[Mark Bourgeois]

(Thought about waiting 10 years to post this, but we will be busy then celebrating Michelle Wie's 45th LPGA victory!)

Links Magazine has two lists to celebrate its 20th anniversary:
1. "Over the past 20 years, golf course architecture has seen several trends, led by six men who have influenced the industry's evolution."  Hint: "We look at how three artist-patron relationships...have shaped golf course architecture"

2. "After decades of mostly uninspired designs, golf course architecture has been riding a wave of brilliance for the past 20 years.  While not necessarily the best layouts, these 10 courses have been the most significant and influential courses of the Links Magazine era."

Anyone out there care to take a guess or two at a list or two?

Mark

[John Kavanaugh]

Firestone, NCR, Bellerive

[JESII]

I wish I had the faintest idea what you mean John...it would really make me feel good...

[Jim Nugent]

My guesses (and I stress "guess"):

I.   Kohler/Dye
     Keiser/Doak
     Wynn/Fazio

II. Sand Hills
     Shadow Creek
     Tobacco Road (or some other Stranz design)
     Lakota Canyon (or some other Engh mountain design)
     Pac Dunes
     Whistling Straits
     One of the desert courses besides Shadow Creek
     ??

     

[Dan Kelly]

"... the Links Magazine era."

A case for an emoticon if I've ever seen one.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Dan

Wait till you see some of what made these lists -- likely move you from  to  and finally  And then you'll put a bang on it: !

Jim

I.
Keiser / Doak: "In 1995 Mike Keiser invited Tom Doak along on a trip to Northern Ireland so Doak could teach him about links golf. After playing Royal County Down and Royal Portrush, they were of mutual agreement that they were two of the best courses in the world, but Keiser wasn't sure why he liked Portrush more."

You're half right on Wynn / Fazio...

II.
Sand Hills: "The Site"
Shadow Creek: "The Sandbox"

Close on one but wrong on everything else -- *no* Strantz or Engh courses -- well, not "one of the desert courses besides Shadow Creek," but can you be a little more specific?

Another hint: one of the courses is older than 20 years but a 1988 renovation.

Mark

[Jim Nugent]

Mark, is it Trump/Fazio?

[Mark Bourgeois]

It's gonna be Tom Fazio and a developer -- two obvious choices I think...

[Jay Flemma]

I'll take a stab at the movie reference in the thread title...is it from "War games?"

remember? ..."Would...you...like...to...play...a...game?"

How about "Global Thermonuclear War?"

Sue you wouldn't like a nice game of chess?

[Tim Bert]

1 - Youngscap / Coore

2 - Bandon Dunes, Sebonack, Chambers Bay

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bandon Dunes: "The Dream"
Chambers Bay: "The Heir"

So that's (in no particular order):

I. "Artist-patron" relationships
1. Doak / Keiser
2. T Fazio / ???
3.

II. Courses
1. Sand Hills
2. Shadow Creek
3. Bandon Dunes
4. Chambers Bay
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Y'all might have to think outside the (GCA.com) box for some of these; again, they're not what the people at Links think are the "best" but rather are the "most significant and influential" of the last 20 years.

For example, on Chambers Bay: "...represents a breakthrough for the U.S. Open, normally associated with private, parkland Golden Age layouts."

And: "the artists responsible for these masterpieces[sic] couldn't have done it without the patrons providing the opportunities."

Coupla hints:
1. It's a big world out there
2. Magazine editors gotta eat, too

Mark

[Tim Bert]

Klein / Dye

Erin Hills
Wintonbury Hills
Cape Kidnappers
Black Mesa

[Mark Bourgeois]

Nope. The third pairing probably needs a hint: the "patron" is not a property developer. (Is is a single person and not an entity, though.)

Mark

PS Per Michael Moore, my understanding is we're supposed to write it "Black Mesa!" the movement afoot to make the bang an integral part of the name...

[SPDB]

Parsinnen/Phillips - Kingsbarns?

Also imagine Kingsbarns is on the second list

[SPDB]

Another hint: one of the courses is older than 20 years but a 1988 renovation.

