Episode 236: A Jewel In Asia And A Legacy At Home

How are you, my friend?

I couldn't be better.

Thanks for taking the opportunity to talk with us this morning.

And I really look forward to catching up.

Well, it's my pleasure.

And as I said before, I lived in Singapore for a while, but I didn't get a chance to play here, of course.

I am dying.

to get there i mean i really really want to go play this course because i know how beautiful singapore is i know how beautiful the weather is i know how amazing the people are so i can't imagine that your course would be anything but exceptional and beautiful because everything in singapore is an exceptional and beautiful

it is it absolutely is singapore is just one of the one of the dream locations i think globally to uh have the opportunity to visit and you know i just pinch myself every day that i'm lucky enough to live there

amen and so let's start off there uh how what was your life like before you went singapore what did you want to be with you when you grew up did you start off playing golf or you had a long career in golf and how did you make your way to to singapore which is still a rather unusual place for for anybody to end up but especially a golf pro

Yeah, it really is.

My father was an avid golfer.

And he played out of the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and played in a lot of big events there.

And, you know, I found myself following his shadow a lot and at the club.

And really oddly, my grandfather was one of the executive chefs at the club while we were growing up.

So it kind of became a little bit of a second home for me.

I sort of just got used to being at the property.

And oddly enough, I fell in love with the golf course, not actually the game of golf.

And I knew at 14 years old, I wanted to be a golf course architect.

It was my dream to pursue that.

And so through many different journeys through my career, golf course construction with the Palmer guys and then becoming a golf course superintendent on to building my own firm, which I've had for about 15 years.

Sentosa was just one of my stops when I was the vice president of Gene Bates, Couples Bates Golf Design.

And we did an overhaul, massive renovation of Sentosa.

And it just became kind of a part of my life.

I went back in 2010 to help him through a tough period.