[paul cowley]

The European holes he tried to emulate were hardly hard edged...que pasa?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Paul,

I don't know that I agree with your basic premise, but for purposes of furthering the discussion, two reasons might be considered.

The general geometric style of architecture in existence at the time

CBM's membership at GCGC which possessed sharp edged greens and bunkers throughout the course.

Another possible reason may have been the more dramatic influence of hard edged features.
I think the left front edge of the Redan 4th at NGLA and the back right edge of the Road hole 7th at NGLA might be good examples of the dramatic, unambiguous consequence of a failed shot that would encounter those features.

[Rich Goodale]

I personally do not recall any angularity at either of the two MacRaynor courses I have played (Waiilae and NGLA).  In fact I remember NGLA (both strategically and tactically) as generally curvilinear.

[Tom_Doak]

National is the one course that Macdonald himself really spent a lot of time on, so it's only natural that it should look more like the links courses he got his ideas from, than the template courses built by Raynor afterwards.  I was just doing some drawings of Raynor's playbook for Waialae C.C. the other day ... and when you try to keep them simple and easily understood, you don't generally draw curvy lines.

[Andrew Buck]

National is the one course that Macdonald himself really spent a lot of time on, so it's only natural that it should look more like the links courses he got his ideas from, than the template courses built by Raynor afterwards.  I was just doing some drawings of Raynor's playbook for Waialae C.C. the other day ... and when you try to keep them simple and easily understood, you don't generally draw curvy lines.

Tom,

Could you expand on this comment for those of us that don't have the historical or practical knowledge you do with this subject.  Do you mean to imply that the concepts and strategy Mac/Raynor were trying to implement are easier to illustrate on paper with straight lines, and therefore courses where they weren't as involved in day to day construction (or that have tried to restore original plans) would have been more likely to use plans with straight lines?  

I also recall you mentioning the tees at Medinah 1 are square, in part, because you didn't build them in house and that would be easier for Wadsworth to build.  That comment struck me as odd, because Wadsworth has been around for such a long time and constructed so many courses that I would expect them to be able to handle different shapes.  Is it just a manner that plans calling for shapes are more difficult to construct in line with architects intent if the architect can't oversee the process?

[Mark McKeever]

Andrew, your comment actually made me think about Fishers Island and how I recalled that not many surfaces and edges were linear.  In fact, there was a lot more flow and curves there than I would have imagined.  See the below picture that shows what I'm talking about.  I would have imagined this line to be dead straight, but it had a nice flow to it, while still repelling shots to the back trap.

Similar shaping on the next hole (road hole) exists at the back of the green as well.

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