David "D.C." Cummings sent me a link to a very interesting article.
http://www.isteve.com/golf_art.htmIt 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?