INVgolf Directory / Arthur Hills / Steve Forrest and Associates / Company profile

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Arthur Hills / Steve Forrest and Associates

Company profile

Arthur Hills / Steve Forrest and Associates are rightfully considered among the game's elite practitioners of golf course architecture. To date, there are more than 180 of the firm's original designs -- a diverse collection golf communities, private clubs, resorts and daily-fee developments -- in play across the United States, Europe and Asia.

The firm's reputation, built by 40 years of award-winning designs, rests on its ability to craft distinctive course projects that are at once playable and challenging, dramatic yet traditional, innovative but constructed to the highest standards of environmental sensitivity. Hills has stated, "We try to build a course that is natural, that relates to the land and doesn't require a tremendous amount of earth moving - always keeping in mind the strategy of the game and the elements that provide beauty in a golf course."

Over the past four decades, Arthur Hills, past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), has presided over design efforts from the firm's Toledo, Ohio headquarters. Steve Forrest, Arthur's partner of 25 years, was named a principal in the firm - the newly entitled Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates - in 1999. Senior Design Associates Brian Yoder, ASGCA, Drew Rogers, ASGCA, and Chris Wilczynski, ASGCA - in addition to Vice President of Global Business Development Quentin Lutz - round out the firm's executive committee. Hills/Forrest strongly believes that working as a team - leveraging its more than 120 years of golf course design experience - collectively creates unique, lasting, award-winning golf courses for its clients.

The firm's celebrated original work includes Longaberger Golf Club (Hanover, Ohio), honored in January 2001 by Golf Digest as America's Best New Upscale Public Course, and Portugal's Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe (located within the Sintra-Cascais National Park, close to the Guincho beach and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean), recognised as "Best New Course in Mainland Europe" by Golf Monthly International in 2002. Bolingbrook Golf Club (Bolingbrook, Illinois) and Maryland National Golf Club (Middletown, Maryland) were both listed among Golf Magazine's "Top 10 New Courses of the Year" for 2003. Bay Harbor Golf Club (Petoskey, Michigan), The Links at Lighthouse Sound (Ocean City, Maryland), Shepherd's Hollow (Clarkston, Michigan), Shaker Run Golf Club (Lebanon, Ohio) and Longaberger GC were all featured in Golf Digest's and Golf Magazine's Top 100 Public Course rankings for 2002 and 2003. Past Golf Digest Top 100 rankings have included the Tournament Players Club at Eagle Trace (Coral Springs, Florida), The Bonita Bay Club (Bonita Bay, Florida) and The Golf Club of Georgia (Atlanta, Georgia).

In 1992, Golf Digest honoured Arthur Hills by naming The Golf Club of Georgia and Harbour Pointe Golf Club (Seattle) as America's "Best New Private" and "Best New Public" courses of the year, respectively. It was the first time a single architect captured both plaudits in the same year, a feat since duplicated only once. Arthur has twice been recognised as the consensus Golf Course Architect of the Year by the Golf Writers of America Association.

In 1995, Collier's Reserve Golf Club (Naples, Florida) became the first course in the world to earn Audubon International's "Cooperative Gold Signature Sanctuary" status, golf's highest environmental honour. When it opened in 2001, Oitavos Golfe became Audubon's first International "Gold Signature Sanctuary" course. It remains the only course outside the U.S. to be so honoured.

Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates has also been called upon to restore or renovate more than 120 existing courses, including renowned clubs like Oakmont, Inverness, Congressional and Oakland Hills. The firm was instrumental in guiding Oakmont and Oakland Hills (host site for the 2004 Ryder Cup Matches) through several renovation improvements in preparation for their respective U.S. Open Championships, in 1994 and 1996. In 1999, a major renovation program at Inverness was executed in an effort to position the club for future major championships, including the 2003 U.S. Senior Open.

In total, 34 of the firm's designs have hosted a PGA Tour, Champions Tour, LPGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, USGA, PGA of America, NCAA Championship and European Tour events. Most recently, Oitavos Golfe played host to the European Tour's 2005 Open of Portugal. Gaillardia Golf & Country Club (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) was site of the Champion's Tour's season ending championship in 200, and Mirasol Golf & Country Club (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida) played host to the PGA Tour's Honda Classic. As host course, Bighorn Golf Club (Palm Desert, California) was instrumental in popularizing a pair of made-for-television events, The Skins Games and the Battle of Bighorn.

The Vintage Club in Bangkok, Thailand is host site for the Asian PGA Tour Championship, and The Hills Golf Club in Gothenburg, Sweden, scheduled to open in 2005, will be the future site of the Scandinavian Masters and other prestigious international tournaments.

Other highly acclaimed new designs from Hills/Forrest include Ironbridge Golf Club (Glenwood Springs, Colorado), Palencia Golf Club (Jacksonville, Florida) The Golf Club at Fiddler's Creek (Naples, Florida), Black Gold Golf Club (Yorba Linda, California), The Renaissance Club (Fort Myers, Florida), Miami Beach Golf Club (Miami, Florida), Rose Creek Golf Club (Edmond, Oklahoma) and Eagle Ridge Golf Club (Yatesville, Kentucky).

Other popular designs include: Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort (San Antonio, Texas), Arthur Hills Course at Palmetto Hall Plantation (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina), Arthur Hills Course at Palmetto Dunes (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina), Half Moon Bay Golf Links (Half Moon Bay, California), El Conquistador Resort (Las Croabas, Puerto Rico), The Sanctuary Golf Club (Sanibel Island, Florida), Chaska Town Course (Chaska, Minnesota), Stonewall Orchard Golf Club (Grayslake, Illinois), Arthur Hills Course at Boyne Highlands Resort (Harbor Springs, Michigan), Camelback Golf Club-Resort Course (Scottsdale, Arizona) and the soon to open Olde Stone Golf Club in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

For additional information on our golf course architectural firm please visit www.ArthurHills.com.