5 minute read
Post Game
PRESENTED BY MICHELOB ULTRA
Wazzu alum and golf course architect Nick Schaan has made his mark around the world
BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR
If golf course architects were rated like PGA Tour pros, Nick Schaan says he wouldn’t appear at the top of any statistical category but would be in the top dozen or so every time.
“I do a bit of everything well,” he says. “Be it drawing up plans, routing a course, or building one, I’ve been fortunate to do it all. And I expect a lot of myself. Most importantly, though, I love what I do.”
Schaan, of course, is David McLay-Kidd’s right-hand man, a partner in DMK Golf Design since 2015 having joined the company in 2006. A native of North Dakota and graduate of Washington State University where he earned a degree in Landscape Architecture, Schaan is 44 now and has had a hand in the creation of some of America’s best courses.
After beginning his career with Tacoma-based architect John Harbottle, Schaan worked briefly for course-builder Heritage Links before getting his big chance with McLay-Kidd. “John encouraged me to try for the job with David,” he says. “He asked if I’d rather keep playing for the Tacoma Rainiers or give myself the opportunity of playing for the Yankees.”
Not yet 40, McLay-Kidd was a big name in the business having already built the original course at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Queenwood in London, Powerscourt (West) in Ireland and Nanea in Hawaii.
The first project Schaan worked on with the vivacious Scotsman was Huntsman Springs, now Tributary, in southeast Idaho.
While the views of the Tetons were amazing, the site itself wasn’t great as precious little elevation change made drainage a problem. McLay-Kidd had the idea of digging valleys for the golf while positioning the development’s residential lots on the resulting ridgetops. Schaan, just 27 at the time, played a vital role in making the technically complex plan work, and building a superb course that, because it’s private, has never really got the attention it deserves.
He thinks of Tributary like a “first-born” and is obviously proud of what he accomplished there together with McLay-Kidd who appreciates the partnership the two have built. “I get the notoriety while Nick figures out the details,” McLay-Kidd says. “We often say I fly at 10,000 feet while he’s in the weeds.”
Every course Schaan has worked on since Tributary has had something special about it but those he mentions in particular include Mammoth Dunes in Wisconsin where he first got to walk a site with Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser; Rolling Hills in California where he helped turn a mediocre course that had opened in the late 1960s into a sandy, strategic masterpiece; and Comporta Dunes in Portugal which will open this fall, several years after the firm began work there. “Seeing that course finally open after so many setbacks that were out of our hands is very satisfying,” says Schaan.
Then there’s Gamble Sands, of course. Schaan didn’t play a huge role in the making of the first (Sands) course, but he’s heavily involved with the yet-to-be-named second. “I’m there three days a week,” he says. “We’ve made a lot of changes to our first routing, and we now have nine holes shaped. Irrigation is underway, and we’ll begin grassing later this year.”
After 17 years working together, Schaan says he’s learned a great deal from McLay-Kidd, mostly about the business of course architecture, but also the details of design itself. “David’s always said routing is about the journey” he notes. “If you were to walk a site for the first time, you wouldn’t go back and forth in straight lines, but explore it all. That’s how you route the most interesting golf course.”
The father of two has built a good many interesting courses with DMK Design, and says he has to pinch himself when he thinks of all the cool places he’s been and interesting people he’s met. One wonders, though, if it might be time to consider setting up his own company.
“Why would I?” he asks. “I get to be creative and work on some of the best projects in the world. I really enjoy it, have a lot of respect for my business partner, and love the team of people and clients we work with.”
Good points. McLay-Kidd is pretty happy with how things have turned out, too. “I’m so proud of Nick. As well as being a great collaborator, he’s also a loyal friend, which means more than any golf course we might create.”
