The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA*) elected Brian Costello of Belmont, CA, president at its recent 78th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Costello graduated from the University of California-Davis in 1983 with a degree in Landscape Architecture. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, his father introduced him to golf at the age of 8. He soon became a caddy and competitive golfer, exposed to the Bay Area’s public and private golf courses. This early exposure and the historical courses of the town strongly influenced Costello’s fondness for classic and traditional layouts.
After college, he joined Hargreaves Associates, a landscape architecture and planning firm based in San Francisco. During his five years there, Costello developed an appreciation for the powerful experiences that can be created through sculptural landforms and contextual landscapes. His golf designs reflect a commitment to experiencing the game as defined by its setting with a dramatic “wow factor” and have been described as “modern classics.”
In 1989, Costello joined JMP Golf Design Group and became a principal of the firm in 1994. Some of his noteworthy designs worldwide include Whiskey Creek Golf Club, Ijamsville, MD; Callippe Preserve Golf Course, Pleasanton, CA; Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club, Palo Alto, CA; The Gorge at Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, WA; Blackstone Golf & Resort, Jeju, Korea; Blackstone Golf Club, Icheon, Korea; 360° Country Club, Yeoju, Korea; Belnatio Golf Club, Tokamachi, Japan; Nasu Chifuriko, Tochigi, Japan; Golden Palm Country Club, Kagoshima, Japan; and Fazenda da Grama Golf Club, Itupeva, São Paulo, Brazil.
“ASGCA members are ambassadors of the game, whether we are crossing county lines, state lines or international date lines,” Costello said. “I always considered it a responsibility to represent myself, my firm and by extension, the ASGCA in the best light. Having the ‘comma ASGCA’ following your name has value. Having the ASGCA letters and logo on your work product, business card, letterhead, and social media presence has value. It identifies a significant achievement and is representative of the favorable impact that our membership has on the golf industry.”
As a registered landscape architect in California, Costello became an ASGCA member in 2001.
*Founded in 1946 by Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones and 12 other architects, the ASGCA is a non-profit organization comprising experienced golf course designers in North America. Members have completed a rigorous application process, including peer review of representative golf courses. ASGCA members can counsel on all aspects of golf course design and remodeling and include many of the great talents throughout the golf industry.
Images courtesy ASGCA, Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club
