Kipp Schulties billed as the golf industry's leading course architect & designer

[Ronald Montesano]

Across the Twitter feed came a link to this PR piece: http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/Rivieria-Country-Club-Florida

What caught my attention was the "the golf industry's leading course architect and designer" found embedded (not leading) the article.

On GCA, two mentions of his name (with no thread follow-up) appeared via the SEARCH functionality:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,51183.msg1168316.html#msg1168316

and

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,47971.msg1077943.html#msg1077943

This suggested to me that few people outside of south Florida know Kipp Schulties. His bio page offers experience with Gene Bates and the Fred Couples design team.

Completed projects page here: http://ksgolfdesign.com/portfolio/

Has anyone played these courses in their before and after forms? Interesting how a fellow can fly this far under the radar on a forum dedicated to golf course architecture.

[Mitch Hantman]

I've played many of his courses, and he has done some wonderful work.  He has improved significantly several of the courses he has renovated.  His bunker construction/style of the grass fingers weaving in and out of the hazards are both artful and quite functional with regard to water runoff.  As you can see, the lion's share of his work is in south Florida, where he lives.  He does seem to get the most work of anyone in that area.

[Anthony_Nysse]

I read this this morning. Such an insult to designers that are doing things outside the box.
  Kip has a nice niche in Flordia...kinda like Jerry Matthews had in Michigan. Nothing earth shattering, everything is similar, cookie cutter. Right place, right time I suppose. His courses are fair, player friendly, but not a leading architect type.
  I know he has the ability to be ON SITE a lot more than "named architects" because of his local. This plays into his favor and also with clubs that are looking to hire him.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I have never heard of him (not saying much), but have played a few of his courses.


However, I tip my hat to him as he has apparently built a nice business in a concentrated geography!!
He's busy AND he is not getting on planes all week. Gotta love that! He may even get to sleep in his own bed much of the time.


Kudos, Kipp!

[Mike_Young]

Ian,
As you know there are a lot of "Kipps" out there but this site has no clue about that.

Tony,
As always with respect:
I don't know Kipp or his work.  I don't know what he is capable of if given the opportunity to go outside the box.  But I do know how critical it is to remain inside the box the client wants.  You know how hard it is to get a supt to go out of the box when it comes to changes and I would wager more jobs have been lost than gained by going outside the box.  The supts that do have to be pretty confident of where they are stepping.  Same goes for architects.    We just have to keep in mind the entire body of golf courses in this country.   I always go back to the housing industry.  A company like Ryland, who builds a few thousand homes each year has to be considered an "industry leading" home builder.  And yet there may be one guy who builds a 50 million dollar home in South Hampton who makes Architectural Digest.    I'm sure Ryland hears many talking of how inferior their product is on the way to the bank.   

[Garland Bayley]

Well, we all know Dan Hixon is the golf industry's leading course architect & designer for the three courses he has built in Oregon and Washington, so this Kipp guy can't be it. 

[David_Tepper]

And don't forget Ron Fream and Golfplan:

http://www.worldgolf.com/golf-architects/ron-fream.html

http://www.golfplan.com/

[Mike_Young]

Would you guys speak of  the bottom 50 guys on the PGA Tour the same as you do architects you don't rate as your favorites? 

[John Kavanaugh]

I'll give Anthony credit for posting under his own name tagged with where he works.

[David_Tepper]

Mike Y. -

I am passing no judgement at all on Ron Fream & Golfplan. They have collectively designed a lot of golf courses. I think that is great.

DT

[Mike_Young]

Mike Y. -

I am passing no judgement at all on Ron Fream & Golfplan. They have collectively designed a lot of golf courses. I think that is great.

DT

OK...

[David_Tepper]

Mike -

As someone who has been self-employed for 30 years of my working life, I have great respect for anyone who can keep that ball in the air.

DT 

[Anthony_Nysse]

Ian,
As you know there are a lot of "Kipps" out there but this site has no clue about that.

Tony,
As always with respect:
I don't know Kipp or his work.  I don't know what he is capable of if given the opportunity to go outside the box.  But I do know how critical it is to remain inside the box the client wants.  You know how hard it is to get a supt to go out of the box when it comes to changes and I would wager more jobs have been lost than gained by going outside the box.  The supts that do have to be pretty confident of where they are stepping.  Same goes for architects.    We just have to keep in mind the entire body of golf courses in this country.   I always go back to the housing industry.  A company like Ryland, who builds a few thousand homes each year has to be considered an "industry leading" home builder.  And yet there may be one guy who builds a 50 million dollar home in South Hampton who makes Architectural Digest.    I'm sure Ryland hears many talking of how inferior their product is on the way to the bank.   

