The Architects of Georgia Golf

[A.G._Crockett]

GOLF GEORGIA, the bi-monthly magazine published by the GSGA, has an excellent article entitled "The Architects of Georgia Golf" in its May/June issue (Vol. 14, No. 3)

The article profiles Mike Young, the Love Golf Design team (including Paul Cowley), Denis Griffiths, Bob Cupp, Mike Riley, and Bill Bergin.  My guess is that few of you have heard of Riley and Bergin, but they do great work that you would all enjoy.

The profiles center on the professional backgrounds of the various GCA's, their resumes and current projects, their design philosophies, and what they see as the problems or challenges is the industry currently.

The article covers 6 pages, complete with pictures, and is well-researched and written, IMO.  It isn't on any website that I know of, but if you want a copy of the GSGA magazine, you might contact the organization at:
     GSGA
     121 Village Parkway, Building 3
     Marietta, GA  30067
     1-800-949-4742

I think it would be worth your time and effort.

[Tom_Doak]

A.G. - Who wrote the piece?

I've always thought it would be nice to see profiles of more different architects.  The problem is that often the writer is connected with one or another of his subjects in some way, and the coverage is skewed on that basis.

[A.G._Crockett]

Tom,
It was written by Derek Duncan, who is identified as a freelance writer from Atlanta and a frequent contibutor to GOLF GEORGIA.  Thanks for asking; I should have mentioned the author in the first place.  

I'll be curious to hear what Mike Young and Paul Cowley think of the article, and I talk to Bill Bergin regularly, so I'll get to hear his thoughts as well.  But my sense of it is that Mr. Duncan was pretty well-attuned to the GCA scene.  He has a sidebar in the article that talks about shapers that work in the state and their importance to the process.  Additionally, here's a quote from the Mike Riley profile:

"His (Riley's) work at the Standard Club, employing native grasses and developing lacey-edged bunkers, is also reminiscent of a classical aesthetic."
     "This is all good practice for his latest project, a renovation of Rivermont G&C in Alpharetta where Riley will install links and Golden Era-inspired architectural features including Coffin and Hell bunkers and a Valley of Sin variation."
     " 'We're going to have a Redan green out here, and the 9th hole plays straight uphill to a blind green so we'd have a Punchbowl there,' he says.  'I may have a 3,000 square foot green and follow it up with a 10,000 square foot one that might be a little square in its appearance.  It's more fun to design that (rather) than just putting out a green with a bunker right and a bunker left."

In other words, this isn't just a fluff piece doing a promo for several personal favorites.

(BTW, Rivermont is a Joe Lee design, and was a good golf course.  It is family owned by the Cupit family, and the owners are going out on a limb to do something cool with it.)
 

[Mike_Young]

AG,
I haven't seen the magazine yet but I heard it had a good picture of my dog.
Mike

[Gary Daughters]

A.G.,

Thanks for the heads up.  Sorry Derek Duncan got to that one before I did.

BTW I played Mike Riley's "Reunion" this week with a fellow GCAer and found it by turns engaging and inexplicable.

Tom,

Nice observation on the inherent problem with profiling architects.  As a writer I will confess I find it especially difficult to get "in" with an architect without getting dangerously close.  

[Scott_Burroughs]

FYI, Derek Duncan posts here on GCA.com every now and then and also is (or was) the architecture columnist for travelgolf.com.

[Robert Thompson]

Travelgolf.com had an architecture columnist? Baffling.

[A.G._Crockett]

AG,
I haven't seen the magazine yet but I heard it had a good picture of my dog.
Mike

Mike,
The picture IS good, not only of your dog but of you as well!

[John_Cullum]

Derek Duncan has written some very informative articles for travelgolf.com. I thought he lived around Orlando.

[A.G._Crockett]

FYI, Derek Duncan posts here on GCA.com every now and then and also is (or was) the architecture columnist for travelgolf.com.

Thanks, Scott.  I thought the name was familiar; should have looked to see if he hung out here.

[BCrosby]

Mike -

It is a GREAT picture of your dog.

(One.Two.Three)

He gave the photog lots to work with.

(One.Two.Three)

Bob

[Scott_Burroughs]

Here's Derek's travelgolf.com archives (the more architecture-specific articles are near the bottom):

http://www.travelgolf.com/departments/authorarchives/duncan.htm

[john_stiles]

Derek Duncan is also contributing writer for Links, the Best of Golf.