First, the "mutual understanding" concept you keep throwing out is a horseshit carve out on your part. Basically what you're saying is that any two people that have learned to work well together cannot be used as an example of a successful collaboration. You're ignoring the key ingredient in all of this, that is the part about learning to work together, or being able to reach that mutual understanding. Hence my statement regarding immutable personalities.
You live in a black and white world Pat, one with hard and fast rules such as "collaboration dulls the creative spirit." What you neglect to take into account are the people involved. That rule works when certain personalities are involved, it is a falsehood when the right people are part of the team. Some people are capable of working with others, some people can't.
But then again, I wouldn't expect a man with your self-inflated ego to be able to comprehend the concepts of learning from others and sharing ideas. And just because you use colored ink, it doesn't make you an expert on creativity.
Second, you are not accurately citing my statement regarding the work at Sebonack. Saying something is less like one thing than another is different than saying it is one or the other. A scholar with your esteemed expertise in reading comprehension should have picked up on that. I chose those words carefully and would appreciate it if they were used in the context with which they were delivered instead of being bastardized to support your endlessly argumentative nature.
But while we're on the topic, Nicklaus himself has said that they produced a better course than they could have if they had been working alone: " I think we did a better course with Doak than I would have done by myself and vice versa." We're touching on a sensitive area, as the other quotes I'd like to include in this thread regarding that pairing have been deleted per the request of one of the participants. I hope Tom doesn't mind my including this cite, as I believe it speaks of the pairing in a positive light.
To anticipate your rebuttal, the point being made is that the working relationship was not ideal, and if the result of an sub-par working relationship is deemed very good, one can only think that the result would have been that much better if all parties involved had been a bit more flexible regarding the collaborative process.
Sven
As always in a ... collaboration: One has to like each other. As simple as that. —Klaus Schulze
It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. —Charles Darwin
Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up. —Oliver Wendell Holmes