Who the heck is David McLay Kidd?

[Carlyle Rood]

All this time I've been laboring under the delusion that Tom Doak designed both Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes.  After browsing Golf Digest's Top 100 U.S. Courses; however, I realized my mistake.

So, who is David McLay Kidd?  I've never heard of him, yet he has designed this marvelous course.

[Carlyle Rood]

http://www.dmkgolfdesign.com/

[Paul_Turner]

He's also some public speaker, with a fine wit!  

Believe me, I know a few of the courses he worked on in Britain, before the Bandon Dunes project, and they weren't glamorous!  He must be loving it now, and more luck to him.  

[Michael Dugger]

Fast and crude.....

Kidd and his father dazzled Mike Keiser while he was golfing in Scot/Ireland.  I want to say his pops worked (or still works) at Gleneagles.  Keiser is quoted as saying that he was enamored with the way the elder Kidd spoke of turfgrass.  Bandon Dunes was his first design....I think.      

[Mike_Cirba]

Has anyone played his Queenwood course in Surrey?

[Raymond]

Also his brother, James Kidd, is the Director of Turf Grass Management and Associate Designer at Gleneagles Golf Developments at the Gleneagles Resort. I stopped in and had a chat with him a few years ago. He consulted with David on the Bandon  project.

[John_Conley]

Keiser could've hired anyone, interviewed everyone, and hired Kidd.  I've been fortunate to hear him speak - just him, a glass of water, and an hour to talk about Bandon Dunes.  What a treat.

He kind of rolled the dice when he lobbied for the Bandon job and made a strong impression.  He also has designed a course for Chucky Schwab in the lava - or at least that's how he talked about the project.

You would like David.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

We did a recent interview with him and it answers and clarifies some of the above.

Mike,
I am hoping to play Queenswood this fall. I have heard very little on the course, other than from Kidd himself.

[ian]

I played with him at Bandon Dunes when I was there. He deserves all the success that he's enjoying. He's funny and very confident, but he's also fond of other current architects too (Tom for one). He was humble enough to openly discuss the mistakes he made at Bandon and some of the things he wishes he had done differently. I like the fact he had lots of great things to say about pacific Dunes away from Tom, and was very happy for Tom when he got rave reviews.

If you have an opportunity to meet him, do it, he is extremely friendly and open.

He just finished a private course in Hawaii and is hoping the St. Andrews project goes this fall. The approvals are very tough for this site.

[Joel_Stewart]

He also has designed a course for Chucky Schwab in the lava - or at least that's how he talked about the project.

The course he did for Chuck Schwab is called Nanea Golf Club and is located on the Big Island of Hawaii.  I was told that Chuck Schwab had hired him well before Mike Keiser hired him for Bandon Dunes but the process has taken so long the course is just opening this spring.

[jhaley]

Joel,
David in fact won the commision while we were in construction of the practice center at Bandon...JIm