Dream Golf by Stephen Goodwin

Author:Stephen Goodwin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2010-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

15 David at Bandon Dunes

When people ask me if this is true links golf, I say the only difference between here and Scotland is we don’t have the skylarks.

—GRANT ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION AT BANDON DUNES RESORT

JUNE 2004. DAVID KIDD was jet-lagged and happy. Greeting old friends in the lobby of the Bandon Dunes Lodge, he announced with a huge grin that he’d come back to Oregon to be with Jill, his second wife, and their brand-new daughter, Ailsa. “She didn’t wait for me,” he said, and mother and daughter, after a couple of rough days, were doing fine. Ailsa—he pronounced it liltingly in his Scottish brogue, and spelled it out for those who’d never heard the name—was born prematurely, while he was still en route to Oregon from South Africa, where he was remodeling one of the courses at Fancourt, a leading golf resort in that country.

The success of Bandon Dunes had put David’s career into a global orbit, and he had rearranged almost every aspect of his life. He was now the proprietor of his own company, DMK Golf Design, and he had designed high-profile courses in Ireland, England, and Hawaii. He was named the architect for a new course in Machrihanish, his childhood haunt, and he won a commission that stamped his career with the seal of high approval: He was chosen as the architect for a new course at St. Andrews. For a young Scotsman—for that matter, for any golf course architect—there could be no greater affirmation than to be selected to build a course in the cradle of golf.

David had coveted the commission and he had labored for weeks on his presentation to the St. Andrews Links Trust. Aware that the Links Trust would be reviewing several designs, having been informed of the constraints of the site and warned that his presentation must not exceed an hour, David decided nevertheless to throw caution to the winds. When he appeared before the Links Trust, he spoke for three hours, arguing that no one could build a first-class golf course on the site as offered. He urged the Links Trust to acquire additional land, and he got the job.

David Kidd, in short, was still brimming with confidence and energy and ideas. Yet for those who have observed his career over the years, he seems to have grown more centered and disciplined. The personal turmoil that came with the end of his marriage to Lyn took its toll, and David laments the fact that he sees so little of his son, Campbell, who lives in the United Kingdom with Lyn. As hectic as his schedule is, David tries to make sure that he and Jill are together as much as possible; his marriage to her has provided a fixed point on his personal compass. Jill is from Oregon, and she has strong family ties there. During this visit to Oregon, in fact, David was trying to cement arrangements to build a course in northern California. The site was

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