By Design - Winter 2018

24 | By Design FIVE TO FINISH Nearly every client we have brings up the island hole and asks if they can have one Kevin Ramsey, ASGCA K evin Ramsey, ASGCA, is a principal with the golf course architecture firm Golfplan, where he works alongside David Dale, ASGCA. The firm is based in Santa Rosa, California, but perhaps best known for its pioneering work around the globe, with many new courses built in China and South Korea, and a project list that stretches from Argentina to Uganda. Ramsey, who was introduced to the game by his parents while growing up in Chicago, completed a Landscape Architecture degree from the University of California, Davis, where he competed in the 1987 and 1988 NCAA Division II National Championships. How is your game? I think I have played four times this year, so there’s not a lot to talk about here. Although I did just play in Uganda at the opening tournament of our Lake Victoria Golf Resort and Spa, which was 10 years in the making. It was great fun to finally tee it up. With all the travel I do, when I am home I try to be home. My wife and I have been travelling a lot with my daughter’s volleyball club and getting to follow her with the sport she loves. This has taken us all over the country and has been a blast. Which three people would make up your dream fourball? I would have to put Seve Ballesteros at the top of this list. Who would not want to see the genius shot making in person? David Feherty—golf needs to be more fun and I thoroughly enjoy his wit. And Steph Curry, it would be interesting to see the talent of a professional from another sport. What is your favorite hole in golf? I have been fortunate enough to play a lot of golf all over the world and have many favorites, but if I had to pick one that I think triggers a lot of conversation and emotion in golf it would be the seventeenth at TPC Sawgrass. Nothing is more nerve- wracking to play or watch, no matter how good you are. I love watching the pros sweat a bit, especially if there is a bit of wind. Nearly every client we have brings up the island hole and asks if they can have one. Strategically speaking, I always gravitate to a short par four, and being from northern California I have always admired what Robert Trent Jones did with the fourth hole at Spyglass, with lots of options and risk-reward choices. If you could change or add one rule, what would it be? All water hazards should be lateral. It’s always been odd and confusing. It would speed up play. What project are you currently working on? We have just completed grassing of our new Tabori Hill Golf Resort in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is set on a very dramatic ridge top above the city that will be connected by gondola from the center of the city for easy access for tourists and hotels guests. I have a new, highly eco-friendly project starting construction next year in the Philippines and also a dramatic and exciting sand dune and pine forest site we are working on in Turkey. Between these and the Uganda project, you can see how the travel adds up! • Tabori Hill in Tbilisi, Georgia

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