My golf course architectural career began with an internship with Arthur Hills and Associates back in the summer of 1978. The team back then consisted of Arthur, two part-time secretaries, and a landscape architect who did drafting work. I started full-time on June 18, 1979, the day after the US Open concluded at The Inverness Club in Toledo.

I played golf during high school and also was intrigued with scaled architectural models. When it came time to select a major for college, I selected the "landscape architecture" option because it sounded like it might be a nice combination of golf and architecture. As a sophomore in college, I learned about golf course architects and later contacted the American Society of Golf Course Architects for a membership roster. I wrote all sixty members seeking a summer internship. I received twenty responses and nineteen of those were negative, so my path in life was pretty clear at that point. I always knew that I would love the profession once I learned what it was all about.

I received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Virginia Tech in 1979. That's long before the Hokies were a national football power!

When it comes to the overall atmosphere and setting, I think it's really hard to beat the experience at Turnberry on the southwest coast of Scotland. There's a grand old hotel situated high on a hillside with spectacular views of two golf courses and the sea beyond. The Ailsa Course is true linksland with all the challenging humps, bumps and mounds you'd expect. There's wind, there's water, and there's even a scenic lighthouse!

Although I don't have an official USGA handicap at the moment, I usually take an 18 when I'm playing in an outing or industry tournament. Unfortunately, I've never had too many complaints about being a sandbagger. My best score ever is a 76, but you'll usually find me coming in somewhere between 85 and 95 on most courses. It seems that the play frequency comes in "all or nothing" spurts. I may play five times in one week at a conference, and then not again for three weeks. Many times, I'm playing a very difficult golf course for the first time, so I figure that I'd be a single-digit player if I stuck with easier courses! (yeah, right)

My first hole-in-one came when I was still in high school. My older brother had come into town and he sneaked on the local country club course where my parents were members in order to play with me. I aced the 16th hole, but we couldn't tell anybody about it under the circumstances. He later sent me the ball mounted on a plaque that said, "Secret Hole-in-One---July 13, 1974".

At times, we'll hit test shots on holes under construction. I hit an approach shot to the 15th green at the Eagle Ridge Golf Club at Yatesville Lake State Park near Ashland, Kentucky. The ball landed short of the green and rolled back down the approach slope. There was a drain inlet at the bottom which was missing its top. The ball went into the drain inlet and came out of the pipe some ninety feet away in the woods, where the pipe emptied into a stream! That wasn't exactly the way that we designed it.

I was into model railroading as a hobby when the children were young, but that has been "sidetracked." Now I like to go for walks in the local metroparks or bicycling. I went skiing (downhill) for the first time several years ago, and would like to pursue that more in the future.

I really like the strategic approach that Pete Dye incorporates into his golf courses. As far as aesthetics are concerned, the Tillinghast look is quite attractive to me.

I would like to design a course either along the Pacific coastline or somewhere in the Canadian Rockies. I can think of no more dramatic places on earth.