Sara Mess, age 26, helps design golf courses. She is a design associate with Renaissance Golf Design in Traverse City, Michigan. The firm was established by Tom Doak, a world-famous golf course architect. Sara was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She received an academic scholarship to Michigan State University where she majored in math and chemistry and graduated in 2004. I talked with Sara about her experience as a junior golfer and how it has shaped her career choices.

What are some of your earliest golf memories?

I didn’t take golf seriously until eighth grade. The first time I remember thinking that I could really play the game was at a high school tournament in 8th grade. I went to the end of the range while the girls from the high school teams were hitting. Then I started hitting my 5-wood and realized my golf balls went just as far as theirs did. I thought to myself, “I may be ‘OK’ at this.”

Who taught you how to play?

My dad was my only coach until I was a junior in high school. He had taught himself how to play golf when he was fifteen. Then I began taking lessons from Gary Gant at Pine Valley Country Club in Fort Wayne.

What did your friends think about your interest in golf?

In high school, none of my female friends really played golf. In fact, they kind of made fun of me. But I was always a tomboy so it didn’t matter that I played golf with the boys. Now, it’s kind of amusing. In the past two or three years, those same girl friends are taking up golf either to play with their bosses or their boyfriends.

Did you enter many tournaments as a junior?

I think it’s important to play in junior tournaments, but both my parents worked. They could not drive me to tournaments that were far away; so, I mostly played in local Parks and Recreation Department tournaments.

How did you earn a spot on the women’s Michigan State golf team?

I was not recruited by the golf coach. But, I was lucky because MSU allows walk-on’s to try out. My golf teacher in Fort Wayne knew the MSU coach and talked to her about including me on the team. After several conversations among us, she decided to let me on the team.

Did you ever think about becoming a professional LPGA Tour player?

Not, really. I hit the ball a long way – about 240 yards, but my short game is not up to snuff. I saw how much time my college team mates put in to practicing and I knew that didn’t want to devote that much time. It was a choice I made.

What led you to apply for an internship with Tom Doak’s design firm?

It’s kind of a long story. I had earned college credits in high school which left me time to take some fun electives in college. In my senior year at MSU, I noticed that the landscape architecture department was offering a course in golf course design. I took it and liked it. The professor encouraged me to apply for the 3-month summer internship with Tom Doak’s golf design firm. After graduation in December 2004, they offered me a full-time position as a design associate and office manager.

What’s your favorite part of the design process?

I like working with the topographic map of the whole area. It is like a big puzzle, trying to fit the holes, clubhouse, practice range, and roads all together, except the pieces of the puzzle can change! When a course is laid out well, the holes flow. There are no big jumps or style changes. It feels “smooth.”

Are you determined to play on the Tour? Or, are you just not sure what role golf will play in your future?

Knowing how to play golf opens doors to many careers. Learn how other young women have discovered that special link between a passion for golf and a profession.

There aren't many women working in golf course design. What is it like to work in that environment?

I was a math major and used to being out-numbered. But I didn’t realize how few women there were in this profession until I started working for Tom. I would not discourage any woman from going into course design, but I would tell them that – especially in the beginning – they need a tough skin.

What’s next for you?
 
This fall, I will enter the Masters Degree program in Landscape Architecture at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I liked working on golf courses, but there is so much travel involved – sometimes half of the year is on the road. I think I will pick a landscape design field that keeps me closer to home.

If you could offer our Golfer Girls one piece of advice, what would it be?

Find what you love and enjoy it. Don’t get pigeon-holed into what people think you should do or expect you to do. As for golf advice, I would tell them to try to play tournaments for the experience. But most important, I would tell them to have fun. If golf starts to be like work, it’s not fun.

What’s your favorite golf club?

My driver. Nothing beats hitting the driver right on the screws!

Many readers probably don’t know what golf course designers really do. Sara explains:

Being a golf course designer is about much more than deciding where to put tees and greens. Designers also have to consider how the course courses flows together. It would be silly if all the par 3’s were first, then all the par 4’s, then all the par 5’s. They have to make sure there is a large enough water source to keep the grass growing - and how the holes drain. Too much slope and golf balls won’t stop rolling; not enough and the fairways will be filled with puddles after a rain storm. They choose where the clubhouse will be and make the practice range close by.  They make sure there is enough room between holes and tees and greens so that a golfer won’t get hurt when someone around them hits a wayward shot. On the course, they decide where to put bunkers, sometimes encouraging players to play close to them to receive a better next shot, other times using them to steer around a dogleg, and sometimes just to scare the golfers. On the greens they need to make sure there are multiple places where the hole can be placed so one part of the green isn’t worn out more than others. And most importantly, designers tie everything together seamlessly so that the golfer doesn’t realize all of the work that has gone into building the course and can simply enjoy the round.

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT?
• Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design, Inc. VISIT
www.renaissancegolf.com
• A career in golf course design, VISIT the American Society
of Golf Course Architects
www.asgca.org
• Landscape architecture as a profession, VISIT the American Society of Landscape Architects
www.asla.org

DID YOU KNOW?
• There are over 16,000 golf courses in the United States.
• The average 18-hole course is about 150 acres – that’s the size of big shopping mall including the parking lots.
• Golf courses usually have about 100 bunkers, but some courses, like Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, have over 1000.

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