I said;
"What I call that is nature's gift to man, the golfer, nothing more. To me that kind of thing one or two hundred years BEFORE Robertson does not qualify as man-made golf architecture. That kind of thing I call "path of least resistance golf". It was not golf architecture at all. Max Behr called it "wild" golf, meaning it was almost exclusively natural with about zero enhancement or input by man--eg a golf architect. That kind of thing was basically no different than what my neighbor did around his house for that party. In those days in Scotland they didn't really even play golf in the summer months. Do you even know that or why?"
Your response;
"That sounds like vernacular architecture:"
I don't think so and apparently either does the literature of golf course architecture. Essentially what golf was one and two hundred years and more before Alan Roberston (considered to be the first golf architect) was a sport that existed without any form of man-made architecture at all, with the exception of man making a hole in the ground. It was essentially the use of raw nature unaltered in the pursuit of a sport. In this way it was of no real difference than hunting and fishing, and still today we do not have fishing architects and hunting architects.
Now you seem to be attempting to massively generalize about golf pre-architecture to assign to it some form to be known as "vernacular" golf architecture. This is nothing more than additional rationalization and historic revisionism of the entire subject of golf course architecture.
The literature of golf course architectue has tried to pin-point the very first examples of golf architecture and I, for one, believe they have done a very good job of it by identifying Robertson and what he initially did at TOC.
Are you know attempting to say that is wrong and golf architecture existed one and two hundred years and more before him??
Achitecture, n. 1. The profession of designing buildings, open spaces, communities, etc. usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. 2. The character and style of building.
This thread is about Capability Brown vs Gertrude Jekyll. Lancelot Brown actually designed man-made forms to more closely mimic natural formations compared to the man-made landscape designs that came before him. The fact is a number of early golf courses were layed out using those man-made formations Capability Brown designed and constructed perhaps one hundred and more years before golf course architecture existed in inland England. The same is not true of Gertrude Jekyll and what she did in landscape design.
It is of course tempting to theorize about certain things. But if one does that and attempts to draw connections and then powerful influences between various things one does need to produce supporting evidence in the way of some tangible influences. You have not done that with your A/C theory, and worse yet you refuse to do it. It's of little wonder why. I have produced tangible evidence of a connection and influence with rudimentary golf obstacles and steeplechase obstacle features and to a lesser degree with what Lancelot Brown produced that was later used for golf courses in inland Englaind in the late 19th century and in the 20th century.