courses on a number of physically challenging sites including sand and gravel mines, pits, rock quarries, intracoastal soil disposal sites, brownfields, properties containing historic Roman Roads and ancient woodlands, steep terrain, rock outcroppings, wetlands and on the banks of municipal drinking water reservoirs.

John is the author of several environmental case studies for successful golf course projects. He has served as a guest lecturer at Rutgers University for several turfgrass courses. He also has presented at the American Society of Golf Course Architect’s “Remodeling University – A Short Course to a Better Course.” His projects have also appeared as feature stories in a number of golf course industry periodicals.

John enjoys working on the design of new courses and developing master plans for course improvements on existing public and private golf courses. Field design and direction of feature shaping is where he excels as a “hands-on” designer with his attention to detail and project coordination with both client and construction team. The design of new courses and renovation of existing facilities is an important mix of both art and a science. This balance is well represented in his work ethic and embodied in his designs.

He feels that the foundation to a spectacular course starts with the routing plan, and the delicate remodeling or renovation of an existing course lends an appreciation to the original design intent and perceived shot values. While it is important to understand the clientele of the course facility, it is also necessary to consider the advances in golf equipment, increasing ball flight/distance and maintenance practices with respect to what impacts they have on the design during the planning process.

His work with two of the most revered names in golf course architecture, Messer’s, Jones and Rulewich has provided him the expertise to work on a myriad of projects. John continues to nurture longstanding client relationships and forges new ones with the goal of developing a host of valued clients and representative quality courses.

John is active on several golf sustainability councils, participating with industry leaders in developing position papers on the value of a golf course concerning people, planet and profit.

He also enjoys collecting, driving and restoring classic automobiles, especially Oldsmobile Cutlass/442 muscle cars from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

 

Hole #8 at Fairview Country Club - Greenwich, Connecticut

                                                                     


A few of our favorite quotes:

 

    “Bunkers are not meant to be places pleasure, they are prisons for punishment and repentance.”  

     ~ Old Tom Morris

     "There is no such thing as a misplaced bunker.  Regardless of where the bunker may be, it is the business of the player to avoid it.”   

     ~ Donald J. Ross

    "The merit of any hole is not judged by its length, but rather by its interest and its variety as elective play is apparent."

    ~  A. W. Tillinghast

    "The most successful course is one that will test the skill of the most advanced player, without discouraging the duffer, while adding to the enjoyment of      both."

    ~ Stanley Thompson

    *Our favorite funny one...... 

"Golf is a game where you yell 'fore', shoot six and write down five."

    ~ Paul Harvey  (Come on... there must be a three-putt in there somewhere????)

        

Another great one......  

"Golf is a funny game.  It is also a tantalizing, frustrating, fascinating game...  I suppose the one saving grace is that we soon forget our disappointments and learn to remember and laugh at our own foolishness." 

   ~ Bobby Jones

Well said gentlemen!