Evolutionary biology and golf course architecture

[Michael Moore]

David "D.C." Cummings sent me a link to a very interesting article.

http://www.isteve.com/golf_art.htm

It contains the following excerpt

" . . .  first put forward in John Strawn's book Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course, is that they look like happy hunting grounds—a Disney-version of the primordial East African grasslands. Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, author of the landmark 1975 book Sociobiology, once told me, 'I believe that the reason that people find well-landscaped golf courses beautiful is that they look like savannas, down to the scattered trees, copses, and lakes, and most especially if they have vistas of the sea.'

Tasty hoofed animals would graze on the savanna's grass, while the nearby woods could provide shade and cover for hunters. Our ancestors would study the direction of the wind and the slopes of the land in order to approach their prey from the best angles. Any resemblance to a rolling golf fairway running between trees is not coincidental."

Over all the years of looking at pictures on this web site, the course that has absolutely captivated me is Shinnecock Hills. I have often thought that certain vistas there really resemble the plains of East Africa.

Thoughts?

[JESII]

Thoughts?

I think you're having too many of them...

Are we supposed to assume the hunters under cover of shade are hazards in golf?

I would certainly agree that nature or natural is very pleasing aesthetically but I would think the same about a mountian backdrop or the mesa's in the Southwestern United States.

I also agree that Shinnecock is the most natural looking golf course, and one of the most beautiful (non-cliff top) golf courses I have ever played.

Does Pine Valley look like a happy hunting ground? I would say no, not at all...but that it is still incredibly pleasing to the eye...but for golf reasons alone.

[Adam Clayman]

Michael. Just this morning on our local radio they were discussing the origins of Ash Hollow. A state park along the old Oregon Trail. The speaker mentioned how the trees and creek were likely the draw, as a place to rest for to the people traveling, since there aren't trees for many many miles. It reminded me of the quote you've posted.

I also cannot speak to Shinnecock specifically, but this primordial sense that's felt, happens quite frequently all over this great land of ours.

[Peter Pallotta]

It is a neat little theory. It helps describe why those who mostly want a sport like Ballyneal, why those who most want a game pick Firestone, and why those who want both love Shinnecock. But I wouldn't want to write a graduate paper on it, or worse, read one.

Franklin Pangborn - Architecuralist

[John Chilver-Stainer]

At last the explanation to the missing link of the origins of golf

- primordial  Picts hunting down sheep on the costal dunes of ancient Caledonia using stones struck by wooden implements -

their hunting call being a low gutteral growl sounding like “Gowf”.

[Garland Bayley]

...
Over all the years of looking at pictures on this web site, the course that has absolutely captivated me is Shinnecock Hills. I have often thought that certain vistas there really resemble the plains of East Africa.

Thoughts?

Have you ever played Shinnecock Hills?
Have you ever walked on the plains of East Africa?

If you haven't, how can we give any credence to your thoughts?

Pat Mucci

[Bradley Anderson]

Ok I don't want to pick a fight, but  I'll probably regret writing this.  

I'm not at all surprised to read that a Harvard scholar is drawing a connection between instinct and pleasure. It's been many years now since our scholars have been allowed to think outside the Darwinian box.

If a scholar suggested that a Creator endowed us as sub-creators to take dominion over the earth and make it better, well he wouldn't last too long at Harvard. But that's why I think we take pleasure in gardens and parks and golf courses. It's part of God's common grace.

To strengthen my point, I think we all like golf courses better when they are mowed and edged and weeded. I mean even the fescue areas are more pleasing when they are cared for. But if our whole preference for golf courses are connected somehow to an instinctive preference for happy hunting grounds, then we would like weed infested sloppy golf courses as much as manicured golf courses.

Sorry if that offends anyone.

[Bill Brightly]

The author certainly knows his stuff. I love the GCA.com shout out! Does he post here?

Here is one point that caught my attention, "formula is the enemy of charm":

Trent Jones would put one set of bunkers alongside the fairway about 250 yards off the tee to capture wayward drives, and another set around the green to menace approach shots. A perfectly logical formula, but formula is the enemy of charm. In contrast, Golden Age architects distributed their traps more unpredictably to pester different classes of golfers.

[Wyatt Halliday]

David "D.C." Cummings sent me a link to a very interesting article.

http://www.isteve.com/golf_art.htm

It contains the following excerpt

" . . .  first put forward in John Strawn's book Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course, is that they look like happy hunting grounds—a Disney-version of the primordial East African grasslands. Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, author of the landmark 1975 book Sociobiology, once told me, 'I believe that the reason that people find well-landscaped golf courses beautiful is that they look like savannas, down to the scattered trees, copses, and lakes, and most especially if they have vistas of the sea.'

Tasty hoofed animals would graze on the savanna's grass, while the nearby woods could provide shade and cover for hunters. Our ancestors would study the direction of the wind and the slopes of the land in order to approach their prey from the best angles. Any resemblance to a rolling golf fairway running between trees is not coincidental."

Over all the years of looking at pictures on this web site, the course that has absolutely captivated me is Shinnecock Hills. I have often thought that certain vistas there really resemble the plains of East Africa.

Thoughts?

I think there's a Toto song somewhere in here.

[Chris Flamion]

Thoughts?

I am a huge believer of the idea that our native instincts take over on a lot of our likes and dislikes.  This is a perfect example of it.  We are programmed to like big open spaces and rolling views.  People forget that we have been a city society for only 10000 years.  The hunter gatherer that ate what he could kill or find and lived on the plains is still in us all.