Keiser On Kidd: He Needs Monitoring

Tom Cade files a story on Mike Keiser, the visionary behind Bandon Dunes who has some blunt things to say about the work of David McLay Kidd, who designed the first course at the resort. Thanks to reader John for spotting this.

So I told him I'd heard a story that during the creation of the original Bandon Dunes course he had come out and took a look at the wild undulating greens that David McLay Kidd (the architect) was building, and had told Kidd to make them flatter. "Yes, that's true. I told Kidd to make the greens more playable, 'or I will fire you today.' Can you imagine getting fired from your very first job as an architect?"

Keiser's reining-in of Kidd proved that his instincts were good, that he knew what golfers would want and he knew how to handle tough men in a tough situation. Later, others would let Kidd do as he pleased, and they have since paid the price - while the Bandon Dunes course continues to garner global acclaim in the golf industry, Kidd's Tetherow design in Bend, Ore., which opened in 2008, is currently undergoing renovation of many of its greens because of unfavorable reviews; and plans are in the works to blow up the disastrous Kidd-designed Castle Course in St. Andrews, barely two years old, and on a once-in-a-lifetime piece of property at the Home of Golf in Scotland. "Kidd was left alone to do whatever he wanted (at the Castle Course)," said Keiser. "The committee from the St. Andrews Trust overseeing the construction never checked in on him."

Has anyone seen a story on the talk about blowing up the Castle Course? Why isn't Peter Dawson working on that redo instead of tinkering with Open rota courses to mask the effects of ineffective regulatory efforts?