David-Bily News Articles

David Bily

Member

David has a long relationship with golf, starting the game at the age of 8 and working at the local country club in Calgary, Canada, first around the pro shop and later during university, working summers with the greenkeeping crew. In 1992 he completed a Bachelor in Landscape Architecture from The University of British Colombia and worked for a number of years in landscape architecture and urban planning at Forma Design Inc. before travelling and studying the great historical projects throughout Europe. In 2001 he completed a Masters in Landscape Architecture before settling in Switzerland and continuing to work in the fields of architecture and landscape architecture. In 2005 he began a long term partnership with Erich Steiner consulting ever since in the fields of landscape and golf course architecture. Over the years Steiner & Partner has focused more and more on golf and environmental issues where they are well established in the industry as environmental specialists and experienced golf course architects, responsible for design and renovation projects within Switzerland and abroad.

The collective philosophy at S&P is clearly environment focused, trying to minimize impact and maximize habitat potential. David believes in a minimal intervention, but taking as much character from the existing landscape as possible to give each course its unique flavour. He is attracted to the old courses, to links courses which have a lot of interesting, sometimes querky movement but at the same time he is in favour of less bunkering or severe penalising hazards which slow play and demoralise average players. He believes that golf should remain fun and he designs golf holes to be just that. However as their website says, "as golf course architects we focus on 4 things; strategy, beauty, maintenance and the environment". So the game itself is only a part of the complex equation.

Besides design and consulting work David is an accredited verifier for GEO from the start of the programme having verified a half-dozen courses since 2009. Together with Erich Steiner he is responsible for the regionalisation criteria for GEO Switzerland and continues to have a solid relationship with GEO.

He is also an instructor for the Turf Grass Specialist Diploma for Jardin Suisse, lecturing on golf course architecture, construction and standards. He also lectures on golf course architecture and best practice management for the Swiss PGA, and environmental issues for the Swiss PGA Golf Director Programme.

Through their varied work within landscape and golf course architecture as well as their involvement with different industry associations and education, S&P continues to learn and evolve as architects and consultants, trying new things and pushing for more sustainable solutions. In this vein, David regularly shares ideas and ongoing work with contributions to newsletters and golf magazines within Europe and the North America.

And of course he continues to work on his golf swing....

To read David's Member Profile click here

Member Details

Continued Professional Development (CPD)