[TEPaul]

Yep, it's really glamorous spending half-days in some hot and wet bunker at a dead end of some far corner of the earth.

I love calling these guys on their cell phones because one never remotely knows where they might be at any time.

The best for that is Brian Silva. I called him one time and asked him where he was and he said; "I'm up in Maine designing one of the world's coolest 757 sf woman's tee you've ever seen on a real piece of shit golf course."

[Yannick Pilon]

Jeff,

You think writing specs is not too glamorous?  How about translating one from english to french?

Man, those english golf terms are freakin' tough to translate!

Ah, the joy of working in a French-Canadian market!  Everything has to be doubled!

Yannick

[Jeff_Brauer]

Yannick,

When I worked over near Singapore, and the used the British version of the General Conditions, I had trouble converting them from English to English  So, what do you call a "French Drain" in french?  Just a drain?"

Mike,

I have been sued only twice in 22 years of business - both for rejecting dead grass or sod. BTW, rejecting something is tricky business since it costs suppliers lots of money - and they often do sue to protect their constitutional right to produce, supply or install an inferior product.  At one point in the court proceedings of the first lawsuit, the offending sod companies attorney was focusing on an aspect of our specs to prove his point, as in "why didn't your specs call for certified sod".  Even he had to laugh when I responded that "I added it to my specs after your client screwed my client."

John C,

You got the essence of my comments right. A gca spends about 10% on "pure design" and the rest on supporting stuff that no one has any interest in here.  As a matter of fact, while every one would want my job, there have been a few associates both here and many more across the industry when they find out its not all fun designs and then off at 10AM for a round of golf to relax. Again, I really wasn't complaining, but just trying to be realistic for those three participants out there who care.

I know some here critique my use of Rules of Thumb - Often Broken - (ROBOTS) in golf design, but there is one rule of thumb that I have found true 99% of the time since I have been posting here:  Tommy is to Jeff = Baby to Diaper!

Brian,

Speaking of the body functions relating to diapers, the world should know you cleaned up my quote just a "wee" bit.

Just to let everyone know this is all in fun, I will insert some more smileys now:                                                  

[Tom_Doak]

Jeff:  Thank you for staying home and writing the lake specs for us all.  I owe you a couple of beers.

However, thanks to the Sacred Cow BBQ thread, I am pretty much resolved to never building a lake on a golf course again!  By my count I've built 18 lakes on my courses, and been rewarded with five of my worst holes ever, and the only one which got a nod among my best was the fourth at Stone Eagle which also made the worst hole thread.  Meanwhile, we didn't build any lakes on the course at Pacific Dunes or Cape Kidnappers or Barnbougle or Ballyneal.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tom,

Ya gotta do what you gotta do.  I grew up (professionally) with mantra of, as long as you build it (whether bunker or lake) you might as well use it as a design element people see and play around.  The idea of putting the irrigation lake off the course is foreign to me, although I understand it on a site like Pac Dunes.  Of course, K and N worked on a lot of mundane midwest sites that needed the benefit of every design feature they could have.

I think I deleted my post (accidentally) on your lake thread, but I always felt that the key to making a lake look good was to have it disappear around the corner (Repton or one of those guys from England wrote that) and I know it has worked for me.  Most natural water bodies just aren't visible in their entirety in nature, whereas most golf course pondes are.  And most people are more interested in what they overhear than hear (gossip) and what they can't see over what they can (scantily clad ladies vs. naked ones) so I think the theory works.

My best example is at Wild Wing where an L shaped lake bends around the trees from 5 green to 6 fw.  The fact that it does dissapear makes the "standard water par 3" that is hole 5 a lot more interesting.

Anyway, Tillie was said to be weak on Par 5,s, and other architects have similar tags (like perpetually doomed to mediocrity, but I digress......) so if your tombstone reads "Greatest Architect of his Generation, but never got a hang of golf course lakes" it would be your cross to bear, but not the heaviest one ever lifted, eh?

[PThomas]

good to know that even the "glamorous "life of a GCA is filled with some tedium...that will make the tedium I put up with more tolerable!

[paul cowley]

....for a manmade water feature to pass my personal litmus test I want it to look natural enough that when a player comes across it the first time, his initial response is "wow, isn't so and so designer smart enough to incorporate this great existing feature as part of the strategy and design of the hole".......and then I put my shovel in the ground and get to work .

[paul cowley]

....but...I am with TomD, in that more and more, when it comes to creating water features [and dealing with wetlands]...avoidance is a lot easier.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Paul,

Hey, you are lucky to have the glamour of gca and a glamorous wife in Dawn.  You're happy wherever you go!

When I was married, it was easier to avoid......going home!  That gave me a lot more time in the last few years to consider things like how to make lakes natural......

[paul cowley]

Jeff ...thank you, and she would too...but, we got to be cool cause she might start coming here on her own [she did yesterday]....shhussh...she's looking...it's OK honey, I'm just checking in on the Open....

[John_Conley]

Jeff, does anyone sell "boiler plate" chapters for the specs you show for the lake?  Or is there a business opportunity for someone who might?  In my industry a few companies sell patient consent forms to doctors that the individual practice can modify.

Hopefully you don't have to re-write that every time.

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