Thirteenth Beach Golf LinksBellarine Peninsula - AUSTRALIA

GRC GOLF DESIGN - ABOUT US

LEADERSHIP

The GRC Group’s golf design division is under the leadership of 12-year veteran of the industry and qualifi ed architect, Cameron MacKellar. Cameron began working in the golf industry in 1992 as an assistant superintendent at the prestigious Grange Golf Club in South Australia. After serving more than 6-years in this position, he was then appointed as a PGA Tour Caddy for Australian left-hander, Richard Green from 1999 - 2002, traveling on the European, Australasian and US PGA Golf Tours. During this time Cameron experienced the technical aspects of courses worldwide from a unique perspective.

In 2004, Cameron moved to the USA to pursue his passion in the golf design fi eld, culminating in the award of his Master’s Degree in Environmental Design (majoring in Golf Course Architecture) at the Michigan State University in 2007. He has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, North America, South America, Asia and Europe, developing a comprehensive understanding of golf architecture, and working with many of the industry’s top-level designers. In 2008, he partnered with experienced hotelier, Duane Lee, developing golf course designs across the globe. He has been engaged by media circles globally to contribute articles relating to the future of golf course design globally and currently holds memberships at the USGA, USGBC, RAIA, GCSAA and ASGCA. PHILOSOPHY

GRC Golf Design adheres to the time-honored ‘lay of the land’ approach. Our creative designs encourage new membership at private clubs and increased revenues for resorts and daily-fee operations. Our clients’ profi tability is further served by our design principles; which are both traditional and progressive; using a minimalist aesthetic that is deferential to the landscape like all great courses built during the Golden Age of Golf Course Architecture. Our courses are beautiful, strategic, and inexpensive to construct and maintain.

Our team produces designs that are environmentally sensitive, built on time and under budget. GRC Group understands that our clients are best served when their clients—golfers—enjoy their golfi ng experience, which accounts for the many accolades and testimonials from golf media and satisfi ed customers. Thought provoking strategy, playability, affordability, and a great golf experience are the hallmarks of our many awarding-winning projects.

Cameron MacKellar

Enjoying a round at our course - USA

Onsite with client in Bulgaria

EXISTING COURSES

Increasing numbers of private clubs and golf course owners of resort or pay-for-play golf courses have engaged The GRC Group as they realise the need for upgrading, extending or adjusting the planning of their existing courses. In a competitive global golf market, the need to respond to ever-changing conditions arises consistently, and the ability for courses to respond to these needs is critical to ensuring the long-term fi nancial security of the complex.

We have been approached for a variety of reasons, and these include:

1. Remaining competitive – for example, many private golf clubs are suffering as their time-strained members increasingly prefer playing the burgeoning

number of truly excellent, ‘day-out’ destination golf venues.

2. Preserving safety as residential subdivisions come closer to the courses - this may include new residential subdivisions forthcoming at the existing site.

3. Rethinking golf holes in the face of recent golf equipment advances and to ensure playability remains competitive

4. Adding residential areas to the golf courses

5. Responding to changing player demographics

In all such master-planning audits, the GRC group conducts a comprehensive analysis of site challenges and opportunities, reports on these, and makes visual and descriptive recommendations for course adjustments. By careful planning of the design process, we minimize disruption to existing playing conditions, and seek out the inclusion of ‘spare holes’ to facilitate the anticipated construction program.

Walnut Creek Country Club - USA

Holiday Valley Golf / Ski Resort - USA

Roseland Golf / Curling Club - Canada

Meadowbrook Country Club - USA

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

The Master-planning is approached differently depending on the requirements of the site, depending on whether the golf course is being developed within an estate or a resort development, or in isolation.

ESTATES AND REPORTS

If a new residential golf course estate or a new resort development is considered, the master-planning process addresses in great detail all routing, planning and technical matters required to respect the client’s wishes, and establishes with reports and presentation drawings the entire scope of the project. Specialist engineers are available to design for roads and services. Landscape architects set standards and themes for presenting the development beautifully. Budgets are prepared, and project management programmes for the construction episodes are developed.

GOLF COURSES

If a golf course is going to be developed in isolation, without the exigencies of abutting roads or residential infrastructure, the GRC group studies the site to prepare detailed routing plans, often examining and presenting several alternative plans which exploit the land features in different ways.

A key early decision always is where to locate the clubhouse or ‘hub’ control precinct, most often geared to where access roads and services can most economically be brought. Macro-drainage and environmental factors are studied and reported on. The vital questions of irrigation water supply, storage and broad reticulation requirements are addressed. Presentation drawings and documents which describe the recommended plan are prepared both for committees and often for marketing purposes.

