KRISTINE KERR-KEEPING BUSY

By NEVILLE IDOUR

Kristine Kerr of Kura Golf Course Design is widely travelled in her career in Landscape Architecture and Golf Course Design. From New Zealand to Australia, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Italy, Thailand, China, Egypt, Borneo, Saudi Arabia (not necessarily in that order) and now back in NZ her story so far makes fascinating telling. We caught up with her in Kerikeri recently for a chat about her life and interesting career path.

“I was born in Whangarei and when I was 10 years old we moved to Auckland. We had a farming and construction background and moved to the Gold Coast in 1980. My family were involved in the development of Palm Meadows, Queensland’s first Golf Country Club. With all the Gold Coast activity, choosing to do a three year Bachelor of Applied Science degree at the Queensland University of Technology seemed a good idea,” Kerr explains. Her degree also included Built Environment-Landscape Architecture/Urban and Regional Planning

“From there my first job was in Town Planning in Cairns and shortly after for the Mulgrave Shire Council. It was fascinating because at that time in 1990 with such a lot of development happening in Queensland, the Japanese in particular invested a lot of money. So, there was no shortage of opportunity for Strategic planning.”

“Shortly thereafter I went on my OE. I was 21 and mostly nannied in London. I had an English grandmother so having an ancestry visa I could work quite happily there. I also worked for a Planning and Architectural Consultancy. After a couple of years my parents were living in Singapore during construction, so I joined them to get some work experience in Asia. I worked for a small practice of an Australian landscape architect who had three golf courses on the go so as a 23 year old I worked on the design of those three new courses. Two were in Malaysia and one in Vietnam. It was probably Vietnam’s first five star golf course Song Be which is still there.”

Leaving Singapore at the age of 27, Kerr’s next career move took her to Nelson Wright, now Nelson Haworth who were specialist Golf Course Architects renowned for top quality work. So, she worked on high end championship courses largely associated with hotels and residential developments although some were simply golf courses. The work was very much for the destination and Asian golf market which was flourishing.

What was your role in all of this? “I was there as an apprentice designer and because I grew up on a farm, I have a very good eye for large spaces and shapes and contours of land which is pretty much what golf course design entails. We would do site visits, walk and plan the course. Putting the masterplan together could be like a jigsaw puzzle with the things that had to fit. Often you would start with the location of the clubhouse and make a routing with a lot of variety and work out the sequencing of holes and the flow of any undulations.”

“In those days we did contour plans by hand and subsequently had to do the cut and fill earthworks quantities by hand as well, so I became very proficient at that. It was great learning properly from the best and being part of a top team. That was really fun and my favourite course at that time was one called Shan Shui (means Mountain and River) in Saba on the island of Borneo off the east coast of Malaysia. Like much of golf in those days, courses were built in spectacular destinations so our site visits would entail a bit of diving or deep-sea fishing plus of course great Asian food. During that time, I worked on a number of courses in Malaysia with them and also Thailand and China.”

Gary Player project in Italy which was simply stunning.”

The next move was to London and following her heart where she worked for an American international landscape and planning firm as their golf course specialist in Europe. Kerr worked on planning of golf resorts. “One in particular a friend of mine who was a Gary Player designer had introduced me to a Gary Player project in Italy which was simply stunning.”

“There was an old palazzo that had been turned into a farmhouse, the client was the Baron and the land had been taken from the family during the war. He had bought it back and wanted to set up something that was a legacy for his son who at the time was only about 10 years old. So, he developed a beautiful hotel and spa with an 18-hole golf course and a nine-hole course as well. I worked on the master planning, layout and landscape design and Gary Player design of the nine-hole course for what would become Palazzo Arzaga Hotel Spa and Golf Resort.”

It needs to be said that Kerr’s work on this course garnered acclaim. It is recognised as one of Italy’s finest courses. Luxury Magazine said ”It provides a rich and challenging golfing experience with four Tees for all. The layout maximises views to the stunning backdrop of the Alps.”

Guy Hockley Golden Age Golf Architecture Ltd and architect partner to Nick Faldo had this to say. “Kristine brought a fresh, constructive and innovative approach…. she was able to lead teams and command warmth from her colleagues and clients. Kristine is amongst the most professional and competent individuals it has been my pleasure to have encountered in the fields of design and planning.” High praise indeed.

Kerr continues “Around that time with my golf experience and working in Europe I worked for Gary Player in England. As a 29 year old I flew from London to the coast of the Red Sea in Egypt for the first time by private jet for what was probably Egypt’s first international golf course at Sona Bay. We were on our best behaviour at the opening party with Gary present.”

