Golf course architects are very special people. And we golfers are the beneficiaries because they have brought their talent to the table of life. How lucky we are to play this wonderful game on these simply beautiful venues which they design and create! Whether they sculpt on paper, with a stick, on a bull-dozer or on the computer, it matters not. Their art and sensitivity play the major roles.
I remember at the age of 12 going with my Dad, Percy Clifford, to the course he had designed, which came to be known as the Club de Golf Mexico in Mexico City. He was beginning to stake it out and we went out to one section, still covered with corn stalks and he turned to me and said “there, see those eucalyptus trees way down there? They will be the backdrop for the twelfth green.” Well, I certainly trusted his vision because all I could see was dirt, sand and corn stalks. And during this time Mother was upset because Dad had scratched the dining room table-top. That is where he worked on his plans and topo maps until the late hours of the night. The foresight and artistry were there… and what passion! Mother decided the table could always be refinished while creativity was of the moment!
There are people who are of the opinion that nothing happens by accident and that there are no coincidences in life. I am one of those people, especially when it comes to our involvement with the American Society of Golf Course Architects. As you will read in these pages, it was like “The House that Jack built;” this would not be but for that taking place and that would not have happened had it not been for such and such. Back in the sixties, Paul Fullmer was in the public relations business when the connection with the ASGCA came about. I was the daughter of a golf course architect, who was a member of the ASGCA, and I was married to Paul Fullmer and … well, you get the idea. I am very proud of my husband and grateful for the many contributions he has made to the Society and to the world of golf. He brought stability to the organization and public awareness these past 35 years to the wonderful work of these architects.
The travel and the many extraordinary people we have met have been a gift we both hold dear and, yes, this book is dedicated to all those “special people.”
Sandra Clifford Fullmer
October, 2005