It has been years since I was really into golf. My desire to play faded through college, and went away altogether while I was working in Washington D.C. Law school consumed me for another year and sent me to China during the prime golfing months this past summer. There was always an excuse. And I was lazy and busy, if that makes any sense.<\/p>\n
But now, for some reason, I\u2019m returning to the game that I grew up loving. The only problem is that with winter nearing (although, you wouldn\u2019t know it if you looked outside today – 70* and sunny), the PGA Tour winding down and the Silly Season offering only mild entertainment, I\u2019m looking for new sources of golf entertainment to satisfy my recently rejuvenated jones for all things golf.<\/p>\n
The topic of golf course architecture has caught my eye. I\u2019ve subscribed to several blogs that write about it frequently – Geoff Shackelford, Ian Andrew\u2019s \u201cCaddy Shack\u201d, On Golf Architecture, and The Golf Course as Art. I have no desire to design a golf course. My interest is form a player\u2019s perspective. If I can understand the courses I\u2019m playing better and the design elements behind them, then perhaps I can better position my shots during a round. The history of it is intriguing, too.<\/p>\n
My two home courses while growing up were very different in design. One was the Traverse City Golf and Country Club, a course \u201cdesigned and built by Tom Bendelow, a Scotsman from Aberdeen who was one of America\u2019s pioneer golf course architects.\u201d The course is a traditional tree lined country club type course and the management has recently made an effort to open up some of the holes with the addition of heather.<\/p>\n
The other course was The Bear at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, Michigan. The Bear is a Jack Nicklaus designed course, and is very typical of an early Nicklaus design – many holes demand high fade shots.<\/p>\n
In fact, the playing experience at The Bear is summarized perfectly by this quote from a recent article in The Weekly Standard titled, \u201cPutting Golf Back on Course.\u201d<\/p>\n
On many of [Jack\u2019s] courses, the average player will lose half a dozen balls a round, many of them having found a watery grave in one of the man-made water-hazards of which Nicklaus is so fond. As a player, Nicklaus probably wouldn\u2019t even notice many of the water hazards that litter his courses. But the typical golfer does.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My novice observation is that there is a clash between minimalist architects who favor using what the land provides and fitting a design to the land and new-age architects who strive to define exactly how each hole should be played.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll be reading more about golf course architecture and seeking books and articles as winter settles in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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