Making Southern Hills insanely great
by Ken MacLeod
Growing up in the small town of Clovis, N.M., the daughter of a prominent businessman and a teacher, Kimberly Clark Warren didn’t realize she was training to run every department of a world-famous country club.
But every interaction, whether with the bank, dry cleaners, hairdresser, drug store or supermarket, was just that.
“My upbringing was like a microcosm of what hospitality is,” said the new general manager of Southern Hills Country Club. “When you grow up in a small town, you get to know the names of everyone in town.”
Now Warren interacts with the managers of golf, tennis, fitness, wellness, pool, food and beverage, agronomy, landscaping, social activities and probably more. And has begun at least a year-long process of learning the names and back stories of the 983 members.
Making sure day-to-day operations are functioning smoothly and efficiently is one thing. Also coming with the territory at Southern Hills are major projects and major championships.
This fall, the West Nine will be converted into a reversible course by Gil Hanse and renamed The Warren after Southern Hills co-founder William K. Warren and his son Bill Warren Jr., both Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame inductees. Bill Warren hired his friend Ben Crenshaw along with Bill Coore to design the West Nine in 1991, opening in 1992.
While hoping no one confuses her name with either Warren or the Kimberly Clark Company, a major manufacturer in Tulsa, Kimberly Clark Warren will be putting to good use the experience she gained the past eight years as the general manager and chief operating officer of Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.
Saucon Valley is a sprawling club with 60 holes of golf (three 18-hole courses and a six-hole short course), and about every other amenity imaginable. It has 38 buildings spread over 850 acres. Warren took to driving a distinctive red golf cart so the membership and her co-workers could easily identify her as she traversed the grounds.
“One of the most important things you can do as a GM is be visible and be available,” she said. “If you’re visible, you can build trust and if you build trust, you can get things done.”
Saucon Valley has hosted eight USGA championships, including the 2022 U.S. Senior Open, so Warren is no stranger to big-time event planning. Southern Hills will host the 2032 PGA Championship and several USGA amateur championship events are in discussions for the future as well. Southern Hills would eventually like to be the only club to have hosted every USGA event, although that may take decades to accomplish.
The first woman general manager in the club’s 90-year history, Warren has one of the most prestigious GM roles in the country. She noted that 13 percent of the GM/Chief Operating Officer/Chief Executive Officer roles at private clubs are currently held by women.
Her gender played no factor in her hiring, said Southern Hills President Tim McFerrin.
“I get a lot of comments about what a bold move we made, but my response every time is we hired the best candidate and it wasn’t even close,” McFerrin said. “She’s a pro and really, really good at what she does. Her attention to detail is incredible.”
Warren attended the University of Houston and interned at Chevy Chase Club in Montgomery, Md. She worked eight years at Houston Country Club (2000-08), moved to River Oaks Country Club in Houston (2009-13), then to Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta (2013-18), before landing the job at Saucon Valley.
At each stop prior to Saucon Valley, she said she worked for tremendous general managers whom she described as “Nick Sidorakis adjacent,” referring to the highly-respected former Southern Hills GM now running the City of Tulsa courses Page Belcher and Mohawk Park.
“Saucon Valley was great preparation for coming here. I’ve been part of some incredible teams that have given me a lot of wonderful support and mentorship for a long time,” she said. “I was very happy there and there were only a handful of clubs I would have taken a phone call from. Southern Hills was certainly one of them.”
After meeting with the board, club president Brett Pratt (now McFerrin) and the staff, Warren knew right away she wanted to be in Tulsa.
“My goal now is to work with our senior leaders and say how are we going to make this place insanely great,” Warren said. “You only do that with a great team and a supportive board. And we want to continue on with a lot of the things that Nick started, like the club’s support for the First Tee of Tulsa. “
Warren and husband Tommy Richey, who also works in the golf industry as a consultant, have a French bulldog named Tula May.