Holiday Valley Golf / Ski Resort - USA

Tangiers Golf Club - Morocco

Royal Ranches Golf Resort - Morocco

Smugglers Run - Belize

McCracken Golf Club - Australia

THE DESIGN PROCESS METHODOLOGY

The GRC Group recognizes that each project must be approached with a unique strategy that responds to client, environment and aesthetic conditions, to name a few..... Our experienced team has the proven results to demonstrate that our process not only works on a global bases, but it rates as one of the industry’s most comprehensive and result-driven service offerings.

The GRC Group believes that a great golf course cannot be designed within the two-dimensional boundaries of a piece of paper or a computer screen. Our team strive to discover golf courses more so than design them, to unearth them rather than impose ourselves upon them. It has been my experience that the best-laid plans in ink often go to waste in the dirt. Our hands-on methods are more time consuming but ultimately more rewarding — for us, for our client, and for the golfer.

We have developed a proven design process comprised of fi ve comprehensive and analytical stages:

1. ROUTING

The fundamental building block of an exceptional golf course is a well thought-out routing, as superior execution cannot make up for inferior strategy.

Our fi rst step in the routing stage is information gathering: accurate topographic mapping, wetland delineation maps, geological surveys, analysis of the soils, vegetation, hydrology, etc. We then spend a good deal of time walking the site and learning the lay of the land so as to gain a full understanding of the design constraints and opportunities. We may consider a couple dozen different options before settling on what we believe is the optimal solution.

Whenever possible we prefer to stake the layout ourselves, take our own measurements with a laser rangefi nder, and then have our stakes surveyed and the data transferred back to paper rather than vice-versa. Conventional methods often see the designer divine a routing on paper, which is then laid out on the ground. The routing of a golf course is like the soundtrack to a movie. It sets the tone for what should be a memorable exploration. It should fl ow seamlessly, captivate and intrigue and build to crescendos. The routing is often the unsung hero of an unforgettable golf course.

2. SCHEMATIC DESIGN

If the Routing is the skeleton, the Schematic Design is the meat on the bones. This stage is pivotal because it establishes the style and character, the budget, and the construction parameters and program. Here we conceptualize each hole on the golf course. We create individual sketches and notes for each hole that illustrate and detail our utilization of the existing features, areas in need of modifi cation, construction issues, maintenance requirements, golfi ng strategy, visual appeal, etc.

Using CAD we create Schematic Construction Drawings, which establish approximate requirements for items including topsoil, drainage, etc., after which we produce a Construction Specifi cation that is tailored to suit the site, the course style, and the Superintendent’s necessities. Based on this initial design work we compute a preliminary Bill of Quantities, which in turn we use to calculate a Preliminary Construction Budget.

This conceptual stage allows us to defi ne the style of the golf course and identify the scope of the work required to build it so that our staff, the client, and other members of the project team are all on the proverbial same page. A full-color master-plan rendered to scale is then created and presented to the client, along with a Sketchbook illustrating our thoughts on each hole.

3. DETAILED DESIGN

Our Schematic Design is expanded into Working Drawings for all matters relating to the construction of the golf course (excluding irrigation and civil engineering elements). Our extensive use of CAD at this stage allows for a more accurate calculation of the Bills of Quantities and more detailed Construction Specifi cation. Our plans include everything from clearance to topsoil management, cut & fi ll contours, grading, drainage, as well as numerous other construction components.

We believe that the fi ne art of golf course design is best executed in the fi eld in collaboration with our incredibly talented shapers, who possess the skill and the creativity to form intricate accents with subtle fl air. Depending on the needs of the project and the client we can tailor the detailed design package into a single set of bid/tender documents under various conventions both European and North American.

Walnut Creek Country Club - USA

4. CONSTRUCTION

Whether we are strictly providing the course design or serving as the general contractor as part of a complete design & build package, Our team personally commits to spending a substantial amount of time on every project throughout process.

In addition, a Senior Design Associate and Project Manager is assigned to every project, in support of Cameron MacKellar as the Lead Designer. This team is on site and involved in the day-to-day operation from beginning to end, and their role is communicate design intent and liaise with the client and the contractors.

I like to say that our success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. There are no shortcuts, only commitment and hard work.

5. GROW-IN

As a previous superintendent and golf maintenance professional, Cameron is particularly aware of and sensitive to the wants and needs of the course superintendent. We take great pride in having some of golf’s foremost turf managers on board,

During this period, The GRC Golf Design team coordinate with the Superintendent to achieve technical success in the establishment of good turf, identify mowing patterns to suit maintenance practices, aesthetics, and playability, and also to create the overall look and style of the original design concept. Working with the green-keeping staff, we can help establish maintenance regimes that affect — and ultimately enhance — the course design, such as bunker presentation, mowing patterns, rough establishment, and so on.

