[Scott Stearns]

Since the return of Tommy is being celebrated i'll ask a question.

To what extent did the three of these people affet the routing of Muirfield Village.

I have heard the Pete did a routing for MVGC-which sounds odd as i've rad that Dye preferred not to do full plans.  is this true, and if so, were any of his ideas used?

[Tom Naccarato]

Scott,
Interesting, I don't remember anything about Pete doing a routing, maybe it was one of the other courses in the development?

I do have the original routing plans for Muirfield Village, all in Desmond's hand along with all the land use plans for the entire development. It would seem Desmond was behind the majority of all of it. Of course then again it could have been Jack imitating Desmond's hand and we all know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! 

[Scott Stearns]

i read someplace, either in Jack's design book or Dye's autobiography, that Dye did in fact at least suggest a routing.  i'll check tonight.

I won't dispute who did what on MVGC, as i have NO idea, but i would challenge the idea that because Desmond drew it, he was the guy who thought it up.  Jack doesnt seem like the type of guy who would feel the need to do his own drafting.

[Tom Naccarato]

Scott,
Desmond, in the past has been somewhat discounted for his involvement at Murifield Village, the original Muirfield Village. I know this because of the countless times he complained about it. then the club reached out to him on one of their anniversaries of the Memorial Classic and all seemed to be good. Still in most design circles, for years, MV was considered a Nicklaus designed course. It was. A Nicklaus and Muirhead designed course. You'll have to also forgive, I still defend the man. He was a friend who could make you laugh so hard that you'd be running for a bathroom.

Honestly, I've never been to Muirfield Village. I just kept the plans that were on their way to the trash. It ended up that I could have kept them all, but opted to send the ones for the Asian courses to a good friend of Desmond's in Japan who was going to open up museum/shrine for him at one of the clubs. (In America, we call this an archive room) There are a lot of things I wish I would have kept, but it would have taken a storage shed for all of it. He had thousands of slides; drawing books filled with notes, and while many will say, why didn't you keep them--because they were very interesting--it was just way too much stuff. Including the books which went to a good place at a decent price.

[RJ_Daley]

Tommy, while you were away, this course came to my attention on a different  thread (I forget exactly just what the actual subject was)

http://www.themontgomerie.com/aboutus/thedesigners/desmondmuirheadcon.jsp

Did you find anything in the Muirhead collection of work about this?  As you can see, the hole by hole links have small pics of Des's watercolor paintings of hole conceptualizations.  Did he have watercolors of the Muirfield holes that you know of?

[Tom Naccarato]

Dick,
When I really started to hang around Desmond a lot, visiting with him and going out to dinner, etc. (Usually at Fashion Island's Food Court wherre he loved this place that had these air fries. He loved those things! Especially Jack In the Box tacos!) he was in the middle of planning, visiting, designing Emirate Hills. (The Montgomerie)

Truth is I have so may plans, I don't remember if I grabbed this one or not, but memory is telling me that I do have it. I'll have to check. I just remember looking at the plans and it was pretty wild. Probably one of the more wild ones he ever created.

A set of plans I know that I have is the last job Desmond was working on during the time of his death. the job was in Tuscany and it was a mix of some symbolism-type holes, but more, I think he was trying to stick to some more conventional ones. The property supposedly is still sitting there and the plans for it were for the most part, done.

The plans I'm sorry I don't have are for Quail Ranch, which in my opinion was his best course I ever played. Robert Duruntz will attest this thing was both tough and entertaining. Just a solid track.

As far as the illustrations, Des' would draw out the illustrations and then send them to his daughter Romy, an artist, and she would water color them into what you see on that site. Romy would also be commissioned to do Realist acrylic paintings for the wealthier projects, and they were pretty cool to see in person.

Here is one she did of Malibu Lagoon

[RJ_Daley]

Did Des say anything about working with "Monty"

I was looking further into the design of that course, when I came across the celebrity page of the visitors there in Dubai.  I'm asking myself, now which player is she.  I don't remember seeing her on the LPGA tour... Maybe she plays in the rent-a-pro division. 

http://www.themontgomerie.com/Images/Former%20US%20President%20Bill%20Clinton%20(centre)%20and%20the%20TMD%20team%202005_tcm65-4887.JPG

So, all those water colors of Des's are his daughter coloring up his pen and ink drawings?  Jo Ann does that with pen and inks of locations that she picks up when we go places...

[Tom Naccarato]

Dick,
I could say, just to be politically correct here, that they had a wonderful relationship and that they both looked forward to working with each other again and again, but that would be lying.....

I'm going to list ten descriptions here and you can choose which YOU think best described Des, true feelings about Monty. There are five descriptions I seem to remember with some clarity, it might be fun to see if any of you can figure them out and list them. Maybe even list a few I forgot!

They are:

1. Arrogant Bastard
2. Nice Guy
3. Pompous Jack Ass
4. Great Guy
5. Scottish Twit
6. Great Fellow
7. Nitwit
8. Generous
9. Daft Prick
10. Gentile Soul

It would be great to know if Forrest had these same descriptions on tape. In fact, it would be quite funny! (Forrest in fact has taped certain famous people in Golf Architecture over the years--I think its a brilliant idea to have that.)

What are Jo's illustrations of? I'm anxious to see them!

[Tom Naccarato]

delete

[Forrest Richardson]

Desmond had a great disregard — no, absolute distaste! — for Monty. In fact, if you Google long enough you will find the great London paper account where Desmond tipped off a writer that Monty had commented on his "great" involvement on the Dubai work, but had never visited the site! Desmond, who had already been paid by this time, simply took the position that enough was enough. He turned against the developer, providing detailed accounts of how Monty never even fly to the site before it was grassed, even though he had plenty of opportunities.

Somewhere in my files is the copy of the London newspaper article where it is revealed that Monty never set foot in Dubai to look at the course despite his elaborate descriptions of the design and its virtues.

Desmond was not amused.

I have never heard anything about Pete being involved in Muirfield. Desmond routed the course, I am quite certain of that. Desmond also had quite a bit to do with clearing and design details. As he would say, "You know, golf design is in the bones...anatomy...everything else is details...flesh and make-up and clothes..."

[Tom Naccarato]

Forest,
I forgot about that article, and I remember Desmond being quote proud of it;  and then somewhat distressed that he might have erred, but then was completely at peace with it. I also remember one time he called Monty a "Simpleton." I came back to him and said, "Well you know, sometimes I feel like I'm a simpleton, (I said this jokingly) and he looked at me and said in his finest Cambridge-educated British Aristocrat, Don't be foolish, your not a Simpleton! Simpleton's are complete idiots! By God, your not an idiot! Your actually quite intelligent! After all why would I even choose to mingle with you!"

When talking to Desmond--and Forrest will probably agree--that you felt somewhat intelligent and of an intellect when you were around him. He just made you feel that way; like you a highly intellectual chum and that you were at the top of your game at that very moment, even though I felt like a student. The stories would just flow out of him, and most of them could leave you in tears.

What an incredible talented, intellectual man who used both sides of his brain. I really do miss his candor and wit.

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