Mike C:
...I have to wonder if quirk is really an area of emphasis or should it be treated as nothing more than a side element that if present is fine but should never trample the major tenets of sound architectural dictum -- the good shot being rewarded and the poor shot being penalized proportionate to the manner in which it was executed.
Matt;
I'd address your question two ways. First, I think we're talking about quirk vs consistency on a gradient here. How far can things be pushed in the direction of quirk without becoming pure gimmickry and how far can things be pushed in the direction of consistency without becoming boringly stifling? I don't know but I can think of examples that work, irregardless.
Who decided to place the 17th tee at The Old Course awkwardly and blindly behind the railway sheds? Was it a gimmick when Tillinghast decided that 2,500 sq.ft. was quite enough greenspace for the 15th at Fenway? Was it quirk or gimmick when Ross decided that the first half of the 11th green at Plainfield should follow the natural slope so severely as to be a giant false front? How about the 4th green at Hollywood, where my tee shot landed about halfway up the green on the right (and you KNOW I don't have great backspin) only to then sit in bewilderment watching it slowly, almost imperceptibly creep off the front of the green and careen down the slope below? These are just a few examples off the top of my head...
However, I would go even further out and tell you that I don't believe in the philosophy of a golf course as a "test", and I think this is where we differ in some ways, as much as we find agreement in others.
You argue that a "good shot" should be justly rewarded, and a poor shot PROPORTIONATELY penalized. I like to call this "progressive discipline", and I think that type of structured approach is most often seen in the US Open setup, where a narrow fairway is first protected by 2-3 inch rough for 6 feet, then 4-6 inch rough for 10-15 yards, then wild stuff beyond (which doesn't factor in that this gets tramped down by spectators
). Most greens are then protected similarly against anything but a high, aerial approach, usually again with thick rough for anything "missing". We saw lots of this at Bethpage last year. This type of thinking is "target golf" to the extreme, and yes, it does reward a certain type of straight shot, and penalize a non-straight shot. Fair enough.
It just seems that this type of game could be played on a driving range, with points awarded to whoever gets their ball closest to the target. Of course, putting would have to be included, but the whole thing could take place on 20 acres of a practice facility.
Frankly, I don't believe that golf courses should be a "test", nor should they dictate rewards and punishments within some narrowly defined construct. They should "be", and exist to be "played". The "test" is self-defined by the game...trying to put a ball in a hole some hundreds of yards away in the least number of swipes. Isn't that test enough? For comparative purposes, if you are a more accomplished golfer than I am, shouldn't you be able to score lower than I no matter what course we're playing?
It seems to me that the more we narrowly define (in our architecture) what type of shots are rewarded and which are successful, the more we limit what the game can be. We start to take the fun and adventure out of it, and our puny human minds can no more improve on what nature and our instinctual response to nature provides than we can hold back the winds or the tides.