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paul cowley

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Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« on: February 26, 2008, 09:43:11 PM »
....so many golf designers and design groups are really teams of talented individuals that have a leading figure ....and this makes a lot of business sense.

....but forgetting all that, who do you think was the most talented all around architect that depended on the least amount of support and collaboration?

« Last Edit: February 28, 2008, 07:33:18 AM by paul cowley »
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paul cowley...golf course architect/asgca

David Stamm

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2008, 09:51:00 PM »
Old Tom Morris.
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"The object of golf architecture is to give an intelligent purpose to the striking of a golf ball."- Max Behr

David_Tepper

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2008, 10:21:22 PM »
In the modern era, I would nominate Pete Dye. Of course, his wife Alice helped him quite a bit.
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Mike McGuire

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2008, 10:23:53 PM »

Modern - I nominate Ron Prichard

When you hire Ron you get Ron.
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Adam Sherer

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2008, 11:03:36 PM »
Old Tom is probably the best answer....


But, who else would be eligible?

Ross had various people (my home course is a Ross but there is documentation that he wasn't really there)

Tillinghast had people, as he was building multiple course concurrently?

Macdonald had Raynor/Banks

Allson had Colt and even McKenzie (at one point)

McKenzie had someone? Or did he?

Jones, Nicklaus, Dye, Fazio, Hills, Palmer, et al are all out of the question

Did Fowler have anybody with him?

[edit]
Strantz (as a singlehanded builder/designer) or Keith Foster (as a single-handed designer)
« Last Edit: February 26, 2008, 11:11:56 PM by Adam_Sherer »
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"Spem successus alit"
 (success nourishes hope)
 
         - Ross clan motto

John Moore II

Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2008, 12:19:26 AM »
I think Strantz is probably the best of the last 15 years, but before that, I really could not say.
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Philippe Binette

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2008, 07:39:37 AM »
I doubt it is Pete Dye...

it seems like everybody in the industry has worked for Pete Dye...
Doak
Coore
Liddy
Whitman
among others....
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JMorgan

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2008, 07:47:19 AM »
ODGs
Mother Nature
Old Tom
Park Jr
Braid

oh yeah, and Gary Player



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wsmorrison

Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2008, 08:11:11 AM »
William Flynn did all the design work himself and only had a few projects going at the same time.  Howard Toomey oversaw the construction company, separate from the design company.  Red Lawrence, William Gordon and Dick Wilson all worked for the construction company.  When William Gordon was made a junior partner, it was in the construction company, it did not involve design work.

Didn't Tillinghast do all the design work for his firm even though he was designing a substantial output?  Of course, Paul is asking for the best and he clearly wasn't as good as Flynn  ;)
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TEPaul

Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2008, 10:06:43 AM »
" Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?"

There's no question about it.

It was Timucuan Indian, Tommy Youngblood, the designer of the world's greatest hidden gem, Fernandina Beach Municipal golf course.

Tommy Youngblood actually set out to design the world's greatest hidden gem at Fernandina Beach but since he basically only spoke Timucuan he concentrated as much on the "hidden" part as he did on the "gem" part.

To do that Tommy only worked alone and he basically only worked at night wearing some very special Timucuan Indian moccisins that made very little noise. When the course was finished Tommy Y was proclaimed to be "The best one man band architect ever", but when Tommy heard that acclamation he resisted it, stating that in his opinion even one man bands made far too much noise. 
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TEPaul

Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2008, 10:18:30 AM »
Matter of fact, I came across some interesting research material on Little Talbot Island south of Fernandina Beach that states Tommy Youngblood did not even use mechanized equipment to build Fernandina Beach Municipal. Somehow he was able to enlist an army of approximated 17,000 sand crabs to do the work and it was done extremely quietly.

However, since Tommy Youngblood used approximately 17,000 crabs to do the work, someone questioned whether it could be considered that Tommy had worked alone as the best one man band architect in history. He said that being a Timucuan he could definitely feel the pain of his sand crab crew but he was in fact not a sand crab and he took absolutely no design advice from any of them.
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Pete Garvey

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2008, 04:20:29 PM »
Quote from: Mike McGuire on February 26, 2008, 10:23:53 PM

Modern - I nominate Ron Prichard

When you hire Ron you get Ron.

Mike:

I have to agree with you.  Ron's restoration work at Idle Hour is spectacular! 
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Lou_Duran

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2008, 04:21:26 PM »
Ralph Plummer
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RJ_Daley

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #13 on: February 27, 2008, 04:27:23 PM »
Is there any love out there for Eddie Hackett?  ;D
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Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #14 on: February 27, 2008, 04:54:09 PM »
I am curious about James Braid.  Did he have a team or did he go about business like Old Tom?
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Tony_Muldoon

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #15 on: February 27, 2008, 05:19:25 PM »
Tommy, mostly he worked with Stutt & co.  Cornish and Whitten share the credit on some of the courses with , and credit a few originals to John R Stutt or J H Stutt.
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Norbert P

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #16 on: February 27, 2008, 05:28:20 PM »
Eddie Hackett !!!   

Love Eddie Hackett !!!

Best one man band architect. . . ever !


Honorable mention to The Mad Russian of Millikan, of course.
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Sean_A

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2008, 06:39:19 PM »
Quote from: Tommy Williamsen on February 27, 2008, 04:54:09 PM
I am curious about James Braid.  Did he have a team or did he go about business like Old Tom?

I am not sure we can say anybody is a one man band.  It seems a bit harsh to the guys sticking the shovel in the ground. 

JR Stutt was first employed by Braid in 1923.  In some ways I get the impression that Stutt was trusted by Braid to carry out plans and help with design if need be.   Some have suggested that Stutt may have been the piece of the puzzle which made Braid hum along because some of Braid's more high profile work was carried out employing Stutt.   

Ciao
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David Lott

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2008, 07:13:56 PM »
Fownes--for influence and longevity of his design. Plus he was a true one man band, in all that he did.
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David Lott

Dan Boerger

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2008, 08:07:28 PM »
Tom P -- My curiosity is bursting. Why not do a write up on Fernandina Beach for this site? I'm sure I'm not the only person who would like to know more about this gem. -Dan
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Steve_Lovett

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #20 on: February 27, 2008, 09:22:28 PM »
Dan Boerger - I have played Fernandina Beach Muni - and it should never be referred to as a "gem" without using the word "Hidden" in front of it.

But - Fernandina Beach Muni is an absolute beauty, for what it is...  If Tom P says Tommy Youngblood did what he did how he did it - it comes as no surprise to me.  The end result could only come from someone completely devoted to minimalism!

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Bill_McBride

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2008, 09:37:55 PM »
MacKenzie most always worked with someone - Hunter in California, Russell in Australia, Colt in the UK?  I think this was because of all the territory he covered.  I need to read Doak's bio, the timeline must be fascinating between California, Argentina, South America, not to mention Ohio, Michigan and finally Georgia.  All this between 1926 and 1930 I think, with no airplanes.
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Michael Christensen

Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #22 on: February 27, 2008, 09:52:32 PM »
surprised no one has mentioned Leeds....read the Myopia golf history portion again last night....mentioned laying out long nine and new nine at Myopia
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Mike_Young

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #23 on: February 27, 2008, 10:01:11 PM »
After reading the self promotion thread I have to say :

I am... ;D
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Joe Hancock

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Re: Who's the best one man band architect ever?
« Reply #24 on: February 27, 2008, 10:06:56 PM »
Quote from: Mike_Young on February 27, 2008, 10:01:11 PM
After reading the self promotion thread I have to say :

I am... ;D

Stud.....

 :)
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" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017
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