David Kurth

Case Study

Icon Golf

Icon Golf is a luxury golf and travel club offering curated, bucket-list experiences at the world's most coveted courses. I rebuilt their Squarespace based site into a scalable WordPress CMS with custom trip architecture, member integrations, and performance improvements—creating a platform that matched their premium brand while empowering editors to manage content confidently.

RoleSr. Front-End Developer
TypeCMS Landing System and Member portal
Timeline2-3 months for initial development and maintained project and additions as needed
Project One hero image

Technologies

  • Wordpress
  • PHP & JS
  • Globe.GL & Three.js
  • Custom Theme and Post Types
  • Performance Optimization

The Challenge

Icon Golf was operating on a Wix site that limited flexibility, scalability, and integration with their growing membership and trip ecosystem. They needed a customizable CMS that reflected their elevated brand, supported dynamic trip and club content, and integrated with their member portal and marketing stack.

My Role

  • Owned front-end implementation and overall component architecture
  • Built reusable CMS templates and modular sections for content editors
  • Developed custom JavaScript features (slider, modals, interactive globe)
  • Integrated CPT-driven trip, club, and event systems
  • Improved accessibility compliance and cross-browser consistency
  • Partnered with design and marketing to scope, prioritize, and ship iteratively

Approach

  • Replaced Wix with a custom classic WordPress theme
  • Defined reusable layout sections (hero, CTA, grid, featured trips, etc.) using ACF
  • Created multiple Custom Post Types (Trips, Clubs, Social Events, Locations)
  • Integrated a globe API to animate the earth with trip markers tied to CPT data
  • Connected post IDs to Gravity Forms for dynamic trip inquiries
  • Audited performance and resolved highest-impact bottlenecks first
  • Established consistent spacing, typography, and layout rules across templates

Impact

  • Enabled non-technical editors to create and update trips/events without breaking layouts
  • Improved accessibility and cross-browser reliability
  • Delivered a scalable CMS foundation aligned with a premium, travel-focused brand