This close working relationship is mutually benefi cial, as not only does it help assure our team that the integrity of the course design will be maintained, but it also creates an added measure of enthusiasm and ownership for the Superintendent and the green-keeping staff.

Walnut Creek Country Club - USA

Sweetgrass Golf ClubEscanaba - USA

AOR - A&L

GOLF COURSE / CLUB MANAGEMENT

GRC Golf Club Management has built a solid reputation for anticipating and exceeding our customers’ expectations by providing outstanding facilities and superior service at each and every one of our properties. We seek to make a meaningful contribution to the well-being of our community, our associates, and the game of golf and to provide our customers with a truly memorable experience.

GOLF RESORTS

GRC Group understands, through experience, the commitment to excellence that comes with creating and managing a nationally-ranked golf course or fi rst-rate golf resort. We pride ourselves on providing these facilities with an optimal management team that responds to current market and client requirements globally. By managing all aspects of operations – from lodging and agronomy to food and beverage – we embrace your vision and work diligently to enhance your brand and develop a prosperous asset.

PRIVATE CLUBS

Private Golf Club management has experienced turbulent times during recent years, and this has resulted in pioneering changes to ensure the fi nancial longevity of these facilities. GRC Golf Management has the proven record of results needed to help you achieve the fi nancial success in a changing market. Our commitment to creating experiences that meet the complex and growing demands of your current members and their families - we can help you target and acquire the right membership base while optimizing revenue and profi tability.

GRC’s Golf Management provides the foundation for our innovative approach to private club management and marketing because we provide added value to all of our private golf club members through our associated ventures. We provide incentives to each of our facilities for the re-use of other venues that we operate, sourcing members from our GRC database based on specifi c demographics. As an added benefi t, All GRC members receive preferred-rate greens fees at any of participating Daily-Fee Facilities.

MUNICIPALITIES

GRC Golf Management personnel have managed courses owned by municipalities and public agencies, including park districts, local governments and county governments. From Europe, to the Caribbean and Asian markets we strategically integrate a passion for the sport with our specifi c business structures to operate some of the nation’s top-performing public courses.

The GRC Golf Management team have a proven track record of consistently outperforming industry-wide, municipal golf course averages for rounds and revenue as measured by independent agencies. Our customer service strategies and pioneering retention programs have also helped us to achieve some of the highest customer satisfaction marks globally.

PUBLIC COURSES

Our history with public golf facilities began in 1994 with our management team undertaking various sites throughout Australia and South America. Throughout this period our Senior Management personnel gained valuable experience in the day-to-day operation of public courses. Since that time, Our senior management team has maintained a keen interest in analyzing recent industry and managerial developments, developing regionally based solutions from our global knowledge base.

Today, GRC Golf Management is actively seeking under-performing public courses globally to apply our vision and proven business strategies. We continue to work with multiple stakeholder groups to ensure the collective interest of these teams is recognized and applied under the GRC brand. With our continued success, GRC’s portfolio of global public courses is assured of maintaining the highest level of service standards as recognized by some of the industry’s leading partners.

USA Croatia Morocco

China

China

Australia Australia BahamasUSA

Belize

GRC Group Headquarters

GRC Group Representatives

GRC Group Offi ce Locations

GRC Golf Project (Current / Future)

USA

USA

The Dunes Golf ClubMornington Peninsula - AUSTRALIA

MEDIA

GRC Group and its personnel have received many accreditations and awards for the courses we have designed globally. As a result of our commitment to quality, we have been engaged by many industry media outlets to provide insight into the future of the game. Below is a small sample of our recent contributions and awards to the golf architecture industry:

ARTICLES AWARDS AFFILIATIONSIndian Gaming Magazine - US 2012 - Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play

Challenging and Playable Golf Design - Golf Magazine Top 50 Asian New Courses

Indian Gaming Magazine - US 2011 - Golf Digest Top 10 New Courses of 2011

Decision-Making in Golf Course Design - Asian Golfers Best New Courses of 2011

Asian Golf Magazine - China 2010 - Golfweek’s Best Casino Courses

Engaging with your Golf Course Architect - Presidents Award for Master-planning

- Best New Golf Development under $10M

Australian Golf Magazine - Australia - SA Golfers Top 10 Renovated Courses of 2010

The Future of Our Great Game - Australian Golfers Top 20 Renovations of the year

US Golfer Online 2009 - The Best Courses You Can Play

The Costly Price of New Golf Equipment - European Golf Course Top 50

Michigan State University

Routing an Intelligent Golf Course