TOLEDO, Ohio - Gary Hart, for 30 years an influential executive at Karsten Manufacturing Corp., has joined Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates as Director of Business Development for the Western/Pacific Region.

According to Quentin Lutz, vice president of global business development at Hills/Forrest, Hart will be the Operations Director for a new design office based in Scottsdale, Ariz., where his responsibilities will center on generating original design and course renovation opportunities in the Western United States and Asia-Pacific region. Hart can be reached at ghart@arthurhills.com.

"We are excited that Gary Hart has agreed to join our company," said Arthur Hills, founder and principal of Toledo, Ohio-based Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates, one of golf's elite course architecture firms. "Gary's contacts and stature in golf are without peer. I know he'll be an asset to us across the country and around the world - but particularly out west and overseas, where we've done some great work but where we'd like to do more. Our firm couldn't ask for a more capable ambassador."

Hart was instrumental in building Ping into a club-manufacturing force on professional tours around the world. After 14 years a PGA Tour representative, Hart was named Director of the Ping Tour Department in 1988, with responsibility for signing and servicing players on the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Nationwide tours. He soon initiated and managed Ping's European PGA Tour operations and developed programs for the Asian PGA, Australian PGA, South African PGA and Japanese PGA tours. In addition to his tour duties, Hart developed and managed Ping's successful U.S. college program (then developed a similar program in Japan) before becoming the company's Corporate Marketing Director in 1999.

"The course design business is increasingly borderless," said Lutz. "We see tremendous opportunity for our firm on the west coast of the United States as well as overseas. Gary Hart's addition provides Hills/Forrest with a wealth of contacts and a working knowledge of the golf business in key areas all around the world. Just as important are Gary's diverse background, knowledge and skills. Few people in the golf business bring so much to the table."

Since 2003, Hart has been a principal with In the Leather Golf Consultants, a Scottsdale concern providing consulting services to all segments of the golf industry. An accomplished player in his own right (he qualified for the 1997 U.S. Senior Open and 1998 British Senior Open), Hart is no stranger to the world of course design. He spent 2000-02 spearheading the complete redesign and refurbishment of Moon Valley CC, the Phoenix club formerly owned by Karsten Manufacturing Corp. and long-time home to an LPGA tour stop sponsored by Ping.

"I've been a student of course architecture for decades, but the Moon Valley project really gave me a taste for the business of golf course design," explained Hart, who maintains memberships at three elite clubs - Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree, Ariz., Pumpkin Ridge GC near Portland, Ore., and Royal Troon on Scotland's Ayrshire coast - whose classic designs give him an appreciation for his new employers.

"The Moon Valley experience was thrilling, but I can't wait to work alongside the team at Hills/Forrest. They have earned such a tremendous reputation. Arthur and his firm haven't done a lot of work in the Western United States, where there's a great deal of opportunity. We want to make him household name out here."

Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates is responsible for more than 180 original course designs worldwide, not to mention more than 120 expert renovations. Oitavos Golfe at Quinta da Marinha, Europe's most talked about new resort layout, will play host to the 2005 Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos, the European PGA Tour event scheduled for the week of March 30-April 2. Closer to home, Hills/Forrest will christen a new nine this spring at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio; about the same time, a completely refurbished Green Gables Country Club will reopen for member play in Denver.

Today, the firm has projects under construction on four continents. Hills/Forrest was recently commissioned to design its first course in Bahrain, and the firm has projects under construction in Mexico, China and Sweden. The eagerly awaited Hills Golf Club will celebrate its grand opening this September, just north of Gothenberg, while Olde Stone, an exquisite new private club project, is nearing completion in western Kentucky.

For more information on these and other Hills/Forrest projects, call 419-841-8553 or visit www.arthurhills.com

Contact: Hal Phillips
Phillips Golf Media
207-926-3700
onintwo@maine.rr.com

or

Quentin Lutz
Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates
419-841-8553
QLutz@ArthurHills.com