I am in awe of how much insight and detailed information this one interview has produced. I had been away for a month and had many things to attend to upon returning, and didn't get into reading the interview for a week. Now that I have read this interview once thoroughly, I'll go back over it a time or two. One of the most revealing things to me was the early recognition by the Dye's of this neophytes raw talent. How did a guy with zero previous knowledge of construction techniques (apart from building fire lines in the forest) or golf design theory or playing skills rise so fast in a premier golf design organization? What allows a guy to be discovered in that business when he shows up for work the first day in flip flops, rather than being sent home with a polite; "no thanks, we don't think this work is for you"? What sort of luck, serendipity, and being in the right place at the right time spawns such opportunity?
Also, the real world atmosphere of getting the design ideas done in the dirt, not on CAD produced documents is a sort of reinforcement in my mind to that age old debate we have had so many times before on this forum.
Also, I am happy to see that Brian Schneider and Dan Proctor are keeping such good company and staying active. I wonder if a 53 year old washed-up ex-cop could start hanging around as a camp cook or something, and perhaps get some of that serendipity working...
Maybe, Jim could give me a ride on the dozer like Sturges's kid...