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paul cowley

  • Karma: +0/-0
...the Great Depression....because its visable again now.

I feel a strong connection with the brethryn from the past....many good points to ponder....and bad ones too.
paul cowley...golf course architect/asgca

Peter Pallotta

Re: Its interesting to see through the eyes of golf during...
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2009, 10:37:53 PM »
I'm guessing, Paul, but I think one of the lessons is "Go Very Big (and Bold) or Go Very Small (and Modest) -- it's the Middle Ground that will Kill You".

I vote for Go Very Small (and Modest), but I'm a glass-half-empty sort of fellow. But also, in 60 years such a course is ripe for being the next great "undiscovered gem", which I for one wouldn't mind having on my resume....


To quote Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara) from my beloved "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", talking to the showgilrs from his club before they go onto the stage:

"Come on, baby, pick a a personality. Get dressed.  Let's go down there. We'll do a great show. We'll smile, we'll cry...big, glistening tears that pour onto the stage.  And we'll make their lives a little happier, huh? So they won't have to face themselves. They can pretend to be somebody else. Be happy. Be joyous. Come on. You. Maestro."

I'd say, pick personality: pick a Donald Ross or an Alastair Mackenzie. (I think Ross is safer....)

Peter
« Last Edit: July 07, 2009, 10:56:32 PM by Peter Pallotta »

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Its interesting to see through the eyes of golf during...
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2009, 11:07:33 PM »
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." -- Daniel Burnham, director of works, World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago), 1893.

Peter:

Lawsonia, arguaby the boldest course ever built in Wisconsin and maybe, to this day, its best, was built in the middle of the Depression far from any urban center at a cost of $250,000, an enormous sum of money at the time for a leisurely pursuit.

Eighty years after it was built, I remain glad someone had the courage and vision to think boldly.


Peter Pallotta

Re: Its interesting to see through the eyes of golf during...
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2009, 10:53:59 AM »
Phil - very nice example. And, I didn't mean to suggest that I was right in suggesting the modest approach, only that it's the one best suited to worry-warts. 

Also, this had already slipped to the second page and I wanted to get Paul's own thoughts on the lessons he's pondering, even if only in his man-of-few-words sort of way...

Peter