“Golf was booming again in China so I went there to work for another large American Landscape Planning Company EDSA in Beijing. It was quite staggering in the early 2,000’s as they were working on the designs of new cities and towns. I had a year with EDSA while they were doing this work designing complete cities. I did the golf course design on a large number of those throughout China and travelled almost weekly”.

“One of the competitions we won was the master planning for a new golf resort in Nanjing (the old southern capital). Gary Player was going to do the golf course design and because our master plan was so similar to the golf course layout, we got that job and I then went to work for Gary Player again being their on-site design representative. I stayed there for a year while it was being built.”

Nanjing Zhongshan International Golf Club is a 27-hole tournament course with every facility. Kerr was based on site as the Design Co-ordinator liaising with all involved in the construction to ensure a course of the highest quality. It opened in 2005 and was quickly voted in the top ten courses in China.

“After that I came back to NZ in 2005. Being in NZ I thought I would look for a job around the Pacific and I was introduced to Boffa Miskall who were NZ’s leading environmental planning landscape company. “

“They offered me the job to work on Pegasus with them and after several years I set up my own company in 2008, Kura Golf Course Design. There was still the lure of China as there was a lot of work there and I loved experiencing different cultures, but to be offered your own golf course in NZ was very special. After Pegasus was completed I then had the contract to do Whisper Creek another new golf course in Christchurch. I decided to collaborate with Nick Faldo on that project but the earthquakes brought an end to it with finance proving too difficult even though consents had been granted.”

“I have done a lot of remodelling for example, Waimairi being a flat low lying course was wrecked by liquefaction but we created a lot of wetland areas, raised the fairways and greens to be above liquefaction levels. The course had been a very old fashioned backwards and forwards design with pine trees aplenty. We removed a lot of the trees and reshaped the dunes underneath to reroute the course and make it more interesting. We got 15 holes redone but the club decided to leave the remaining three holes (2,3 and 4) as they originally were. A bit of a shame but with golf clubs it is often important to just keep playing rather than understanding that the overall look of the golf course is important.”

“After Waimairi I moved up north and worked on Waitangi, largely the 11th hole which was a par 4 but is now a par 5 with the green appearing as if it is right on the edge of the sea. I also worked on master planning of resorts and residential developments with golf courses involved that may be for the sale of land for private clients to show what can be achieved on the site.”

“Most recently in 2018 my mother and I bought some land for subdivision and immediately after, I was offered a job in Saudi Arabia for a public investment fund company for a resort development and for being a golf course development manager. I did that for 18 months working with top architects and international designers globally. I found it fascinating culturally and enjoyed the time. It was an easy place to live in and the people are genuinely very kind and thoughtful and friendly. It is part of what is called Vision 2030 for Saudi Arabia to refocus some of their GDP based on oil and tourism.”

So what took you away from there before completion? “Timing wise I came back to NZ to do the subdivision with my mother. Actually, originally my OE was only supposed to be for a couple of years so it kind of got stretched. It is quite funny as going back to the Gold Coast in Queensland was part of the plan as it was such a fabulous place to grow up. Back here remodelling at Omaha also was unfinished business and we have built two par three’s, the 15th and 17th. Next is the par 4 18th, lovely alongside the harbour, currently it is very flat but looking forward to doing something interesting with that. “

“We recently completed the new practice putting green after the merging of two golf clubs in the Lower Hutt area, now called the Boulcotts Farm Heritage Golf club. The putting green is 500 square metres outside the clubhouse and a new bunker on the 18th is also a feature. I have just been commissioned to remodel six holes and design new practice facilities there as well.”

The new first green at Akarana is under construction too. I also provided a concept sketch for the third at Waitangi plus I did a plantings scheme for St Clair after the removal of large numbers of pine trees.”

What lies ahead for Kristine Kerr? “Obviously I would like to do another brand new golf course in New Zealand. But after doing the subdivision and project managing as well as designing, I have a bit of a taste for that too. There is a new course design on the horizon but nothing I can reveal.”

Is it more difficult for a female course designer to get work in New Zealand? “Not really. Even though I am a New Zealander, because I haven’t spent as much time here and most of my work has been overseas I don’t think I have as high a profile as other New Zealand designers. Even though I have probably worked on more golf courses around the world than all of them put together I am just not known here. I think you have to be meeting people and networking. However, I am happy just doing good work whatever that may be within my abilities.”

Kerr was the first female member of the Australian Society of Golf Course Architects ……and as we have seen, from the palm plantations of Borneo, the golf boom in China , the lakes of northern Italy to the rural plains of North Canterbury Kerr’s depth and variety of experience in her chosen fields is probably without equal in New Zealand.

We should look forward to her next major project with our golf clubs at the ready.