... under Architecture Timeline and Courses by Country.
An interesting phenomenon takes place once an architect becomes successful: He begins to take less and less risk.
Whether that statement is true or not, I’m not sure!
But it certainly feels that way.
Why rock the boat? People hire someone because they like his body of work and appreciate his style. Why do something different? Also, he is likely very busy and perhaps his crew is so accustomed to working in a set manner that there isn’t the time, opportunity or inclination for tweaking design elements. Steady as she goes, Captain!
Of course, some architects now acknowledge that they built courses 20 years ago that were too difficult and are now marketing that they have changed. That’s a different circumstance (and is not to which I refer): They are being forced by market pressures to alter an unwanted (i.e. failed) design style.
Rather, I am talking about examples where the architect voluntarily produced a design featuring (for him at least) uncharacteristic elements. Examples are elusive but I know one: The North Course at Forest Creek.
Work at Forest Creek’s second course commenced in 1998, at the height of Fazio’s career and during America’s building boom. Yet, this course features infuriating front to back greens, drives where most golfers won’t see their ball finish, a nine hole stretch without a par three, and back to back par 5s. All of these are design characteristics not typically associated with Fazio’s body of work. Throw in well utilized large areas of sand and you end up with one of the most strategically compelling designs of the ~25 courses of his that I have played. Perhaps Fazio is a prisoner of his own success; otherwise, I have no clue why this course doesn’t feature more prominently in Golf Week’s Modern Top 100.
I have a weakness for big boned courses over rolling land with large hazards (e.g. Kapalua Plantation, Kingsley and Ballyhack) so I acknowledge a personal bias. Still, I am very curious to hear other perspectives about the North because evidently it seems that I have a different take than others.
Nice to see sand as a dominant theme in a course located in The Sand Hills of North Carolina.It is always a pleasure to chronicle how an architect deviates from his norm and produces something of exception. At its core the North Course is about gaining a reward by gliding past a series of large, attractive hazards but it’s the tweaks like the greens and the unconventional sequence of pars that imbues the course with unique qualities, especially within Fazio’s vast portfolio.
Have a look and see what you think!
Cheers,