Andrew Soulsby is one of the new generation of Scottish golf course architects. Scotland is the birthplace of golf and remains the game’s homeland with 502 golf course facilities and one (18-hole equivalent) golf course per 10,700 persons. The resident golfer population in Scotland amounts to half a million and some 180,000 golf tourists visit every year. Little wonder then that so many of the best-known golf course architects of the past are Scottish such as James Braid, Tom Morris and Donald Ross. These are the men in whose footsteps Andrew hopes to follow.
Like these men, Andrew was brought up in St Andrews and his inbred passion for the game has resulted in a well-developed eye for all that excels in golf course design. He has played over 175 of Scotland’s courses and a further 70 courses in mainland Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States of America. He remains a keen golfer himself and competed in the Scottish Amateur Championship several times.
Andrew recently completed a Professional Diploma in Golf Course Design, run in conjunction with the European Institute of Golf Course Architects and was presented with the EIGCA’s Toro Student of the Year Award at their 2007 President’s dinner. He also holds an honours degree in Engineering Science from Aberdeen University and a Masters degree in Technology Management from Heriot Watt and Strathclyde Universities.
In 2004, he undertook a fact-finding tour in the United States, hosted by the Vice-president of the Minnesota Golf Association. There, he studied the design techniques of well-known architects such as fellow Scots, Willie Park Jr. (Minneapolis), Donald Ross (Minikahda, Interlachen, Woodhill) and Tom Bendelow (Edina) and famous American architects, Jack Nicklaus (Bearpath) and Robert Trent Jones (Hazeltine). He has also studied the heathland courses of Surrey, England, through hosted visits to Wentworth, Queenwood, Walton Heath and Hankley Common and personal visits to Colt’s masterpieces at Sunningdale and St. George’s Hill.
