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Golf course architect is at the top of his game
by
Joan Tupponce
Virginia Business
March
2005
Lester
George spends more than 240 days a year on a golf course.
But he's not playing the course, he's planning it.
Touted
as one of the leading young architects in the country
in 1997 by Golf World magazine, George is the owner
of George Golf Design Inc., a Richmond-area firm that
designs, builds, refurbishes and restores golf courses.
"Lester is one of the new, bright designers,"
says Vernon Spratley, a partner in the golf division
of Octagon, a sports marketing company, and the chairman
of the golf committee at the Country Club of Virginia
in Richmond. "He has a great vision for golf courses."
George, 49, loves golf. He knew he wanted to become
a golf course architect midway through his college days
at University of Richmond. But first he had to fulfill
his ROTC commitment. It was during his stint in the
Army that he became a "good terrain analyst,"
he says.
After his tour of duty, George spent three years trying
to land a job at Golf Services International. He was
hired in 1986, working on East Coast projects for a
West Coast-based architect. Five years later, he opened
his own company. "I felt like there was an opportunity
for the renovation of older courses and restoration
of historic courses, as well as an opportunity for building
new courses," he says. "I hung out a shingle
and went to work."
He got his first big break when he was asked to design
The Colonial Golf Course in Williamsburg. "We designed
it from scratch. That got us some notoriety," he
says. The course was listed in 1996 as "One of
the Best New Courses in America" by The Golfer
magazine.
George received attention once again when he designed
and built Kinloch Golf Club in Goochland County. Golf
Digest gave it a nod as "Best New Private Course
of 2001." In 2004, Golfweek magazine ranked it
as No. 9 on its list of "100 Greatest Modern Golf
Courses." "Kinloch is Lester's masterpiece,"
says Jim Searle, who serves as a consultant to The Greenbrier
resort in West Virginia. "It's one of the finest
I have played, and I have played all over the world."
George cites the Forest Hills Golf and Resort in Hiroshima,
Japan, as his most glamorous project. "The original
architect was let go, and we were called in to finish
the municipal golf course, an $80 million project,"
he says, noting that figure is almost 12 times the cost
of a typical course in the United States. Another career
highlight was building the Ocean City Golf and Yacht
Club in Maryland, his first coastal course.
George began restoring historic courses after rebuilding
the Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.,
an old course where Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro
Open four times. George recently finished restoring
the James River Course at the Country Club of Virginia
and is now restoring the Old White Course at The Greenbrier,
taking it back to its 1922 look and play. "Lester
is very hands-on," says Spratley. "He takes
great pride in his work. Some architects are known for
designing a hard golf course, but Lester makes it good
for all types of play. It's a real work of art. He's
doing a masterful job."
Restoring historic courses is difficult, George says.
"It's painstaking, detailed work. You have to bring
something back to its original glamour or standard."
Searle considers George an innovative architect. "He
has a marvelous sense of the history of the game,"
he says. "The Old White Course had lost the integrity
of its initial design. He has recaptured that. Because
golf is livelier today, certain elements [of the initial
course] wouldn't challenge the modern game. He had to
make adjustments."
George also builds courses on brownfields (onetime polluted
areas). He recently finished a course in Norfolk on
the old city landfill — 53 acres on the Elizabeth
River. The dump was closed in 1970. He also built the
School Street First Tee course in Richmond on an old
landfill site. This project followed the first First
Tee golf course in the United States, which George built
in Chesterfield County. First Tee is part of a national
initiative to make golf accessible to youth.
When building over brownfields, "the main challenge
is that environmental standards don't allow you to excavate
into the landfill. You must maintain the protective
cap," George says. "You can't violate that.
It's pretty hairy. You have to be very careful. You
don't want to expose the garbage and let it leech back
in the surrounding water supply."
These days, George and his company of five employees
are working on 10 projects that stretch from Florida
to Delaware. He considers each one a child. And, this
dad doesn't play favorites. "My favorite course
is the next one."
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