Very true, Mike. I have no doubt that Kip is giving the clients what they want...this is why he remains so busy. And I do not mean it as a knock on Kip, but more as a really far fetched comment about "leading golf course architect...."

[Don Mahaffey]

I'll give Anthony credit for posting under his own name tagged with where he works.

+1

[BCowan]

Ian,
As you know there are a lot of "Kipps" out there but this site has no clue about that.

Tony,
As always with respect:
I don't know Kipp or his work.  I don't know what he is capable of if given the opportunity to go outside the box.  But I do know how critical it is to remain inside the box the client wants.  You know how hard it is to get a supt to go out of the box when it comes to changes and I would wager more jobs have been lost than gained by going outside the box.  The supts that do have to be pretty confident of where they are stepping.  Same goes for architects.    We just have to keep in mind the entire body of golf courses in this country.   I always go back to the housing industry.  A company like Ryland, who builds a few thousand homes each year has to be considered an "industry leading" home builder.  And yet there may be one guy who builds a 50 million dollar home in South Hampton who makes Architectural Digest.    I'm sure Ryland hears many talking of how inferior their product is on the way to the bank.   

Very true, Mike. I have no doubt that Kip is giving the clients what they want...this is why he remains so busy. And I do not mean it as a knock on Kip, but more as a really far fetched comment about "leading golf course architect...."

Tony,

   I don't see how that is any different then Willie Park Jr telling clubs that (paraphrasing) ''This is the best piece of land I have ever seen''.  It's called selling and I wish we had more of it today.  It is what one has to do when Matty G isn't talking about your work day in and day out. 

[Phil Young]

Ben,

I'll do you one better... "Dean of American-Born Golf Course Architects" A.W. Tillinghast. Looking back many would agree with that statement but when it was written in the early 1920s, many would not.

Let's see how Kipp looks 50-100 years from now...

[John Kavanaugh]

I'll give Anthony credit for posting under his own name tagged with where he works.

I take this back since Anthony edited his post some eight hours later without an apology to Kip. Disgusting.

[Bill_McBride]

Well, we all know Dan Hixon is the golf industry's leading course architect & designer for the three courses he has built in Oregon and Washington, so this Kipp guy can't be it. 

Used to be Bunny Mason!

[Bill_McBride]

Mike -

As someone who has been self-employed for 30 years of my working life, I have great respect for anyone who can keep that ball in the air.

DT

Me too!

[Garland Bayley]

Well, we all know Dan Hixon is the golf industry's leading course architect & designer for the three courses he has built in Oregon and Washington, so this Kipp guy can't be it. 

Used to be Bunny Mason!

Really? I would not knowingly pay money to play a Bunny Mason course.

[Martin Lehmann]

I have played Renaissance near St. Petersburg several times. A good and well designed course. I like this kind of modest architecture, where giving golfers the opportunity to play a satisfying round is the point of departure, instead of making bold architectural statements and putting the stararchitect on a pedestal.

In essence a golf course is a sports field where all elements should be available to play the game in the best and most pleasant way possible. Fancy design gadgets and awe-inspiring architecture can be nice to have, but in the end are totally unnecessary.   [/size][size=78%]  [/size]

[Martin Lehmann]

I have played Renaissance near St. Petersburg several times. A good and well designed course. I like this kind of modest architecture, where giving golfers the opportunity to play a satisfying round is the point of departure, instead of making bold architectural statements and putting the stararchitect on a pedestal.

In essence a golf course is a sports field where all elements should be available to play the game in the best and most pleasant way possible. Fancy design gadgets and awe-inspiring architecture can be nice to have, but in the end are totally unnecessary.   [size=78%]  [/size]

Just saw I made a mistake. The course I played is Club Renaissance, a Chip Powell design. So I can't say anything about Kipp Schulties' work. Sorry!

[goldj]

I've played or seen much of the work that Kipp highlights on his website.  Most of it comprises renovations or restorations. 

[Bill_McBride]

Well, we all know Dan Hixon is the golf industry's leading course architect & designer for the three courses he has built in Oregon and Washington, so this Kipp guy can't be it. 

Used to be Bunny Mason!

Really? I would not knowingly pay money to play a Bunny Mason course.

Just saying that at one time he was designing quite a number of Pacific NW courses.  Have you played the Glaze Meadow course at Black Butte?   Good course after a weird opener which I think has been changed.

[Garland Bayley]

There's a difference between Bunny Mason designing NW courses that people hate to play, and Dan Hixon designing NW courses that people love to play.