Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Golfers are hitting the ball farther off the tee these days--thanks to advances in equipment technology--and that means new challenges for landscape architects and others who design the courses.
"The major challenge facing golf course architects today is to integrate golf courses into the landscape in an environmentally friendly way," noted Glenn Cook, a Mississippi State University associate professor of landscape architecture.
"Advances in golf equipment technology are allowing greater numbers of golfers to hit balls farther," he said. "On average, golf courses now have to be about 35 percent larger than approximately 15 years ago to keep them safe.
"Land is becoming a precious commodity and about 200 acres is required for a full-sized, 18-hole course," observed Cook, a registered landscape architect and planning consultant with some 40 years of practical experience and academic work in the field.
"Golf course architects first design courses based on a thorough inventory and analysis of the land, both on- and off-site," he added. "Environmental friendliness is a key word for golf course architecture."
A self-described "golfer who has aspirations of becoming an adequate one," the 66-year-old Cook is way beyond adequate in his highly specialized profession. He is among only about 4 percent of the estimated 16,000 members of the American Society of Landscape Architects to have been recognized as a Fellow by their peers.
Recently, Cook returned from Scotland, where he served as an invited external examiner for a master's degree program in golf course architecture offered by the Edinburgh College of Art, School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. He is in a four-year term in that capacity.
"The role of external examiners is to ensure quality of an academic program," said Cook, whose job at Edinburgh was to assess student performance.
"Glenn evaluated one of only two golf course architecture programs in the world--the other being at Michigan State University," said Pete Melby, a fellow landscape architecture professor and co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Design. "This is a big honor for our department, our profession and the university."
A major branch of landscape architecture, golf course architecture seeks to create a greater golf course by utilizing a promising piece of land to its fullest potential. Although the specialty area currently does not require licensing, the landscape architecture profession is regulated by licensing in most jurisdictions for the public good.
Cook said the typical career path involves combining a keen interest in the sport of golf with the study of landscape architecture. Most opportunities for entry-level or experienced golf course architects is for remedial work, or renovation, as courses around the globe seek to expand or improve their available sites, he added.
"With golf's spiraling popularity over the years, the demand for new golf courses seems to have been met with big-name golfers hiring persons who have expertise in designing courses to fit the land," he said.
A member of the MSU faculty since 1978, Cook earned a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University in 1964 and a master's in urban and regional planning from the University of Mississippi in 1986. He is the author of "Innovative Outdoor Recreation Developments" (2000, National Recreation & Park Association).
MSU's landscape architecture program began in 1964 as a four-year degree in the horticulture department and evolved over the years into an independent department, now headed on an interim basis by Lynn Reinschmiedt within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The department offers two undergraduate degree programs and a master's program.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Cook at 662-325-7898 or gcook@lalc.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.