Chris,
Much thx for the responses....
As a clarification, when I said the course was forced onto the landscape, I was really thinking something else....and that is this:
When Dismal River originally came onto GCA.com's radar, there was talk that Jack never bothered visiting Sand Hills GC before designing and building DR.
There was also talk that perhaps in the name of only moving "a garage full" of dirt, the Nicklaus crew tried too hard to not disturb the existing topography when perhaps in places they should have. After all, as you mentioned, this is a volatile environment where a lot of shifting around takes place.
As a result, perhaps the course weathered poorly, was severe in places, stuff washed out, eroded away and played extremely harsh.
As I'm sure you are aware, Dr. Alistair Mackenzie said the goal of golf course architecture should be to make man-made "artificial" features indistinguishable from nature herself. Not moving a ton of dirt on a glorious sight is great, but not at the expense of golf features that will not stand the test of time.
Do you know if it is true that the Nicklaus camp never visited with nor consulted with any of the Sand Hills blokes? It's always been my understanding that if you want to learn vicariously how your golf course is going to react in a particular environment, you might consider visiting the guys down the road who have been living it!
I've always been curious about that....and if it is true the Nicklaus camp never visited Sand Hills GC, I've got to wonder why...
Lastly, shouldn't golf be fun for high handicappers as well as low? Dr. Alistair MacKenzie certainly thought so. Shouldn't the term "great course" be applied to a lay out that fits the bill for both classes of player, the expert and the lesser skilled alike???
I'm glad you guys are thinning out the rough....losing balls all day long isn't my idea of a good time. I'm also thrilled to hear you are working on the walking paths, the option of walking certainly shouldn't take lesser priority than carts.
It will be interesting to see if this revamped iteration of DR draws any top 100 list accolades.