Superintendent turned architect Bobby Weed remembers his roots

As a superintendent turned golf course architect Bobby Weed has never been far from the game of golf in his career.

Weed worked on the maintenance side of the golf industry and eventually became a certified golf course superintendent. His biggest mentor those days was long-time superintendent at Amelia Island (Fla.) Plantation, Ron Hill, CGCS.

It has been decades since Weed has worked as a superintendent but he still remembers his roots and renews his GCSAA every year.

“That’s where I started. I have a good background in maintenance and agronomics,” said Weed. “That being an early part of my career I know the importance of my association with maintenance and agronomics and the connectivity with superintendents.”

When it comes to architecture Weed feels lucky that he can call World Golf Hall of Famer Pete Dye his mentor and “a friend since day one.” He strives to pattern his business, Bobby Weed Golf Design, after the lessons he learned from Dye.

“The biggest lessons that I learned from Pete were his work ethic and passion for designing and building golf courses. He spent and inordinate amount of time on site,” said Weed. “He was never satisfied and thought that whatever he was building if he kept rubbing on it, it would get a little bit better.”

Weed opened the doors of his own firm in 1994 and has had a hand in renovating or designing Spanish Oaks Golf Club, Bee Cave, Texas, the Olde Farm Golf Club, Bristol, Va., and Timuquana Country Club, Jacksonville Florida.

Now Weed has a mentee of his own, Senior Design Associate at Bobby Weed Golf Design Chris Monti.

“We blend very well and have been working together for almost 20 years,” Weed said about his mentee. “He’s a great mind; he’s a great administrator and great at the little details, which allows me to work in the field,”

When Monti talked about his working relationship with Weed he equated it to trains. “In our case Bobby is the one that decides how big the train is going to be, what color it’s going to be, where it’s going to go and I make sure the train runs on time,” said Monti.

The Bobby Weed Golf Design train is rolling full speed ahead with just about as many projects as they can handle. They are currently working on two renovations in Florida and they will start another renovation in New Jersey this spring. What Monti is probably most excited to get to work on is an original design set in Florida that will be called The Grove.

“It’s nice to be working on something from the ground up. It’s going to be private-golf club with no residential development around it — Those are at bats that you cherish,” said Monti. “At this point I don’t think we can take on much else without diluting how much time and attention we like to give our projects.”

Monti works with a former superintendent in Weed everyday but he stressed the importance of the relationship they develop with the superintendents at all of their projects.

“We try to make sure they are satisfied in every way possible because what we leave behind has to be maintained,” said Monti. “I don’t know if architects say enough about how important the superintendent’s contribution to ultimately how people perceive our product.”

Photo: Golfdom