Thought the following words by Weiskopf sort of dovetailed into a number of current threads being discussed here...
“I had enough controversy as a player, so I try to stay away from design controversy,” said Weiskopf, who is 57. “My design thoughts are reflected in all the things I've seen in the past that I like. No one has reinvented the wheel on this issue. And I think the best golf courses built since the 1930s were built in the 1990s and are to come in 2000 and beyond.”
As a designer he admits he doesn’t have formal training and he can’t draw a stick figure, but he can “sketch” and he knows what he likes. He’s a traditionalist. He likes false fronts. He doesn’t like blind tee shots (there’s also a liability issue). He wants a reachable par 4 on every course he designs. He wants a balance of holes with doglegs right and holes that bend left. He likes less mounding.
Weiskopf names Alister MacKenzie as his favorite golf-course architect, identifying Pasatiempo and Cypress Point, the two gems MacKenzie built before Augusta National. Next on his list are Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast, Billy Bell and Charles MacDonald. These are the old-style builders that excelled in simple, playable, enjoyable, memorable and maintainable golf courses. He says these are the most respected courses we have today and they have stood the test of time.
Weiskopf has always admired MacKenzie’s bunkering, especially in the days there was extensive fingering. He wonders why Augusta National, through the years, has tamed MacKenzie’s bunkers, except on the fairway at No. 10 where they left his original work almost intact. Weiskopf realizes it’s all about easier maintenance.
Another one of the traditional elements he laments may be gone forever in new courses is the ability go from green to tee in a few steps. “Only four of the 40 projects I have been involved with weren’t also being built along with a considerable number of houses. Building courses that are easy to walk -- well, that’s just not going to happen anymore.”
Weiskopf, who won 15 tour titles and five foreign championships, has a vision on each project.
He says his team starts at the design table, but he gets creative out in the field. He likes to learn what strengths and limitations the land has by walking it. And sometimes he’ll even walk the site and put out stakes for possible routes. Even with his imagination going in many directions, he says he’s careful not to let areas remind him of holes he’s seen before.
He says to imagine a hole could be just like the 16th at Cypress Point is a mistake -- that holes leading up to a specific one are influenced by those that follow.
“I’m not into naming signature holes, I’ll let the golfers decide that,” he said. “But each hole has to have its own identity.”