"Tom -
I hesitate to bring up his name
, but didn't Behr do a piece on the line of charm v. the line of instinct..."
Bob:
Did I hear you call Max?
Max Behr did more than just do a piece on it! The "line of instinct" and the "line of charm" was at least Max Behr's phraseology, and probably his unique idea in the sense of applying the concept in a semi-scientific manner to the art of golf course architecture. Alister Mackenzie gives him ample credit a number of times for this applied architectural concept! (Some believe Behr may've been a far greater influence on the likes of the West Coast architects and others such as Mackenzie, Thomas, Jones, Hunter et al than we've previously known!).
Personally, I think the concept of the "line of charm" is a tad misnamed. The concept and architectural design tool should probably more accurately be called the "line(S) of charm".
Here's why. First of all, it isn’t the “line of charm” versus the “line of instinct”. Behr believed that by removing the “line of instinct” as a reasonable option from the golfer by putting something like a bunker in it CREATED the “line of charm”, or, in my opinion, more accurately created the “line(S) of charm”. To Behr the “line of instinct” was commonly the direct line to a hole or a target---eg the line and direction the player instinctively wanted to go or take. By removing that “line of instinct” by placing a hazard of some sort directly in it the architect was able to create up to four “line(S) of charm”---eg short of it, left of it, right of it, or directly over it!
This is one of the reasons Behr was an advocate of more fairway width rather than less---eg it allowed the architect the luxury of creating a more interesting problem or problems within that fairway width and more solutions for the golfer to find and use within that fairway width!