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John Kavanaugh

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What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« on: April 19, 2011, 08:53:50 AM »
Yesterday when walking through my front door it occurred to me to question the role of critics in the design of my door.  Would it be taller, shorter, wider, open left, right, up or down?  I don't think it would be a bit different as the role of the door as evolved through function and engineering.  For that matter how is golf different? 

If we had started with a base of St. Andrews and moved on from there with architects and owners designing new courses without ever hearing a critical review, where would we be?
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PCCraig

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2011, 09:00:57 AM »
That would be impossible..."everyone's a critic."

Or by "critic" do you mean golf writers and raters?
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H.P.S.

Michael Moore

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2011, 09:05:15 AM »
John -

If you are truly interested in door design, I highly recommend Donald A. Norman's seminal The Design of Everyday Things, which dives into the topic almost immediately.
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Metaphor is social and shares the table with the objects it intertwines and the attitudes it reconciles. Opinion, like the Michelin inspector, dines alone. - Adam Gopnik, The Table Comes First

John Kavanaugh

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2011, 09:14:32 AM »
No, I mean anyone who tells you how to change a finished course to fit their tastes.   I did not need a critic to tell me to quit climbing through my window and cut a bigger hole in my house.
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Chris Shaida

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2011, 09:28:38 AM »
The thing you walked through yesterday that triggered your epiphany is 'just' a 'bigger hole in [your] house' in precisely the same way a golf course is 'just' a lot of grass with a bunch of metal cups sunk in the ground.  And just about as interesting to describe it as such.
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Adam Clayman

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2011, 09:31:21 AM »
Without the critic, Chicagoland would have much more quality courses.
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"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

Tim_Weiman

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Re: What would golf look like today without the role critics have played?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2011, 12:04:59 PM »
John,

I think it might be too broad to ask what "golf" would look like without input from critics. It probably makes sense to focus on specific golf courses.

Several years ago I commented critically on a well known project with a prominent name designer. Parts of the design were just awful. The place cried out for adjustments to be made. When I took a friend who was ex IMG golf to the course, he felt it was actually even worse than I did.

In fact, some changes were made. The one hole I thought was an embarrassment was completely re-done.

Basically, the original design for this hole was just way beyond the ability of probably 90% of golfers to play it. There was just nothing fun about it.

The re-do made it an unspectacular, but playable golf hole that would still require playing some good golf to make par.
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Tim Weiman
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