Four architects were elevated to full membership of the American Society of Golf Course Architects at the organisation's recent annual meeting in Seattle.

The four, Jeff Lucovsky, vice president of Mark McCumber’s design practice, and Jeffrey Blume, Lester George and Gary Stephenson, all of whom run their own firms.

Virginia-based George has just finished the exciting new Ballyhack course in the west of the state, while Stephenson, who works out of Arizona, has been spending time in Scotland handling the renovation of the Torrance course at the Fairmont St Andrews resort.

ASGCA associates must have designed at least five eighteen hole golf courses and have practiced for a minimum of eight years. Regular membership in ASGCA is earned after a member has been an associate for three years and designed or remodelled two additional courses.

Also at the ASGCA meeting, veteran architect Jay Morrish was nominated as a fellow of the society. Morrish, who served as ASGCA president in 2002-2003, has been an ASGCA member since 1989. He began his career working for Robert Trent Jones as a construction superintendent, worked for a number of years for Jack Nicklaus and formed his own company in 1983. With his long-time collaborator Tom Weiskopf, Morrish designed the Loch Lomond course in Scotland, host of the Scottish Open.