Several have made excellent points, all of which relate back to routing and design:
Add to this the departure of large owner/management companies from the business. Lou Duran
The large management companies in most respects could care less about the quality of the design. Their main focus seems to be to suck all creativity and strategy out of the course so no one has to think, therefore they can move quickly through the turn stiles. Despite encouraging junior golf at a prominent winter golf gathering by one CEO of a management company, this company initially opposed my introduction of a junior set of tees that made a 2,800 yard course within a 7,000 yard course at a municipal facility. Furthermore, it was proposed that the local high school golf team be allowed access to the course for free during the week, to which the management company voiced opposition as well. The golf team consists of 8 players, 2 tee times.
I'll tell you what's best for the game: walking. Shivas
Great point Shivas.
Those golfers who've been shuffled through the cash register line, before properly learning those rules and behaviors, are the isssues that I see as needing real fixxing. Adam Clayman
Adam, I always have believed that having grown up in the game I was an ideal customer at a course because I know how to play the game with proper etiquette, and in a timely manner. Therefore, I would expect that the younger kids who learn the game become better customers in the future. I have always disliked playing with some who came into the game later, and believe among other things that you always ride and you always drink while playing golf, two things I never learned in my formative years at the game.
an affordable fee and a small maintenance crew. Gary Mahaney
The prospect for being able to provide affordable fees and affordable maintenance start with the routing plan and the design. By the way Gary, do you have a twin brother, grew up in Midland, and played golf at Midland High or Lee. I remember twins that played for a Midland golf team, I think 2 years below me, when I played at Permian, in Odessa. I noticed you mentioned you are in North Texas.
Some other thoughts related to design and affordability. The main point being that I think for too long creative design has not been pursued or allowed at the moderate to low end golf facilities, and that creative, strategic design can be an integral part of the course without increasing maintenance costs, or slowing play. I am currently engaged in a book that is more oriented to landscape plants, however I think its focus on design as it relates to the site is very important concept for designing golf courses that are affordable from a construction and maintenance standpoint. Some interesting quotes are as follows:
“Waugh strongly advocated field observation of natural landscapes as a basis for landscape design…”
“Furthermore, in many cases Waugh was a proponent of “intelligently letting alone a natural landscape””
“They provide a way of looking at our natural environment and suggesting an attitude of humility be adopted as we manipulate that environment.”
“..a more keener appreciation of the relationship inherent between native vegetation and the landscape. It is this inherent relationship that many a landscape architect (golf course architect?) seems to forget in his eagerness to organize land and landscape for human use and to show his creative ability as an artist”
“The various components of the landscape industry have been quite effective at marketing not only their products but also an aesthetic standard for developed landscapes as they replace the previously existing forests, fields, prairies, and wetlands that once surrounded our cities and towns.”
“…Jensen espoused the use of native plants in designed landscapes and the study of naturally evolving landscapes as sources of inspiration for design.”
“Furthermore, by utilizing patterns and processes that are intrinsic to naturally evolved landscapes, we can create designed and managed landscapes that are clearly of the place and that approach the ideal of sustainability.”
“Simonds used local landforms, and native vegetation to express regional character.”
“Hopefully wth the distribution of this new edition, respect and admiration for indigenous plants and naturalistic settings will be heightened, along with efforts to restore them to designed and managed landscapes as well as to preserve them in areas where they already exist.”
I am sure many of you will interpret these snippets in different ways, but I think in basic the idea of more focused attention on the land and its characteristics and having that understanding infused into the design or redesign of golf courses can be most meaningful in putting the game on a sure footing on a lot of different levels.
Furthermore, reread all of the above quotes, and contrast each one with what Fazio said in the Dallas Morning News article:
"Fazio also is astonished by some of the changes in the golf design industry. Gone are the days when architects could only design holes with what they had on the land. Now, he said, as long as you have investors willing to spend the money, you can make flat land around Dallas into a hilly course that looks like another part of the country. "
In which direction is golf course design going? Clearly Fazio is on top of the game and is driving the design business in the direction that most writers and golfers seem to agree with leaving the rest of us to ponder where we went wrong. Does that direction have an impact on what is best for the game?