The best Architect

[Jordan Wall]

dont worry.  i love this site to much to quit.  i'll start to understand stuff better i promise

[Jordan Wall]

oh, and i have only made 48 posts because i am on winter break.  dont hate me, its just who i am.

[John Kirk]

I like the new course designs more than the average guy here, and like the old classics less than the average guy here.  Generally, the two architects who receive the most praise here are Tom Doak and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.  These guys build great golf courses, and it is my belief that these are the two best designers ever.

I'd say the most popular Golden Age architects here are MacKenzie, Ross, Flynn, and Raynor, with another dozen or so important guys who get slightly less attention:  Colt, Allison, MacDonald, Behr, Thomas, and so on.

Several other prominent architects and designers contribute regularly to the site, some of whom are responsible for award winning designs.  You'll get to know these guys if you stick around.  Good guys, and an absolute treasure trove of knowledge.

Tom Fazio does not contribute, and his courses are quite controversial here.  Some GCA members love them, and some dislike them.  There is near universal (sometimes grudging) respect for both Fazio and  Jack Nicklaus, the two most financially successful architects in the business.

That's a helluva top 10 list, Jordan.  You are a lucky dog, you know that.  Can you play?

[Bill Gayne]

Jordan,

Shivas is dead on about this site. It's like a gateway drug. Somebody once said it's more addictive than crack. School will start and you will be incapable of focusing on work.

To answer your original question, I've loved all of the Colt courses that I've played.

[Jordan Wall]

John,

My list is finem I guess.  I just enjoy these courses so much from a strategic standpoint.  I am a 7.6 Handicap

Bill,

I appreciate your advice, but lately in school I had a 3.62 GPA, which is almost straight A's.  If I dont get good grades, I wont get a scholarship.  I am looking at Oklahoma State, Arizona State, and Stanford.  Last year I had good grades too

Cheers,

JW

[Mike Nuzzo]

Why not Cornell?
What are the best L.A. programs?
Is that what you will be studying?
Why go to college when you could go work for a golf course builder or on a golf course...
Maybe you could intern for Shivas.
Good luck.

[Jordan Wall]

Actually I am going to go in on an athletic scholarship and will major in architecture.  I would love to be a course architect and make courses everyone would love-especially the public.  The courses in my list are those that influence me to carry on.  Part of the reason I wanted to be a member at this site was because I thought I could learn some stuff about architecture from some of the best.  I need to go college really bad so I could learn about some of this stuff, but also because I have another goal to play on the PGA.  It never hurts to have something to strive for, and I really think if I work hard I can achieve my goals.

[John Kirk]

Jordan,

Mike Nuzzo suggests Cornell because they have a top notch architecture program which has yielded two of the best practicing architects (Doak and Hanse, I believe).  Not to mention they are a fine school with a great reputation.

[Jordan Wall]

Oh, please except my apologies Mike.  I did not know.  The reason I am pursuing the colleges mentioned are because they have a GREAT golf program (especially OSU) plus good academic features.  But I did not know that about Cornell.  I will look in to them and possibly send them a letter to see if they are interested.  Thanks Mike and thanks John for claryfing that for me.  My complete apologies, I did not know or understand

[John Kavanaugh]

Go with Arizona State...screw the Ivy League and their hoity toity hairy bunkers...

[John Kirk]

If you're going the Pac-10 route, don't be led astray by the 25,000 beautiful women at Arizona State.  And don't think about Cal!

Go Stanford.  They even have a great golf course there.  

[Jordan Wall]

stanford would be cool because i think i can like drive to pebble and back on a weekend and they have good architecture classes/programs

[Michael Dugger]

Jordan Jordan Jordan, my you are a peppy and curious lad.  

Welcome, indeed, to the crazy world of gca.com

Have you read the classics yet?  GCA in AMerica?  The LInks?  Golf in the Kingdom?  SPirit of St. Andrews?  I urge you to pick up these books and spend a little time with them instead of honing that 7 handicap of yours.

Why do you omit Shinnecock Hills from your top ten?  How about Friar's Head, Royal Melbourne, Royal County Down, Muirfield, Seminole, Pinehurst #2, Barnbougle, Pebble Beach or SFCC?

All great courses.  I think the thing to grasp here is that any "best of" list ultimately comes down to personal preference.

My personal list is more like

Pine Valley
Cypress
Sand Hills
NGLA
TOC
Melbourne
Shinnecock
County Down
Pebble
Pac Dunes

going forward.....what I'd most like to see is

Kingsley
Boston GC
Barnbougle
Friar's
Kidnappers
Merion
Ballybunion
Ballyneal
SFCC
Fancourt Links
Riviera
Prairie
Crystal
Seminole
Pinehurst #2
Dornoch
Muirfield
Lytham
Sebonac
Kingston Heath

[Jim Nugent]

Jordan, since so many seem to be offering advice to you, here's mine: get in touch with the architects who post here.  Doak, Jeff Brauer, etc.  I bet they would be willing to give you some tips, some direction.  Maybe you could arrange a summer job with one of them?  Successful people are usually eager to help others who show interest, ability and initiative.  

