DIGEST Fry/Straka and Azinger begin work on Miakka project Dana Fry, ASGCA, and ASGCA Past President Jason Straka have partnered with former PGA Tour player and Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger on the design of an eighteenhole course for the new Miakka Golf Club in Myakka City, Florida. “This is one of the best natural sites for golf and one of the best teams we’ve ever been affiliated with,” said Straka. “The property has an incredible two miles of frontage along the Myakka River with hundreds of mature oak hammocks. Just the golf club and its facilities are being built on more than 1,100 acres. Miakka is going to be pure golf with no encroachments or distractions of any kind. The course will resemble the celebrated courses of the Australian Sandbelt, with wide turf corridors, no rough, and distinctive bunkers and natural-area hazards jutting into the line of play.” Miakka will also include a 12-hole par-three layout, a seven-acre short-game facility, a lighted putting course, and a performance centre. The short course is expected to open in 2024 with the main layout in early 2025. Ron Kirby, ASGCA Fellow (1933-2023) Ron Kirby, ASGCA Fellow, passed away at age 90 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August. A native of Beverly, Massachusetts, Kirby initially worked as a design associate for Dick Wilson, and then served under ASGCA Founding Father Robert Trent Jones, Sr., before establishing his own firm in 1970, alongside Gary Player as a consulting partner. Kirby later sold the firm and joined the design firm of Jack Nicklaus, ASGCA Fellow, to oversee European projects. Kirby’s career took him around the globe, designing courses in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as the Americas. His portfolio includes The International at London Golf Club in England, Dolphin Head in South Carolina, Sun City in South Africa, Old Head Golf Links in Ireland, and La Moraleja in Spain. “Ron Kirby was one of a kind, or perhaps I should say Ron and Sally Kirby were two of a kind,” said ASGCA President Brit Stenson. “His positive impact on golf course architecture in countries around the world will serve as a professional legacy, but it was Ron’s enduring relationship with Sally that many of us will long remember.” The couple’s travels together set the tone for Kirby’s autobiography, We Spent Half Our Lives on the Wrong Side of the Road, published in 2020. Sally died in 2021. Kirby is survived by his children Faye, Ron Jr and Beverly. 10 Image: Fry/Straka Photo: Kristopher Streek
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