Brent Wadsworth, GCA & Golf Construction Company Founder

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Recently passed last week:
http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/02/07/brent-wadsworth-local-philantropist-and-founder-of-golf-construction-business-dies/arsv86c/




https://www.gcsaa.org/gcm/2017/january/lasting-impressions
You could say Brent Wadsworth benefited from insider knowledge when he recorded a hole-in-one on May 20, 1982.
The blessed event happened on No. 4 of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. A perfectionist at heart, Wadsworth certainly put his heart and soul into that particular golf course. He did build the place, after all.
Brent Wadsworth entered the golf course construction business in 1958, and his company is still going strong. Wadsworth Golf Construction’s profile of customers includes Augusta National Golf Club. Photo courtesy of Wadsworth Golf ConstructionThere is a pretty good possibility that you’ve played on a golf course Wadsworth built. Wadsworth Golf Construction Co., established in 1958 in Plainfield, Ill., has built or remodeled nearly 900 golf courses in 47 states.
“Golf is such a great game. I have pursued it all of my life,” says Wadsworth, who will turn 88 in March. “I’ve gotten to know mountains, lakes, rivers and prairies.”
The industry is better because of him, golf course architect Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D., says. “His work transcends this whole industry. Everybody knows the name Wadsworth. He built that reputation by doing outstanding work,” says Hurdzan, who received GCSAA’s highest honor, the Old Tom Morris Award, in 2013. “In my mind, he is the first national golf course builder. I really think Wadsworth set the trend for what the business ought to be. He set the model. Everyone else had to live up to it.”
One of the courses Wadsworth’s company did some work on was Augusta National Golf Club, home to the Masters. “The golf course industry is a small world with a great family of people,” says Marsh Benson, who was superintendent at Augusta National at the time. “I think what glues that family together and makes it seem tighter in relationships has to do with the development of young individuals through mentoring. That mentoring causes ripples to flow through the industry, and I can think of no better example than Brent Wadsworth and his company as representatives of this mentoring rippling through our industry.”
Wadsworth’s passion for the land can be traced to his roots as a young boy who lived at 956 Buell Ave. in Joliet, Ill. “It started as a kid, mowing our lawn. I loved trying to make it look good,” he says. In time, he studied landscape architecture at the University of Illinois before serving in the U.S. Air Force, working for the National Security Agency, an intelligence organization launched in 1952. “We were instrumental in trying to keep track of what might affect our country in one way or another,” Wadsworth says.
What happened next had everything to do with golf. In 1954, Wadsworth joined golf course architect Larry Packard to form Packard and Wadsworth. Four years later, Wadsworth decided to shift his attention to golf course construction, launching his own business during the time the emergence of Arnold Palmer was revolutionizing the game. “I liked to get outside, work with the ground,” he says. “Back in those days, they didn’t have as many golf courses. Fortunately, it came at the right time in my life. Golf was expanding.”
Among the courses his company has built are Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., The Country Club at Castle Pines in Castle Rock, Colo., and Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Wadsworth constructed all four courses at Innisbrook Resort, each of which was designed by Packard. No matter the architect, Wadsworth always had one goal. “You wanted to please them. You wanted to do what they wanted — that was my goal,” Wadsworth says. “They were behind the design; I tried to provide for their interests.”

[Jeff Schley]

Being from the Joliet area, this man did a lot for the community. His company did a remodel of Innwood GC in the late 80's, one of the three Joliet Park District Courses, where my dad has worked part time for 35 years and shook his hand once while there.

Joliet is known for Statesville Prison and Joliet Jake Blues, total blue collar city.  Mr. Wadsworth gave back and was proud of where he came from although he was certainly one of the richest men in the area.  RIP and you will be missed.