Golf Course Designer
Edward A. Lawrence Packard had sixty years of practical experience in landscape architecture, site planning and golf course architecture which resulted in a broad working knowledge of the economical planning of land areas for human use.
Following graduation in 1935 from the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Mr. Packard was employed by the U.S. Department of the Interior Resettlement Administration on Recreation Development Projects. He moved into the National Park Service in 1936 on land selection for new park developments on Mt. Desert Island, Bar Harbor, Maine.
For two years Mr. Packard gained valuable experience as designer, engineer and supervisor for a landscape contractor in the Boston metropolitan area. Following this he worked for a year in the same capacity for the E.A. McIlhennny Landscape Co., makers of Tobasco sauce, with offices in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Houston, Texas.
In 1939 Mr. Packard went with the U.S. War Department, Corps of Engineers and was stationed at Westover Field in western Massachusetts. For four years he had complete charge of all phases of the landscape work for this $15,000,000 project. During this time Mr. Packard developed a complete Master Plan and camouflage plan for the entire air base installation. A major part of work was seeding 1,500 acres of grass.
In 1943 Mr. Packard came to the Chicago Park District as designer and engineer for a multi-million dollar park expansion program. Here, Mr. Packard worked on site selection and development for new parks and also on the design aspects of Northerly Island Airstrip and O'Hare International Airport.
After 1944, Mr. Packard worked for eight years as chief supervisor and designer for Chicago golf course architect Robert Bruce Harris. Here Mr. Packard handled several jobs in various capacities running over the quarter million dollar mark, including the site planning for Maine Township High School in Des Plaines and Park Ridge, Illinois, the Maryknoll College site development in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, the Janesville, Wisconsin High School site planning and the University of Iowa golf course, plus numerous golf courses.
In fifty years, Packard has handled more than 250 golf projects. His firm adheres to long-established design principles and safety considerations in developing a course, either with or without housing. Only a few water hazards are used and good plans and specifications are a must. Feature articles on Packard courses have appeared in Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, PGA Magazine, Golfweek, Desert Golf, Wisconsin PGA, Chicago Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times.
After his retirement in 1990, Mr. Packard became the designated golf course architect for the International Executive Service Corps of Stamford, Connecticut. For them he designed four courses in Guatemala and five courses in Egypt. He had previously designed two courses in South Korea and two courses in Venezuela.
On Sunday, January 22, 2012 Mr. Packard received his his Lifetime Achievement Award here at Cypress Run. The event was endorsed by dignitaries throughout the industry including: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Arthur Hills, Ron Garl, Brent Wadsworth, Phil Berry and Cypress Run Members Gary Koch, Jan Stephenson & and host of others. Mr. Packard took great pride and pleasure in the courses he designed and hoped those who play his and other courses everywhere … "ENJOY THE GAME"