One of the things that sets Tillinghast apart from all of his contemporaries past, present and most likely so in the future, is how much he wrote about the specifics of golf course architecture, especially of the individual principles he believed in. I have picked 10 different principles that he felt very strong about. They are not listed in a “Top Ten” type of order, but rather they are taken at random from my coming Volume II about Tilly. Some you may be aware of, but I am quite sure that at least one or two will surprise you:
10 – Golf course designs are site specific. This enabled him to bring NATURE into his designs: “One vital feature was neglected by most of the old-time builders of American links. They persistently ignored Nature, and when introducing artificial creations little
effort was exerted towards making them appear natural…
9 - “A hole is as long as it plays. While it is possible to form an impression of the merits of a course by scanning the tabulated distances, really no idea of the value of the holes can be conceived by looking at the yardage on paper. A hole may be of the generally accepted length of excellence and yet be an abomination, and by the same token, one which appears to measure up to hit or miss standard may be good because of some unique conditions which shows on the ground but not in pencil.”
8- “Tinkers – Amateur golf course architects flourish as do lilies of the field. Their numbers, among the members of all golf clubs, increase steadily. For the most part their many suggestions reveal the propensity to discuss units rather than the faculty of recognizing the proper relation of each of eighteen holes with seventeen others. A truly great course is a happy family living together harmoniously under one roof, and each, from pere to mere down to the little tads, genuinely alive to the duty of preserving the honor of the name.”
7- Golf should be fun and a well-designed course encourages it - "Now a golf course represents quite a chunk of pasture, sufficiently extensive to permit of considerable conversation, even though tones at times be over normal. But, at the same time, it certainly is too spacious for a morgue... Show me a course on which laughter abounds and I will know that here is a successful club..."
6- Hazards - “Golf demands greater accuracy throughout than any of these [baseball, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, football, etc…] and differs from all in one remarkable feature. It is the one game in which the player’s ball is not subject to the interference of the opponent. It is the question of the supremacy of the accurate strokes without human interference, but there exists interference, nevertheless, and its name is ‘Hazard,’ which is golfese for trouble…
“The casual visitor to any golf course naturally carries away with him a vivid impression of some particular section of the course, which afterward is a mental picture of the course in general wherever his thoughts revert to it. Nine times out of ten the minds camera has been focused on the most prominent hazard, no matter whether the player has come to grief there or not
“A course without notable hazards is a course without distinction.”
5- On what should a course be judged? - “Among the ‘wise saws and sayings’ that I have been handed down throughout the years is this one – ‘ There is no disputing tastes, as the old lady remarked as she kissed the cow.’ Certainly this must be applied to golf and its courses. The merit of any course should be judged by the satisfaction it affords to those who play it. It may not measure up to the standards of the most discriminating players but after all it is a matter of taste.”
4- A good design creates the need for ACCURATE placement of drives. - “When it is more generally realized that a truly fine round of golf represents the accurate fitting together of shots that bear a distinct relation to each other, with the greens opening up to best advantage after placed drives, then the game will be a truer test of all the mighty ones than so many courses now present… American courses are improving generally, and I believe that our best are the best in the world. They will be greater when more attention is paid to accurate placement rather than yardage.”
3- A good design demands more from the better player than the lesser. – “For a long time the greatest obstacle in the way of modern courses in America was the opposition of the mediocre player. He fancied that any attempt to stiffen the courses must make them so difficult that the play would be beyond his powers. But now he realizes that the modern golf architect is keeping him and his limitations in mind all the while he is cunningly planning problems which require the expert to display his greatest skill in negotiating par figures. We are planning and building not to penalize very poor strokes, but rather those which are nearly good.”
2- The importance of the architect. - “The building of a golf course is costly, and it should not be attempted without serious thought. Undoubtedly the average green committee wastes a great deal of money. The committeemen may know golf, and they may be practical men, too, but nevertheless, they are likely to make many mistakes. This is but natural, for golf course construction is unique, and it requires many years of experiment and actual development before one can be said to know much of it. The country is dotted with courses which have cost many thousands of dollars to build, and yet on these courses we find many constructive errors, which, while not only robbing the links of distinction, prevent them from ever rising above mediocrity…
1- The importance of the entrance/approach to the green. - “Comparatively few ever give a thought about the character of the approach. As a matter of fact this is quite as important as the green itself, but unfortunately it is only too frequently neglected. Attention to such details, seemingly unimportant in the conceptions of so many, makes the difference between an outstanding course and one that is just so-so.”