Youngscap Receives NGA Special Recognition Award
OMAHA (November 15, 2019) - Richard Youngscap of Lincoln will be awarded the Nebraska Golf Association's Virgil A. Parker Special Recognition Award at the organization’s annual awards banquet at The Country Club of Lincoln this evening. The award is given to an individual in recognition of their contributions to the game of golf in the state of Nebraska.
Youngscap put Nebraska on the golfing map with the establishment of Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln in 1985. Having recruited noted golf course architect Pete Dye, Firethorn was the first golf course to introduce bentgrass fairways to the Midlands. Combined with bentgrass greens, native fescue grass, water features and groves of trees, Firethorn became the toughest test of golf in Nebraska on a piece of land Dye described as one of the two or three best pieces of property he’d ever seen for a golf course. Firethorn would go to host several major competitions including the 1996 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Shortly after Youngscap opened Firethorn, he began looking for land in the sandhills of Nebraska for another golf course project. Youngscap was able to acquire 8,000 acres of wasted ranch land just south of Mullen to build the now famous Sand Hills Golf Club. He entrusted the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw with the project maximizing the native rolls and sand hills without having to bulldoze a thing.
Sand Hills, America's original destination golf course, opened in 1995 and created a movement to minimalist golf in remote locations. Youngscap was the visionary and Sand Hills became the gold standard which led to other destination golf course developments in Nebraska’s sandhills region and beyond.
Youngscap was honored at the Nebraska Golf Association's annual awards banquet on Friday, November 15 at The Country Club of Lincoln.
About the NGA
The Nebraska Golf Association, founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by the NGA. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
