Company


Background & Philosophy

Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design is a full service international golf course design firm located in Granite Bay, California. Established by Kyle Phillips in 1997, the company provides world‐class golf course design, golf course construction bid documents, golf course feasibility studies, field design, construction shaping specialist services, as well as renovation and historical restoration.

The Kyle Phillips design philosophy stems from the belief that golf courses should have their own character and personality derived from the sites existing natural features, as well as its location and history. Where natural golf features do not exist, Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design has shown an unparalleled ability to create natural appearing landforms.

Kyle Phillips brings his personal commitment to each design, assuring that each client has the opportunity to achieve their full potential and maximize the value of their asset.

New Course Design

The company’s ability to design and create top world ranked courses on less than ideal sites is unmatched in the industry.  By creating landforms that appear to have been formed by centuries of nature’s influence, Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design has delivered spectacular courses in many different architectural styles, each reflecting the particular local setting.

The firm has developed a reputation for designing links courses, characterized by created sand dune landforms that are indistinguishable from nature.  At Kingsbarns Golf Links, near St. Andrews, Scotland, Phillips transformed flat farm fields into the highest ranked links course to be built in the modern era.  Only one year after opening in 2000, Kingsbarns launched into the World Top 50 ranking by Golf Magazine.  Kingsbarns also received Golf Digest’s Best New International Course Award and has served as host of the Dunhill Links Championship since 2001.  A decade later, the company accomplished what many thought was impossible, creating a World Top 100 links course from a barren desert site.  The result is Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, already ranked #1 in the Middle East, Top 25 among courses outside the United States by Golf Digest, and #70 in the World by Golf World Magazine.

Additional notable new course designs include: The South Cape Owners Club, in Namhae, South Korea, which opened in 2013 and features spectacular mountain and seaside holes with views of the sea and surrounding islands from all 18 holes.  The Grove, a 300 acre (125 hectare) country estate with a prestigious 5‐star hotel & spa near London, which hosted the Top 50 World Ranked players for the 2006 American Express World Golf Championship, won by Tiger Woods; The ultra‐exclusive Dundonald Links of Loch Lomond Golf Club, on the west coast of Scotland, where Phillips succeeded in creating a traditional Ayrshire links style course; The Lakes Course and Links Course at the PGA of Sweden National Golf Resort in Malmo, host to the European Tour’s Nordea Masters, in 2014; and the East Course and West Course at the luxurious seaside Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily, host to the European Tour’s, Sicilian Open, in 2012.

Adding Value through Full Course Redesign

In today’s competitive environment, existing courses must be able to successfully compete in their demographic.  In these situations, Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design has a proven track record of substantially increasing demand and asset value through a complete redesign of the golf course.

In 2008, this occurred at The California Golf Club of San Francisco, which included a creative combination of redesign and detailed historic restoration of the original Vernon Macan and Alister Mackenzie architecture. In 2013, “Cal Club” was ranked #58 by Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S., a list that they had never been considered for prior to the redesign.

Our full course redesign portfolio also includes: the Del Paso Country Club, in Sacramento, California.  Established in 1916, Del Paso was completely remodeled by Kyle Phillips in 2006 and will now host the 2015 U.S Senior Men’s Open Championship.  In addition, Menlo Country Club, established in 1904 in Woodside, California was completely redesigned and successfully reopened in 2014.

Remodeling and Historical Restoration

Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design has also been entrusted with the sensitive remodeling and restoration work of several high profile and historically significant courses, including Europe’s #1 and #2 ranked courses, Valderamma in Spain and Morfortaine, near Paris.

In addition, he was retained for the redesign work at The Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Virginia, in preparation for the 2000 and 2005 President’s Cup competitions, as well as the renovation of Hilversumsche Golf Club for the 2010 & 2011 European Tour Dutch Open.  In 2009 Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design restored the bunkers and sixteen of the greens at the historical Wilshire Country Club, an original Norman Macbeth design, established in 1919, in Los Angeles, California.

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