Mike B,
No stakes on what part of 5? As to that creek in front of the tee, that was the second closest I ever came to being bitten by a snake (the closest was playing with Dana Fry and Bill Kubly at Sand Hills, when I climbed the blowout bunker on 18 to get a pic of Dana and damn near sat on a rattler) having stepped on a water moc, who was fortunately, was moving slow as winter approached. Who says golf courses aren't good for wildlife? And I saw a water moc on 13 near the creek the last time I played there, so your fears were well founded.
FYI, the 5th was a routing request of our original client, the owners of the nearby Hilton Hotel who started the project. It goes through an old excavation for the nearby damn, and they found a dinosaur skeleton down there while digging it out in the 70's. We had to fill the fw about ten feet for flood protection and also needed to create wetlands for environmental mitigation, explaining the ponds well left and right of the fw.
Lynn,
I feel like Rocky on those ASCCA threads......Adrian! Adrian! Don't want no rematch!
Chip,
1) What five courses would you recommend students of GCA study and why? - There are too many, but I would recommend a nice mix of old and new, probably starting with the Old Course (for sentimental reasons as much as anything) and including Royal Melbourne, Tobacco Road, and something from Pete Dye. I think everyone ought to go play sand greens, and also a course whose recommendations are that "you could play it every day" but which doesn't fall in the top 100.
2) What is your favorite course in Texas? Hmm, for some reason, none come to mind quickly.
3) Do you think when the big name Tour players move on out of design, Palmer & Nicklaus mainly, do you think their firms will be able to survive on their name/brand alone? If not, I assume that would open up a lot of that "brand name" business to new GCAs.
I susepct they will do fine for a long time. I think Frank Lloyd Wright's descandant firm did well long after he died, and RTJ did well long after he retired, but not after he died, with some of the legacy passed on to his sons. (Perhaps it ought to have passed to Roger Rulewich, but that is another topic)
4) Split 10 rounds between Shinnecock, Cypress, and Pine Valley...how would you break them out? Gut feel and quick answer, CP 6, SH, 3, PV1. Not any reflection of the courses, as they are all great, just a reflection of how much I enjoyed playing each one and anticpate playing again.
5) How would/do you market "brown is OK" to your client and the golfing public?
I try to limit irrigation system pumping capacity to sort of force every other day watering at most, and even less watering of rough. I also have an irrigation report where I talk about the soils, climates, etc. and try to lay out a plan for the bare minimum watering (really just above) so at least the first super has a plan to follow. I wouldn't say I have had great success at either.....
Good questions....