A.G.
I never said all of his designs are cookie-cutter -- I did say that far too few of them are really exceptional. Here you have the raw appeal of a brand name that simply cranked out courses on the same level as burgers at Wendy's. I don't see the level of detail -- the subtle characteristics -- the change of pace with holes that are not the same used and worn blue prints from five jobs before.
Please list for me the names of those AP courses that are exceptional and truly special? I mentioned Musgrove Mill -- there are a few others -- and the Clinton SC based layout is one of the very few AP courses that makes you look forward to the next round immediately after you finish the first one.
I mean when you look at the vast number of courses that AP has designed or lent his name the listing of such good or exceptional courses -- I never would use the word stellar -- is no more than what you count on two hands.
What could have prevented AP from simply saying to the folks financing his projects -- let's do something a bit different -- something beyond the stale unimaginative courses previously cranked out through the assembly process.
J. McKenzie:
When you say those opportunities are rare I think you're minimizing the kind of leverage AP could have exerted IF HE WANTED TO. I mean I find it disheartening that here you have one of the game's great players and the best they come up with is formulaic designed courses in nearly each and every effort.
It's all about plastering AP's face in order to sell homes and the course features the same tired concepts ad naseum. Yes, there are a few exceptions but it's simply mass production to keep the Empire rolling in more dough.
Frankly, I could care less about his design goals -- whatever that means. I judge the finished product. It wasn't like Arnold was duped into designing what he did. He simply gave people what they wanted. That's fine. But that's the same theory that fast food places operate under. I've played about 40-50 of AP's designs and like I said you rarely hear about any that make you stop dead in your tracks and say you just have to play that course again and again.
Arnold mentioned in his interview the need to satisfy clients --clearly clients wanted to max out the name recognition of such a stellar gentlemen to rake in the cash for another development. There's nothing wrong with that -- but from a design perspective I don't see how the AP designed courses have established some sort of cutting edge quality when compared to a host of others designing today. Arnold had more opportunities and doors available to him than very few others and the bulk of the work I have played is simply the same requisite formulaic style design.
One other thing -- I play a wide range of his courses in the HOPE that something will indeed be different. Let me give you an example -- Stonewall Resort in the heart of West Virginia. Here you have beautiful terrain and you get the same outcome of predictability. The bunkering rarely differs and the greens have the same flanking bunkers on nearly every target. If you gave the same site to a number of other talents architects it's my opinion that the outcome would have been more edgy ... more unpredictable ... more adventurous. Go up the road to the Palmer Course at Speidel in Wheeling and it's the same thing.
Oh, by the way, I do enjoy Hampton Inn but I know better than to believe that Hampton Inn or McDonald's is anything more than what is no matter how well associated the brand name (e.g. Palmer) is known to the masses.