Have you played or seen those courses in your top ten?

[Tim Bert]

Jordan,

I'd like to hear what sparked your interest in golf and architecture.  In another thread, you mentioned that you've only been playing a little over a year.  Earlier in this thread, you mention "I have always been an Alister Mckenzie fan."  Is
"always" the year that you've been playing golf, or have you been paying attention to architecture for some time before you were playing?  I'd guess that's rare indeed!

By the way, congrats on putting together a 7 handicap in a years time.  If you progress as swiftly on your studies in architecture, then you'll be designing some gems in no time.

[Chris Kane]

Jordan, I am 21.  This website ruined my childhood.  Don't let it ruin yours.

[Bill Gayne]

Bill,

I appreciate your advice, but lately in school I had a 3.62 GPA, which is almost straight A's.  If I dont get good grades, I wont get a scholarship.  I am looking at Oklahoma State, Arizona State, and Stanford.  Last year I had good grades too

Cheers,

JW

Jordan everybody on this website would be more successul professionally, live in a bigger house, have a better looking wife and/or girlfriend, lower handicap, well behaved children, and more money if they weren't suckered into the addiction of this website.

[Jordan Wall]

Sorry, I will rephrase.  Ever since I have started doing golf research (about two years) I have been fascinated by Alister Mckenzie and many of his courses.  I have never seen courses as good as the ones he has produced.  I have a couple Alister Mckenzie book's, my favorite one being Alister Mckenzies Cypress Point.  To be honest, I was always fascinated with golf.  I quit baseball to start another sport.  I started to research golf and I was just so intrigued with the variety of courses and everything about it.  I hope to continue my research to a point where I can make a living out of either designing golf courses or playing golf.

Shivas,
Last year, which was my first year playing golf on a team, I missed the cut to state by like three shots (back when I was a plus-22).  Since then I have joined the WJGA, and have shot something like five rounds in the sixties, including a 66.  The only bad thing is with the low rounds come the high ones as well, and in the past month my last five scores have been  74(plus 5), 67(minus 1), 84(plus 12), 87(plus15), and 79(plus 6).  I hope to get to a plus 3 by the end of February though, when season starts up again for school.  Also, dad is going to start getting me lessons which will help, because I have never had them before

[Kyle Harris]

Jordon,

Don't let these people scare you. Let yourself scare you.

Signs you need to back off:
1. You feel guilty for not making a substansive post in a week.
2. Your girlfriend at the time groans, "Not again, and you're not even talking about golf courses, you're talking about Genesis guitarists."
3. You drive past a local course and start pulling out trees and flattening mounds for shits and giggles. Especially bad if you're the driver.
4. You start to see the green font of Pat Mucci in odd places, like restaurant menus and billboards.
5. You meet a middle aged, jovial and slightly round man on the first tee with a great personality and walk off 18 feeling like you've met Tom Huckaby.

Either way, Jordan... fire away. My post count has been since the beginning of February. I've had my share of 50 post days  

[Kelly Blake Moran]

Jordan Wall,

You keep saying architecture school, I assume you mean landscape architecture school?

[Jordan Wall]

Okay I'll make it clear for everybody.  My girlfriend said it was OK to join here before I emailed Ran.  She knows about my golfing habits

And by architecture school I mean a school where I can learn design stuff, so I can design a course.

And one more thing, I still have not gotten a post from Pat Mucci yet...

[Jim Nugent]

Jordan, in one of your earlier posts you were 16.  Now you are 15.  Confused?  Typo?  

Jordan's writing does not sound like a 15 year old or a 16 year old to me.  He shot rounds in the mid 60's, and also the mid 80's.  All this a year and a few months after starting the game?

Guys, IMHO we have been had just a little here.  

[Jordan Wall]

i am going in april to bandon dunes for my 16th b-day so i am 15

[Jeff_Brauer]

If you're going the Pac-10 route, don't be led astray by the 25,000 beautiful women at Arizona State.  And don't think about Cal!

Go Stanford.  They even have a great golf course there.  

What if he likes ladies who don't shave parts that most shave, but do shave parts that most don't? Cal would be perfect, then, no?

Jordan,

You should consider Landscape Architecture over Building Architecture wherever you go to school.  Check the ASLA website for accredited schools.

As Jim Nugent says, please feel free to call me or email with your questions about a gca career.  You sound like a young me, and I somehow stumbled through to actually be a golf course architect. Mr. Doak would give you the designer/constructor perspective, and I will give you the designer bid out construction perspective.

[Jordan Wall]

That would be awesome if you could IM me your email, or just email me as I have a few questions.  I appreciate your willingness to help me because this is really what I want to do for the rest of my life.  That is why I love this site too.

Oh, my girlfriend wouldnt be too happy with me if I went to ASU or Cal from what Ive heard with all the chicks...