GREEN GOLF AND TURF

It’ s a recipe that starts with a unique mix of talent and passion, inspiration and determination— but the key ingredient is a blue-collar work ethic Andrew Green traces to his roots in southwest Virginia.

“ My parents used to have an ash tray— I remember it from when I was a kid— that [ was emblazoned with ] the phrase,‘ A rolling stone gathers no moss.’ That’ s me,” Green says with a laugh.

These days, there is not a trace of moss to be found on Green, the 47-year-old president of A. H. Green Design / Green Golf and Turf, Inc., and one of the hottest names in golf course architecture. We caught up with him on a Friday afternoon in his Forest Hill, Maryland, office, in the middle of a travel schedule that could best be described as a frequent flyer’ s fever dream.

Seventy-two hours earlier, Green had been in Charlotte for a pre-bid meeting and then a town hall with the membership of Myers Park Country Club on the Tuesday prior. By that Wednesday morning, he was in the mountains of North Carolina, then traveled across the state to visit another prospective job in the afternoon. He returned to D. C. by Wednesday night, was at the Chevy Chase Country Club Thursday morning, held another town hall at the Army Navy Club that evening and was in Philadelphia early Friday morning.

Green was scheduled to be in Kansas City the following Monday, Stillwater, Oklahoma on Tuesday and Nashville on Wednesday before flying out to the West Coast on Thursday.

“ This is the first time I’ ve sat at my desk since Sunday at 11 a. m.,” he laughs.“ It’ s busy, but it’ s so good. I’ m living my dream, so I can’ t complain.”

Country Roots

Green’ s ambition to design golf courses for a living was not one shared by many other young people in Botetourt County. Located north of Roanoke and bordered by the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains, its residents are far more likely to be hunting, fishing or hiking than spending hours chasing a little white ball across the rolling countryside.

Green took an unlikely path to design success.

He and his family, however, just happened to live next door to one of the exceptions. A local dentist named Michael Adams liked to hit golf balls in his back yard to unwind after work. Green shagged balls at first, then started hitting some himself. He had almost finished eighth grade when Adams took him to play his first round.

Green was immediately hooked— he started playing more frequently that summer and made the golf team at Lord Botetourt High School, which provided access to the course at Botetourt Country Club.

“ I ended up working there, and that was a huge blessing because my parents didn’ t have the funds to support golf on any consistent level,” he says.

A Foot in the Door

By that point, Green’ s older brother, Sam, was already at Virginia Tech working on a degree in turf management with plans to pursue a career as a golf course superintendent. While Green also found a sense of purpose on the maintenance side of golf— eventually joining the grounds crew at the country club— he was fascinated by

The front nine of Congressional Country Club’ s Blue Course.