ASGCA Fellow David J. Gordon dies at the age of 95
David J. Gordon, a Fellow of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), has passed away at the age of 95.
The son of William F. Gordon, one of the ASGCA’s original members, David was a life-long resident of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
After serving in the Army Air Force in World War II, Gordon studied agronomy at Penn State University before joining his father’s golf course design business.
The Gordons designed dozens of golf courses across the northwestern US and Canada, including Browns Run in Middletown, Ohio; Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut; Sunny Brook Country Club in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania; and two courses at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
David Gordon was the longest-tenured ASGCA member, having been welcomed in 1951. He became a Fellow in 1993 and served as ASGCA President in 1959-60.
Gordon also brought to light some lost writings of Donald Ross, after discovering a 1914 manuscript from the architect in his attic. This was adapted and turned into a book - Golf Has Never Failed Me: The Lost Commentaries of Legendary Golf Architect Donald J. Ross – by Ron Whitten, and was published in 1996.
Gordon is survived by two sons, David J. Gordon and William F. Gordon, and a step-daughter, Lynn Bullock.