This article is a profile of Scottsdale based Scott Miller who designed the highly acclaimed WeKoPa. Of interest to Adam Clayman is the description of the new course at Sandia in New Mexico. From today's Arizona Republic:
www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0727sr-miller27Z8.htmlIt plays downhill from here
Scott Miller of Scottsdale not only is at the pinnacle of the golf-course design industry, he's just been to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Course architect climbs Kilimanjaro
Rebecca Larsen
Special for the Scottsdale Republic
Jul. 27, 2004 12:00 AM
NORTHEAST VALLEY - Scott Miller has climbed lofty heights in golf-course architecture, but one of his recent high-elevation experiences had nothing to do with golf.
Miller, who designed We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, the Golf Club at Eagle Mountain in Fountain Hills and Kierland Golf Club in Phoenix, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, which at 19,400 feet is the tallest peak in Africa.
"It's one of the safest tall mountains, as well, with not as many glaciers and crevasses, which is why my family let me go," Miller said.
Miller, 48, of Scottsdale, made the trek in January with five friends and acquaintances from Arizona and one from Denver.
One of the toughest parts of his African trip was getting to Tanzania.
"First, you fly to Detroit, then to Amsterdam (Holland) and then right into the town near Kilimanjaro. It was brutal," he said.
The climb took six days.
"You start at 4,000 feet and then climb about 5,000 feet a day," he said. "During the last couple of days you get to 15,000 feet, but then you descend to camp at 12,000 feet for a while. That's how they get you used to the altitude.
"Then you make a base camp at 15,000 feet, and you start during the night to go to the summit, which you reach at daybreak."
Miller said the wind-chill factor on top was 20 degrees below zero. . "Some of the wind gusts were 50 miles per hour," he said.
Back in the world of golf design in the Southwest, Miller travels weekly to New Mexico. He's busy laying out a course for the Pueblo of Sandia, a Native American community north of Albuquerque.
Miller said members of the tribal council visited the Northeast Valley several times to play Miller's acclaimed desert-style courses before selecting him to design their golf course, which will open in June 2005.The Sandia Resort Golf Club course will be similar to We-Ko-Pa "as far as beauty, contrast between the desert and the fairways and playability," Miller said.
"There were not as many trees and bushes on the location as at We-Ko-Pa, but the site is stunning. It's right at the base of the mountains, and 12 of the 18 holes look right at the mountains. It's very similar in that respect to courses in Palm Springs."
Miller is one of those rare people who knew what he wanted to do with his life by the time he was in the sixth grade. He was raised in Augusta, Kan., close to a nine-hole course, but his family couldn't pay for his greens fees.
"So I worked on the maintenance crew and I got to play and fell in love with the game," he said.
"My buddies and I also played cross-country golf - playing through the area and making up holes as we went along.
"Then I'd go home and sketch out the holes we had just played," he said. "I'm not sure I even knew at the time that courses had 18 holes."
Hanging on the wall in his office is a framed version of one of those early golf-course layouts that his mother saved for him.
With a degree in landscape architecture from Colorado State University, Miller worked for Jack Nicklaus' design firm and moved to Scottsdale to handle the western end of Nicklaus' business.
He helped design Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale as well as the Renegade, Cochise and Geronimo courses at the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale. In 1988, Miller decided to venture out on his own.
Miller's specialty has been building desert-style courses, but he contends that his courses, despite having a target flavor and limited turf, still allow the traditional recovery shot.
"When you're playing a traditional course out East, and you get into trouble in the rough, you can either be a hero and hit through the trees, or you can chip out to the fairway and take your penalty," he said.
"But when you hit into the brush in the desert, it's often just unplayable. Every one of my courses, though, has transitional areas, so you can have a chance to recover."
FYI
Scott Miller
AGE: 48.
RESIDENCE: Scottsdale.
EDUCATION: Colorado State University.
OCCUPATION: Golf course designer.
FAMILY: Wife, Jenny; daughters Jenna (18), Kylie (16), Carrie (14).
HOBBIES: Mountain climbing, raising horses for his daughters.
HE DESIGNED THEM: Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; We-Ko-Pa Golf Club; the Golf Club at Eagle Mountain in Fountain Hills; Kierland Golf Club in Phoenix.