Virginia Golfer September / October 2014 | Page 32

The integrity of the natural terrain at a site influences
Bill Kubly’s (right) on-site work.

Mover
and

Shaper
by THOMAS DUNNE

M

any golfers in Virginia
would probably do pretty
well playing the match game
with some of the commonwealth’s best courses and

their architects.
That said, there’s another lesser-known
name that all of these courses (and a couple
dozen more in Virginia alone) have in common, and that’s the name of Bill Kubly.
Kubly is the CEO of Landscapes Unlimited,
the largest golf course construction company
in the U.S. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971 with
a degree in landscape architecture, Kubly
moved to Lincoln, Neb., and began learning
the ins and outs of designing and building golf
courses. He founded Landscapes in 1976, and

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almost 40 years later it remains headquartered
in Nebraska’s capital city, though it now has
satellite offices all over the country.

COLLABORATIVE SPIRIT
Not every golfer is into architecture per se, but
when we step onto the first tee of a T Fazio
om
or an Arnold Palmer golf course, we tend to
know it. Their courses have a certain style, a
unique aesthetic signature. Landscapes and
other construction companies are the ones
charged with translating architects’ wildly
diverse visions into the field—while making
them functional as well.
What’s that process like?
“We’ve pretty much worked with everybody
in the business,” Kubly said in an interview.
“So we’ve built up a rapport. We very carefully

VIRGINIA GOLFER | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

select the right shapers and superintendent to
go with each designer.”
A whole story could be written on the
technical side of Landscapes’ work—irrigation
and drainage, soils and seeding—but as the
Richmond-based architect Lester George
points out, working with a contractor is also
an artistic collaboration.
“We spend a lot of time drawing plans, but
the artwork is always going to change based
on what’s going on in the field,” George says.
“Landscapes knows me well enough to know
they can take risks with my drawings. Maybe
a bunker doesn’t quite fit because of a certain
rock outcropping…they’ll do something intuitive. If I arrive and want to change it back,
they’re good with that. But sometimes they hit
the nail on the head, and we move on.”

w w w. v s g a . o r g

DICK DURRANCE II

Bill Kubly has become one of the top landscapers in the industry by
relying on a form and function model while working closely with clients
to meet mutual goals