irb (The Turf Institute), turfgrass specialists and consultants in Thun, Switzerland have formed a cooperative partnership with Swan Golf Designs, international golf course architects, based in England, to work together in golf development in Switzerland and central Europe.
Switzerland has presently about 75 golf courses and according to Erich Steiner, chief Executive of irb, “The future is bright and encouraging in seeing more people playing the game and the number of facilities continuing to expand.”
Steiner, who will lead the Swiss half of the partnership, is an acknowledged landscape architect and turfgrass consultant at The Turf Institute (services sector of Eric Schweizer Seeds Ltd). He has had experience in golf course architecture in Switzerland as well as elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East.
Swan Golf Designs are practising in some 25 countries and their team represents one of the most experienced and respected architectural firms in Europe, specialising in golf course development.
Howard Swan, a past president of The European Institute of Golf Course Architects, leads a team of six (four of whom are in the EIGCA membership) and adds, “I am very pleased to see our cooperation in Switzerland beginning with Erich Steiner and irb and shall look forward to our working together to design and develop more golf courses. This partnership, which adds to those we have in Slovenia, Italy, Russia and China, gives us an opportunity to provide irb with our expertise and experience in furthering Swiss golf”.
Swan Golf Designs Ltd www.swangolfdesigns.com
The Turf Institute www.turf-institute.ch