History & Awards

Beginning in 1972, Steele advanced through numerous positions and attained superintendent status with the Wadsworth Company.  In 1987, he joined Paul Clute & Associates as vice-president and was instrumental in building the company into one of the premier golf course construction firms in the United States.  In 1994, the Golf Course Builders Association of America and Golf Course News Magazine awarded Paul Clute & Associates as Golf Course Builder of the Year.

In 1996, the Crown family of Chicago hired Steele as senior vice-president of Crown Golf Construction.  In 1998, Steele formed SEMA Golf, LLC in conjunction with SEMA Construction, where, as president, he oversaw all construction and business relations and development, in the process staying personally involved in each project and making frequent site visits.

In 2005, SEMA Golf, under Steele’s direction, garnered the Golf Course News Builder of the Year award for the construction of the Outlaw golf course at The Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Then, in 2007, Steele (and SEMA) again captured the award – one of the highest honors given for golf course construction – for his work on the course at the Toscana Country Club in Palm Springs, CA.  Both courses were designed by Jack Nicklaus.

SEMA Golf’s international branch was lauded with Golf Inc.’s International Golf Development of the Year award in 2006 for building The Links at Las Palomas, which is located in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico.  The course was designed by Forrest Richardson.

Steele (through his association with SEMA) was a charter member and president-elect of the Golf Course Builders Association of America and has been active in the local chapters of the Superintendents Associations, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the National Golf Foundation.