[Jordan Wall]

I have been given an assignment to write a research paper based on a problem within a community, and the steps it will take to solve that problem.  I have to research within my community for information on my topic, and as such have a few questions for you gca folk.


So far, I was thinking about using GCA as the community and writing about how many golf courses in the last twenty years cost too much, are being ruined by residential neighborhoods (housing), and are weak in terms of design.

Using obvious exceptions like Pacific Dunes, or Cypress Point for older golf courses, I am going to convey how golf courses don't need to move massive amounts of land and cost a fortune to be great.

Going along with that, I understand not every golf course is blessed with such land, and as such am looking for golf courses not blessed with the best land, that are still great and inexpensive to build, relatively.

Can any one provide examples of such golf courses?  Olympic Club?

I plan to add a bit on how cart paths detract from golf courses, and how even though carts can be a good thing (disability, seniors, etc), there are ways to incorporate carts on a golf path without horrendoues cart paths.  Included in this is maintaining a course fast and firm; the more firm a golf course, the less damage a cart will do to a fairway, sometimes to the point where there is no damage at all.

What are courses that do a significant job hiding cart paths?  Shadow Creek?
What are courses that allow carts yet do not have carts paths? 
What are examples of holes ruined by cart paths? 

Yet another topic is the idea of maintenance, and how courses to not have to be green and luscious to be beautiful or play well.  I plan on talking about 'The Augusta Effect', if you will, and explaining how golf in it's original form was never blessed with bright green golf courses.  Chambers Bay is a great example of how newer golf courses can benefit from firm playing conditions.

What are courses that have suffered from poor maintenance?  Pinehurst?
What are courses that set great examples for maintenance?  Fishers Island?
Specifically, what are courses built in the last twenty years that meet this criteria?  Bandon courses (good)?  Shadow Creek (bad)?

I have just gotten this assignment and have just come up with a few general topics of which to touch on.  If you have any other suggestions for other topics to touch on, please chim in.  I'm sure I will come up with more.  Most of this is just off the top of my head.  Soon I will dig deep into research and really figure things out, but I think presenting this to my 'community' is a good place to start.

Thank you all for thoughts and advice.

Cheers,
Jordan

[Mike Sweeney]

write a research paper based on a problem within a community

Jordan,

I guess I just don't see GCA as a community or a problem in a community. You seem to mention problems with golf courses, not communities.

My suggestion is to take a look at the economic issues that a community faces when a golf course is under financial stress:

* local community bank takes a hit
* employment takes a hit in the community
* local pride deflates
* members lose equity

Now what are the solutions? Public vs private or a European model? Can the course be plowed under? What are the environmental constraints to a future developer.

Seems a little more on-topic than the "designer built lousy bunkers".

[Tom_Doak]

I thought you were going to tackle the problem of the raging Merion / NGLA debates! 

But I guess you want to be a golf course architect someday and not a U.N. diplomat.

[RJ_Daley]

I agree with Mike Sweeney and Tom D., and I think of a 'community' of people living in a social and economic environment.  Therein, a community can have social and economic problems to solve.  Jordan, I think you are looking more at a 'clique of people' rather than a community of people within the gca.com context, and that clique of people have issues of aesthetic tastes and varying values regarding a very narrow aspect of life within a real community; that being recreation and belonging to a sub-culture of golf milieu.

If your emphasis is to be a problem, and you are interested in presenting the topic of golf or GCA (meaning golf club atlas) as a community, I'd say you would have to define their role in the wider community of people and their social and economic condition.  Maybe, like said above, golf's impact on environmental issues or economy, etc.  Or, if it is a problem in our sub-set of the golf club atlas community, then I think Tom is on the right track to identify problems of interactions and why issues get skewed to an extreme regarding aesthetics or history or such controversy, and what effect that has on the rest of the GCA.com community.  If there is an economic problem within the gca community, I guess you'd have to talk to Ran and brainstorm solutions...

