Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects whose names might be new to you, but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan.
What work are you best known for at this point in time?
Kovich: Maybe I’m best known for the work I did for Gil Hanse at The Cradle (in Pinehurst), Aronimink and Streamsong Black, and before that probably as the kid who taught himself Mandarin so that he could go work in China for Tom Doak for two years. On my own the jury is still out, but I think soon it will be The Patterson Club, a Robert Trent Jones design in Connecticut where we’re working now. It will be the first complete 18-hole remodel we’ve done.
The Patterson Club dates to 1929, when General Electric Co. employees organized a Dining and Social Club with 20 charter members. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed course opened nearly 20 years later in 1947 on a new site in Fairfield, Conn. Today, the course is one of the best in the area, having hosted the state’s Open and Amateur.
Who’s been the biggest influence on you professionally?
Kovich: It’s a mixture of the Hanse and Doak camps, with Jim Wagner, Gil’s partner and Eric Iverson with Doak. Gil is just beloved by committees and superintendents and members. I’m a “glass half empty” kind of guy, so it’s a good lesson to learn to tell people what you really love about their golf course because they all love it. And when we get a topo map of a property, I think about the lessons I learned from Tom and what he looks for. He was the one who would bring me to new properties to look at.
What’s a learning moment you’ll never forget?
Kovich: We were doing the U.S. Open tees (with Hanse) at Los Angeles Country Club, and I had the slope on one going into a hillside rather than off of it. It was kind of funny, but that mistake taught me to use the laser to check the slopes. It doesn’t matter how good you think your eye is, the laser doesn’t lie. Fractions of an inch matter. We’ve found “the line” on greens where the size and slope of hole locations get too extreme, and we’re not going to cross that. I’ve seen things that are on the edge that have put me on high alert. I might love that at one course, but we’re not doing it, and there’s still no shortage of interesting stuff on our greens.
Whose current architectural work intrigues you most?
Kovich: I’ve always wanted to see one of the Tim Jackson and David Kahn courses. I think we probably have very different philosophies, but there are probably some similarities, too. I’ve done a lot of short courses, so their Bad Little Nine at Scottsdale National intrigues me.
What course makes your heart sing?
Kovich: My beloved Ballyneal. Just the nothingness of being out there, you enter a different realm. I have trouble turning things off in my brain, but I enter a true happy place there.
What’s one thing that’s indispensable while working?
Kovich: Waterproof shoes. You can’t do anything if you’re cold and wet. I don’t know how the old boys did it wearing suits, the horse and plows, no thank you. I’ve got my heated seat in the bulldozer and heated hand controls. We’re not giving those back.