This has to be Rees Jones' restoration of The Country Club (for which Bill Spence should get equal credit), and if this is one of the patron/artist answers, I suspect they are talking about the USGA and how Rees Jones' work at TCC in preparation for the Open ushered in his status as "the Open Doctor"

[Chip Gaskins]

Nicklaus / Lyle Anderson

Plantation Course - C&C
Ocean Course - Dye
Barnbougle Dunes - Doak/Clayton
Medinah
Kingsbarn
Nine Bridges

[Garland Bayley]

2. Old Works

[John_Conley]

Mark, I didn't know your thread was about the LINKS Magazine list.  I skimmed that issue this morning and was impressed.  They did a good job of explaining what they are listing.  I 'bought' all of the arguments.  They are trying to show what changes have occurred in the 20 years of the magazine and I think they've done a very good job.

[tlavin]

Nope. The third pairing probably needs a hint: the "patron" is not a property developer. (Is is a single person and not an entity, though.)

Mark

PS Per Michael Moore, my understanding is we're supposed to write it "Black Mesa!" the movement afoot to make the bang an integral part of the name...

I agree with this proviso and hope that this is the last time that I see Black Mesa! without the exclamation point.

And I'll leak a little bit of info and say that I read the Links issue and was unsurprised that Black Mesa! was not featured.

[Mark Bourgeois]

I remember Siskel & Ebert naming "The Terminator" the most influential movie of the 1980s and possibly one of the most influential ever.

Not because it was the best -- they gave "Raging Bull" that honor -- but because it spawned a host of knockoffs.

So well done SPDB: Rees Jones / David Fay. "Fay hired Jones to restore [Bethpage]....Thanks to Fay, Jones cemented his reputation as the 'Open Doctor,' inextricably linked with the USGA as the man who could beat prepare courses for the U.S. Open."

Incredibly, Jones has worked on 12 of the 50 facilities that have hosted the US Open. (Interestingly, Fay only hired him once.)

II.

Country Club: "The Fixer Upper"
Kingsbarns: "The Bagpipe"
Kiawah Ocean: "The Perfect Storm"

John C, they're not bad lists for what they purport to do. One thing about Chambers Bay: when you consider this move to transmogrify / build courses specifically for majors (Torrey, Bethpage, Erin Hills, Whistling, Trump) and the increased use of publics / resorts - not because they're public but because the majors orgs seem to find it easier to rent them, shouldn't Valhalla have been the selection? Isn't that the first instance of this quasi vertical integration?

I can't speak to whether Black Mesa! belongs - Terry, don't tell me I misattributed the father of the bang to the Bah Hahba Humbug! -- but one course not on the list is Pinion Hills.  I remember when "Places to Play" first came out, it was this unknown course - and was one of a handful to get 5 stars. And it was $13!!!

Come to think of it, I guess we can't say a $13 5-star launched any sort of revolution. (Not even sure it would qualify for the Links Magazine Era anyway, except as some sort of backdoor entrant via Places to Play.)

Game reset: need one partnership for the first list, three courses for the second.

Mark

[Garland Bayley]

With mention of the Old Works, I was going for the environmental damage remediiation. Do they consider it? Was there an earlier example perhaps as Dye in WV?

[Garland Bayley]

Come to think of it, is there an Indian Reservation category, e.g. Apache Stronghold and Black Mesa.

[SPDB]

I'm a bit confused about what we're looking for. Are we still looking for Fazio + a developer that is not Wynn? Has to be Discovery Land, I would imagine.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Yes we are still looking for Fazio + a developer that is not Wynn, and no it's not Discovery Land.

Gratuitous Fazio quote: "My goal is to produce something unique, something that will get the editors at LINKS interested in it and comparing it to some of the best golf and environments that people have ever gone to."

(Shadow Creek made it into the influential / significant courses list, which could account for the confusion.)

Garland, there is no course covering environmental remediation unless, uh, you consider Shadow Creek!  (Nor is there an Indian reservation category -- I don't think there are any formal *categories*.)

Seriously, you raise an excellent point.  Old Works or Pete Dye could fill the bill; what's the first course built on a shut-down landfill?

Mark

[John_Conley]

what's the first course built on a shut-down landfill?

Mark

It is my understanding that Deltona Hills was built atop a dump.  I don't know if it was the first.  I think the course opened in the 60s.

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