Robert Steele
President, STEELE GOLF
Steele, with his work at SEMA golf, was recognized as Golf Course News magazine’s Builder of the Year for golf course construction in both 2005 and 2007. Steele has built more than 200 of the world’s finest golf courses during a 37-year career that began as a lead shaper and has led to him forming his own firm.
“The timing was right for me to form this new company and to strike out on my own to take my efforts to a higher and more complete level of involvement,” Steele said. “I am widely known throughout the golf course development industry as an individual who brings respectability and innovative construction methods to projects that I am involved in. That will continue in the years ahead as I align myself with many of the world’s top golf course architects to build great tracks that players will enjoy.”
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.
In August, 2007, Tom Ames/SEMA Construction, Steele’s partner in SEMA Golf and SEMA International approached Steele about buying out his interest in the companies. The negotiations were completed in the final quarter of 2007.
“Through the years I have maintained a relationship with the premier designers of the golf course industry,” Steele said. “With the formation of STEELE GOLF, and in keeping with the same philosophy that I have had in the past, quality and integrity will be of utmost importance. I will continue my personal involvement at all levels. I have had total support from the top architects in the industry regarding this new company and I am looking forward to getting to work.”
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