Bill Amick

“I want to see smiling golfers on the 18th green!”

This motto best describes William “Bill” Amick's approach to golf design. Each of the more than 75 new golf courses he designed in the last two and a half decades reflects his philosophy. This approach to sculpting new and remodeling existing courses has gained Bill a distinguished reputation with course developers, golf industry professionals, fellow golf course architects, and most importantly – golfers!

As a teenager, he was already a good player when he decided to become a golf course architect. He earned a BA degree and was a Graduate Assistant under a USGA Green Section Scholarship. Bill gained valuable experience in the field by working for golf architects in Indianapolis and Atlanta.

After years of studying and training, he realized his dream by opening his design practice in 1959. It is now the oldest golf course architectural office in Florida. In 1977, Bill was elected president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He has also recently been elected a Fellow in the ASGCA.

While most of his projects are still of traditional length and par, Bill feels confident that more and more new public golf courses should be smaller and less expensive to build in the future. This growing concept appeals to many golf course developers because it reduces land requirements, construction costs, annual maintenance budgets, water usage, and environmental impact concerns.

Today, these smaller or "saving" courses also appeal to many golfers who may not have the time or skills to play more demanding layouts. A saving course attracts a wide range of golfers, including juniors, beginners of all ages, lesser-skilled golfers, shorter hitters, and people with disabilities.

With saving courses, both golfers and course operators benefit from much lower costs and faster play. Because of his strong belief in this expanding trend, Bill Amick is now concentrating an increasing portion of his time designing and teaching others about, these saving courses.

Image(s) published courtesy of: www.amickgca.com/

Website: https://asgca.org/architect/wamick/