[Mark_Rowlinson]

Peter Pellota in the World Atlas thread mentioned this favourite architecture quotation: And all this talk led me to dig out my old edition. In the essay on Oakmont, on the rake they used to furrow the bunkers there, Jimmy Desmaret says "If they'd raked North Africa with it, Rommel would have never gotten past Casablanca".  An out-of-date reference I know, even in 1987, but man I would've loved to hang out with Desmaret.

Any more favourite quotes? (You're not obliged to use the English [K] spelling)

[Anthony Gray]

   "In my estimation approximately 6,000,000 uneaten hot dogs are wasted per year because of poor management."      John Kavanaugh 2008

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mark,

Well I just ordered the new edition and can't wait to see it.

My favorite quote is from Colt which goes something like:

"In no case shall a green be contoured so that the ball runs away from the putter like a swine possessed by the devil."

He also had one saying "Greens should be placed where Providence devine they be....and I have notices some deviation among men with Providence on this matter....." (not exact, but close)

They don't write them like that any more.......

From my personal experience a golf instructors comment on my golf swing:

"On that swing, you moved everything but your bowels!"

[George_Williams]

I think Colt also said-  "Hiring a professional golfer to design a golf course is like hiring a champion riveter to design a battleship."

[Jeff_Brauer]

George,

I think it was me who said "A golf course architect ought to make riveting presentations" but it may have been someone else.......

[Jeff_Mingay]

George,

Did Colt really say that?

I often refer to this Tom Simpson quote:

"The educated taste admires simplicity of design and sound workmanship for their own sake, rather than over-decoration and the crowding of artificial hazards."

[Jeff_Brauer]

I am also partial to "I am opposed to water in its undiluted state."  I think that was Mac, no?

[Richard Pennell]

This is from Tom Simpson, too:

Sir, my typist, being a lady, cannot take down what I should like to say to you. I, being a gentleman must not say it. You, being neither, will comprehend what I mean.

[Bruce Leland]

I'm going with this for now....

"The mystique of Muirfield lingers on. So does the memory of Carnoustie's foreboding. So does the scenic wonder of Turnberry and the haunting incredibility of Prestwick, and the pleasant deception of Troon. But put them altogether and St. Andrew's can play their low ball for atmosphere." Dan Jenkins

[John Kavanaugh]

What I question about Mackenzie is if he had the foresight to plan for the future.  He reminds me of a water colorist who hangs his paintings on the porch.

[John Kavanaugh]

If I say that all cows are stupid, do I offend the goat?

[Dan Kelly]

"God is in the details." -- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

[Anthony Gray]

  "What is a horse designed by a committee? A mule."

                                                                        Ian Andrew


   I am not sure if it is an original but I like it.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Gary Player: "It's one of the best courses of its kind that I've seen."

[Bradley Anderson]

The Good Doctor wrote:

"The so-called improvements of golf courses usually consist in making holes longer and in riddling the place with sand bunkers. If a hole is uninteresting to start with, it can only be made more so by lengthening it, and most golf courses have too many sand traps already."

[John Kirk]

"The architecture should accommodate that shot."

[Michael Dugger]

The spirit of golf is to dare a hazard, and by negotiating it reap a reward, while he who fears or declines the issue of carry, has a longer or harder shot for his next play. - George C. Thomas

[Anthony Gray]

   "Just put the green in the middle of the lake Pete"

                                                                            Alice Dye

[John Kavanaugh]

For me, it was reading Brad Klein's Rough Meditations while on staff for a week long Boy Scout Junior Leadership course... - Kyle Harris 2005

[Scott Sander]

Honestly?

It ain't Shakespeare, but I love to hear anyone (present company included) look out at a hole for the first time and mutter:

"What the *$&# am I s'posed to do here?"

Means whatever's ahead is interesting, if nothing else.

[Tim Copeland]

Robert Von Hagge to a shaper while looking at a Green complex......."Jussst F*** it up"

while waving his arms wildly and the cape was flapping....like a murder of crows

[John Kavanaugh]

I think it has something to do with why most great artists ended up poor.....or worse.   This is why there is little doubt that the Blind Homeless Doak would be a better architect than the Net-Jets Prada Doak....

[George_Williams]

Jeff M.-  Yes, I'm sure I didn't make up the Colt Quote.  I'm almost certain It was in Colt & Co. by Fred Hawtree...

[Jeremy Rivando]

“The chief object of every golf architect or greenkeeper worth his salt is to imitate the beauties of nature so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from nature itself.”

ALISTER MACKENZIE

[Ken Moum]

I find a new favorite almost every time I read a new book, or stop by Shackelford's blog.

But this one encapsulates my theory that it's easy to build a hard course, and hard to build and interesting one.

Anyone can build a hard course---all you need is length and severe bunkering—but it may be and often is dull as ditch water for the good player and poison for the poor. -- Alan Wilson

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