Cedar Point golf course architect dies
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 12, 2005
A famous golf course architect with a connection to Suffolk died last month in Arizona.
According to the Web site, golfdom.com, Arthur Jack Snyder died Feb. 12 at 87.
Snyder designed Suffolk’s Cedar Point Country Club golf course in the mid 1960s. Snyder’s original design underwent a multi-million dollar renovation that was completed last June.
Born in 1917 in Pennsylvania, Snyder was the eldest of three brothers who became golf course superintendents. He graduated from Penn State University in 1939 with a degree in landscape architecture and designed his first course, Harmony Farm Golf Club, in Jane Lew, W.Va. in 1941. He served as superintendent of the renowned Oakmont club in Pittsburgh in 1951-52, helping prepare the course to host the U.S. Open in 1953.
According to the Web site, Snyder courses are renowned throughout the west, Hawaii and Mexico. His planning for golf courses took him across North America, the Pacific Rim and the former Soviet Union, where he worked with a team to plan six courses along the Sea of Japan.
Among his other designs for resorts and private clubs are the Wailea Blue Course on Maui, Hawaii; The Royal Kaanapali South Course, also on Maui; Camelback Inn’s Club Course in Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Beaver Creek Golf Club in Lake Montezuma, Ariz.; Volcano Golf and Country Club on the Big Island of Hawaii; and Concho Valley Golf Club in Concho, Ariz.
Snyder served on the board of the American Society of Golf Course Architects from 1974 to 1982, when he was elected president.
andy.prutsok@suffolknewsherald.com