This kind of post really agitates me...
First...read the book "Outliers" I think I have my 10,000 hours in this golf stuff...and feel I could argue design with JN or whomever but in the end..neither of us would have changed the other or would admit it if we did...but that's not the point...the point is that if you respect the game...then you respect JN for what he has done for it...it looks stupid for a bunch of slapdicks to come on a site and start arguing his legacy...come on....
Here we have 1500 people..maybe double that with lurkers and you have 3000 who actually take the time to dissect golf course architecture even a little.( some may try to flatter themselves and say the number is quite larger but it ain't
) And 2/3 of the 3000 screw up the dissection...( read KBM post re Critics and commentators)
It is very frustrating to try to even argue with a fellow golfer or member because they could care less and one will not change their mind as to whether something is good, bad or indifferent.
Truth is the golf business has tried to exploit GCA into some profession that never really existed in the first place....on this site we try to build some old golf professionals , rose gardeners or some guy that quits his medical practice( think about that one....any doctor today going to quit his surgical practice to draw some golf courses) into design geniuses......we try to ENHANCE much of what these guys did and didn't do...hey..they were good but they were not Mozarts OK? ..over the years there have even been efforts to group the practitioners and require licensure ....
Now having said all of that....a few of us are lucky enough ( if that's the right word) to end up with a few courses on the ground....and in the end that's all that matters here....the average golfer just wants to play....and the miniscule fine comb that this site uses to decide good from bad is not even considered....good and bad in this business to the genral public is not judged by design..it is judged by marketing and maintenance level( which is a huge part of marketing).
So yes, JACK NICKLAUS WILL GO DOWN AS THE GREATEST OF THE GOLF ARCHITECTS...and Donald Ross? 15 millon of the 24 million will know him not for his designs but because a place like Pinehurst was able to market him without paying him a dime...then clubs caught on and fell for the marketing tactic of restoring their "Ross gem" with a Ross Expert( more marketing)... (before you become agitated..3000 will know him for designs)
JUST GET IT IN YOUR HEADS ...people don't care or know how to care for the actual design...they like the experience , the hat, a good logo and the " I got the tee shirt" aspect....and really that's all we can ask for.