Architect Education

[Adam_F_Collins]

Has it come to be the norm for Golf Course Architects to be products of Landscape Architecture programs?

If so, how much golf architecture is taught in these programs?

Or is this portion of the education gained only through apprenticeships and self-directed study?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Adam,

Hope this doesn't take the discussion too far away from your questions but, it's interesting that several of the most successful gof architects in the business today did not study Landscape Architecture in school.

Pete Dye
Bill Coore
Tom Fazio
Rees Jones
Jack Nicklaus

And, one of the most talented, Rod Whitman, didn't either  

Then there's me, the history major. I've learned everything I know about designing and building golf courses hanging around, and working with Whitman. And, of course, reading and re-reading all of the classic texts, and making the effort to visit and study the world's great courses in person.

Rod learned the same over the past two decades and more, hanging around with Coore and Dye for the most part.  

[Adam_F_Collins]

So there is a strong tradition of apprenticeship... I also get a sense that there may be a certain resistance to formalized education by many within the trade...

Is that true at all? Is there a mistrust of institutionalized instruction in golf course architecture?

I've been told, via private message that universities do have quite a few formal GCA classes, including turf management and maintenance techniques.

What kinds of things are taught in classes on golf course architecture? If you were teaching a class, what do you think it should include?

[Marty Bonnar]

Adam,
You should check out the MSc Golf Course Architecture program at Heriot-Watt University/Edinburgh college of Art here in Scotland. It's an attempt by the EIGCA to formalise Golf Architecture education. The guys who've gone through it have come from various backgrounds with probably half from a landscape or agronomy education.

There's definitely still some 'resistance' in the profession to it though with the old chestnut about 'there's nothing better than doing it on site' being bandied about by some.

FBD.

Edit: While I agree some with the 'old chestnut' I still think it's a bloody good idea for Golf Architecture as a PROFESSION to get it's shit together and come up with qualifications which put the golf architect on a 'Par' with his Architectural, Landscape Architectural and Engineering compatriots...
RANT OVER!

[Jeff_Brauer]

Adam,

I would say that statistically, yes, most of us have LA degrees which teach the basics of the trade.  Most students who want some specific training in GCA will take an independent study course, usually designing a course under the tutelege of a professor with some experience, and sometimes with a practitioner also looking in.

The apprentice years starting after college usually teach more than any specific project in school.

[jg7236]

From my experience not very many classes are taught in GCA.  I was only able to take one or two, that was all that was offered in my LA program.  In my Turfgrass program there were actually more GCA classes available.