[Steve_Roths]

Tom,

A couple of suggestions.

Before and After pictures.  This will allow people to see your amazing skill.

Each of your courses logos displayed next to the write up about each one.  Nicklaus.com does this and it gives you just another insight to each course.  

Pictures of design in progress.  The evolution of a digital camera would make this simple to update and you would drive a lot of people to your site if you showed what was evolving in your design business.

[Chris Pike]

Tom,

I work for a Fortune 500 company and assist in my organization’s web-design.  What we do very frequently is check our competitor’s sites to get ideas for our own.  We check these sites on at least a bi-weekly basis.  While your resources may be more limited, it would certainly be a good idea to check other golf architect’s sites prior to doing a redesign of your own.  Both your site’s design and content should reflect Renaissance Golf’s overall philosophy.  In accordance with your current site’s philosophy statement, your revised web site should reflect “…minimalism…a refusal to let design ideas out of thin air outweigh the realities of the site.”  Forget cute logos or quirky applications, as they would not accurately reflect your minimalist ideologies.  

Speaking to the former posts regarding the use of Flash on websites, I don’t see anything wrong with incorporating a limited use of Flash.  However, I do not particularly like websites that are designed entirely in Flash.  Please see Thomas McBroom’s website (http://www.thomas-mcbroom.com/Flash.html) for an effective use of Flash.  His site uses Flash for both his introduction page, as well as a slide show in his course portfolios (see Domaine Laforest).  Some use of Flash would also eliminate the “outdated” comments that you’ve received.  Another thing I like about McBroom’s site is that its design has a feel of a structural architect’s site.  If I were a prospective client, his site conveys to me that his company would approach the construction of my course with as much detail as if he were constructing a skyscraper or concert hall.        

One “must-have” for your revised site would be an on-line journal or diary that you can update without much effort.  One of Renaissance Golf’s great selling points is that you’ll construct a course on the right piece of land anywhere in the world.  Your traveling is virtually legendary, and an on-line journal would most certainly market this.  A “Where in the World is Tom Doak?” section would have many of us visiting the site quite frequently.  You can take 15 – 30 minutes on some of your plane rides and create a journal entry, which you can then upload to your site with any internet connection.  Also, I wouldn’t limit the journal entries to strictly golf course design, but I would expand them to include some interesting points of your trips (i.e. “I was hitting a 7-iron into the planned 7th green and 6 kangaroos bounded across the fairway”…you get the idea).

Anyway, those are just some of my ideas intended to get the wheels turning.  Don’t get bogged down with the “technology” of it (there are people who can take care of that), or your ideas and philosophies won’t come through.  Use those same creative tools that you use in designing golf courses to update the site. Good luck!

[RJ_Daley]

I like the Kingsley Clubs site.  It opens with one page and advises to take the photo tour first, then it invites you to a second page that has all the pertinent info...

http://www.kingsleyclub.com/

This should take you there...

[RJ_Daley]

Wow, that McBroom site is a corker!

[John Nixon]

Why do you have a website?

If it's to attract and entice potential clients, then emphasize your portfolio. Briefly address your ability to handle a wide spectrum of client personalities, budgets and site characteristics.

If it's to educate random surfers and the few needles of golf course architecture students in the haystack of internet users, then put in your diaries, thoughts, ruminations and yearnings.

[Steve_Roths]

One other suggestion:

Maybe once a month have a hidden gem that you find on the road.  I know you had mentioned a course near Kidnappers that you were suprised to find.

[Rick Shefchik]

I love black and white photography of people, but not of golf courses. The B&W photos on this site of Friar's Head are very well composed and executed, but I wish every one of them were in color.

Tom, my simple request of your site would be: the more photos, the better.

[Steve_Lemmon]

I would think, from a potential client's perspective, some before and after pictures of course sites (not just restoration) would be helpful.

[Daryn_Soldan]

Tom-

As you say you're in the process making website changes, I am not sure if all of the technical aspects are already settled on.  However, here are my thoughts, technical and content related.

I would locate the contents either at the top of the page under the heading banner or along the right side.  It would also be helpful if contact information was displayed on the opening page. The best locations being on the left or right side of the heading banner or centered on the bottom of the page. Lots of browsing of the web is done to get contact information so you may as well make it quick and easy to find. Also, keeping with your "minimalist" theme, earthtones, greens and golds would create a classy yet understated look to the website.

There are two things that I have really taken to heart regarding website design. One is that if a person visiting the site has to make more than two or three mouse clicks to reach what they want to find, you have lost them. This is one downside of many big, gawdy websites and it is easily overcome by efficient grouping of ideas under the contents.  The second idea is that the old adage, "a picture is worth a thousand words," is true. recently, the organization that I work for has stressed the visual side of our website and in the presentations we make. This has been met with positive feedback and results.

