Brian Costello has been elected president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), at the organisation’s 78th annual meeting, which took place in San Francisco, California.

“ASGCA members are ambassadors of the game, whether we are crossing county lines, state lines or international date lines,” said Costello. “I always considered it a responsibility to represent myself, my firm [JMP Golf Design Group], 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 have value. It identifies a significant achievement and is representative of the favourable impact that our membership has on the golf industry.”

Costello grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and experienced various highly regarded public and private courses as a young caddy and competitive golfer. This early exposure to Golden Age designs strongly influenced Costello’s fondness for classic and traditional layouts.

After graduating from University of California-Davis, Costello joined Hargreaves Associates, a landscape architecture and planning firm based in San Francisco. Five years later, he joined JMP Golf Design Group and became a principal of the firm in 1994.

Costello’s designs include Blackstone Golf & Resort in Jeju, Korea; Golden Palm Country Club in Kagoshima, Japan; Fazenda da Grama Golf Club in São Paulo, Brazil; and Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club in California.

The ASGCA annual meeting also saw golf course designer Robert Trent Jones, Jr. receive the organisation’s Donald Ross Award, which is presented each year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and profession of golf course architecture. “Robert Trent Jones, Jr. is a living history of ASGCA and the profession of golf course architecture,” said immediate ASGCA past president Mike Benkusky.

Read more about Brian Costello and the ASGCA annual meeting in the next edition of By Design magazine, which is compiled by the team responsible for Golf Course Architecture. Subscribe to By Design via www.asgca.org.