Council Member Simon Gidman has been elected as the new President of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects at the first Annual General Meeting of the EIGCA. Peter Harradine was re-elected as Vice-President.
Following his election Simon immediately thanked outgoing President David Williams for his work and guidance since the inception of the new Institute. He paid special tribute to David’s reorganization of the Institute’s Committee structure and his work on Continual Professional Development courses.
Simon continued; “It is a great honour to be elected as President and I am looking forward to working to further develop the role of the Institute in the coming year within the golf industry and beyond. The next twelve months should be an exciting period for the EIGCA particularly with our intention to hold a conference in the autumn devoted to the planning of golf and real estate communities.”
Simon first entered golf course architecture with Hawtree in 1983 after studying Landscape Architecture at Leeds Polytechnic between 1979 and 1982 and prior to that having worked as a professional golfer for six years. In 1991 Simon set up his own golf course architecture company and has now designed more than 35 golf courses throughout Europe. He has served on the Committee of the EIGCA and before that the BIGCA for many years and has chaired the Institute’s sub-committee investigating safety margins on golf courses.
Amongst the other business conducted at the AGM, this year’s EIGCA Diploma Course graduates were awarded their certificates. In addition the recipient of the Toro Student Golf Course Architect of the Year Award was confirmed as Dimitri van Hauwaert. Dimitri wins an all expenses trip to the United States which will include visits to Toro’s headquarters in Minneapolis and their irrigation plant in California, as well as the opportunity to study some of USA’s finest courses. The winner of the Barenbrug Award was Richard Myers who will travel to Holland to visit Barenbrug’s extensive turf trial plots. Other students who graduated were Ljubica Jovetic (Distinction), James Black, Peter Freeman, Alenka Ivancic-Felicijan and Gà¼nther Schrecklinger.
Also at the AGM Tim Lobb and Marc Westenborg were accepted as new Associates of the Institute bringing the total number of members of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects to 116.
The launch of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects’ new web site was also confirmed. This will provide contact details for all EIGCA members as well as information on golf course architecture, educational courses run by the Institute and articles on golf related issues. News items will be updated frequently to keep all visitors to the web site informed on the work of the Institute and its membership.
EIGCA www.eigca.org