Content wise, I like the rotating quotes on the opening page and would add a series of rotating pictures and/or design diagrams. My suggestion would be to keep the opening page reletively short and have the text incorporate a condensed version of the "Minimalist Philosophy" and "How We Work" sections of the website. These seem to be core values that Renaissance is known for, and should be highlighted right off the bat. Finally, a client testimonials section may be helpful from a potential client's standpoint and can illustrate your company's ability to work with a variety of clients in all corners or the world.  Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the new site.

-Daryn

[danielfaleman]

And for God's sake:

Put your contact infromation (address, phone numbers, email) on the first page that comes up.

[cary lichtenstein]

I concur, the Kingsley site is excellent

[ian]

I appreciate all the comments.

I'm in the middle of updating/changing/improving our web site too, and will borrow a few really good ideas from the comments above.

Ian

[Jfaspen]

Well Mr. Doak, lets think of why people are gonna come to your website or search your name in Google.  At this point, it is probably  and Pacific Dunes.  My first suggestion would be to have the front page feature a memorable hole or angle from this course.  
As many people have suggested, the more bigger pictures that are posted, the better.  As Joe golfer who is planning a trip to somewhere.. I am going to rely on word of mouth and pictures of courses to determine where I play.  The more photos (doesnt have to be a full course tour) the better.  

I would have separate sections for your design work and restoration work.  
- As a selfish note, I think more before and after pictures of the Valley Club wouldnt hurt.  

Jeff

[Dan Kelly]

Tom Doak --

Seems to me John Nixon has asked the essential question -- which you must answer before any of us can make informed recommendations:

Why do you have a Web site?

What are your goals for that Web site?

Isn't that what you ask of any potential course owner who's considering hiring you? What kind of a course do you want? What are your goals for your course?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Tom,
I think it would be extremely beneficial to this website that we not only know the time you spend on the road, but to actually trace your every movement 24/7.

I suggest this for the website revision:

We (Courtesy of GCA donations) have a super new LoJack computer chip installed in your skull, and in conjuction with NASA/JPL we could simply go on to the Doakgolf website and track your every move! Ran could even link it on the left bar, and it could have the following features:



A seperate browser window could open-up and it could then show the exact location you are at during that paticular time. In the example shown, it would be for instance on the Nigerian Coast where Mike Kaiser had just happened to hear of a piece of rambling dunesland and wanted you to check it out. We click and we see exactly where your at!



I really do think this has some possibilities-oh the magic of the internet!

[Tim_Weiman]

Tommy,

You MUST have far too much time on your hands!

Tim

[Kevin_Reilly]

Tommy, you out-did yourself!  

[Jfaspen]

Just what I needed to start my day Tommy!  Good one!

 

[Big Pete]

Tom
Me thinks you should have Barnie Dunes on the front page...

I would seriously

Perhaps even more seriously and without the tongue in the cheek , I would  like to suggest both more photos and info on completed , in progress , and projects coming like those you have in Ireland and Long Island

[Jeff_Mingay]

LOL

[Adam_F_Collins]

Good Stuff, Tommy N.

Tom D. I have probably already given you enough graphic design advice. I see some excellent comments here as well.

Generally speaking, simple is better. My own site is pretty simple for a graphic designer.

http://www.epiphanycreative.com

Good luck with it. I'm sure we're all interested in what you'll come up with.

[ChipRoyce]

I hear websites that include porn get quite a lot of attention.  

[RJ_Daley]

 And they wonder where will all the great new comedians come from...?

TD, if you don't have Tommy take over your in-house public relations operations, you've missed the boat.

[Scott_Burroughs]

I agree, no Flash.  Since the ability to link to flash sites directly (and have them work correctly) has been removed from GCA.com, you can't post a picture here directly from a Flash site (at least the Flash part of the site).  Of course, that's all self-serving....

Definitely more pictures of each project.

Absolutely do not get rid of the "purpose" part of each course's page.  Knowing what the owner asked for in the project helps immensely as background.

Not sure if this is your style, but you could link to magazine articles done on you (GM, GW, Travelgolf.com, etc.).

[MikeJones]

Simple, easy to navigate and "arty" rather than sterile.

Lots of pics, but rather than just having the same photo of one of your current or completed projects on the front page, you could have the picture change everytime someone visited the site. This might stop the site becoming stale even if you didn't get a chance to update it as often as you'd like. The webdesigner can do this via php rather than flash. Flash takes longer to load which is generally regarded as a "bad thing" in website design.

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