[Michael Moore]

As usual, I am in agreement with Mike "Tough Love" Sweeney.

If you truly wish to learn something about modern golf course development, let's say that the community is a viillage of farmers in Southeast Asia and the problem is that a foreign entity wishes to construct a golf course on top of the village.

Or Trump v. the Scottish villagers.

[Jerry Kluger]

Jordan: I was just thinking the following about cart paths: they are an eyesore and do they really serve a purpose?  They cost quite a bit to build and then are usually only in use when the course it too wet to ride on.  I have found that many players who insist on riding will not play if it is cart path only and this is especially true when the cart paths are well hidden and require long walks to the fairway. So what's the point of having cart paths?   

[RJ_Daley]

Another 'golf' angle you could take regarding the subset of golf within a community is to look into the development and evolution of the community golf course, funded by an intra-state share offering, Wild Horse.  I'm also sure that there are 'community' problems that need to get solved on a regular basis, as the development ages within and alongside the community at large.  Or, what about your neck of the woods and community issues at Chambers Bay?  As I understand it, you might have a master's thesis worth of issues to investigate there. 

[Jim_Kennedy]

Jordan,

I have been given an assignment to write a research paper based on a problem within a community, and the steps it will take to solve that problem.  I have to research within my community for information on my topic, and as such have a few questions for you gca folk.

The instruction seems rather explicit, look in your community, not in a chat room. I live in an area where half the homes are owned by New Yorkers and the average price of one is over 300k, yet there are over 150 families on some form of assistance and there is a small population of homeless folks. Not too hard finding a research paper in there.

Look around and you'll probably find similar conditions in your neck of the woods.

[Sean_A]

Or Trump v. the Scottish villagers.

This is exactly what I was thinking of.  Though it could be any number of developments.  Anyway, the entire story of what is good , bad and ugly about golf and its place in the community can be told using the the Trump case.

Ciao

[Mark Pritchett]

Jordan,

Check out East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and how it has played a key effort in the revitalization of a community.

Mark

[Adam Clayman]

The Pacific Grove golf course and it's community is a worthy study, if you want to include a golf course. Including all of the courses seems like an awful big bite.

Since you must've lived on the peninsula for the summer, maybe you are aware of the sad situation?

[Dave_Wilber]

Read Howard Reingold's "Virtual Communities" before you undertake any kind of study of IRL vs. Online culture.

[Anthony Gray]

  The Honors has carts without paths.

  AG

[Emil Weber]

I played Rustic Canyon twice june, and didn't notice any cart paths. Then I looked at a photo of 13 showing a cartpath on the left. Either they did a great job hiding them or they dont exist anymore

[Bill Brightly]

Jordan,

Be careful, it sounds like you have a thesis (things you like and dislike about golf course deisgn) in search of an assignment. Do you know what I mean? I think the Trump in Scotland idea is good one, a specific problem has been identified. The situation at Stone Eagle might be another topic, but that is largely financial and it may be hard to get all the details and make it interesting.

Maybe the course in SF that is fighting to survive vs the frogs? Although you better slant your agrument in favor of the frogs if you want a good grade from a college professor...

[Jim Nugent]

Jordan, what class is the assignment for?  Also, did they define exactly what they mean by community? 

[Mike_Young]

Jordan,
With all due respect to you and the golf community....
Take a deep breath and a step back and think about where this stuff really rates in the overall world community.....we are a speck..and you might ...just might....aggravate some professor types by hyping the impact of golf.....if you want to write on a simialr subject and how it affects a community...write on turfgrass..the industry....from water usage to landscaping of millions of homes..to effect on environment....the pros and cons....JMO

[cary lichtenstein]

I think you are straying too far from your assignment. Why not do your story about the farmers in California who can't get water because the enviironments are protecting a rare minow? The farmers lost all their crops, everyone is out of work and the legislators could care less. That seems to be much more in line with your assignment.

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