- Do you think the new Doral design by Hanse executes "Golf is an air game" successfully?
It's too early to say.
- Do you think Lee's philosophy that "golf is an air game" is ever a legitimate approach to golf course design?
Of course. In fact, I don't think his philosophy is all that divergent from the Golden Age guys. The art of feature and hazard placement is mostly a question of making players think about whether they will go over, under, or around something. Let's be honest, golf IS an air game. It's just enhanced a bit when the ball also bounces and moves some after it lands.
- Other than Pete Dye, who else has designed a great golf course with the "air game" approach?
As above, a lot of the most strategic courses I've played are a blast to play an aerial game on. There's nothing more fun than trying to fly the ball over a hazard, particularly when you make it. In that regard, Lawsonia is a wonderful aerial course with its push-up greens that send misses bounding away and hazards in driving zones and along the ideal playing lines that are really satisfying to fly the ball over. Our own Tim Liddy's Trophy Club north of Indianapolis is a ton of fun to fly a ball around. Augusta appears to be a wonderful aerial course, and would've been even in its original form with the backdrop of pines and hills to watch the ball fly against and the swashbuckling carries at holes like 13 and 15.
I guess I don't think Joe Lee said anything nearly as crazy as the original post makes it sound. Let's not get carried away with the ground game. Landing a ball and bouncing it to a target is a fun way to play the game, but rolling a ball around a course really is a tactic that should be reserved for bowling.