I don't think your participation discourages honest discussion of your work. I also have noted that you won't always respond to questions regarding some aspects of your work. You may not always see them, I get that, but for some of the questions I've asked that are more technical in nature, I don't see much discussion of.
Here's a new topic as an example: The 4th green at Pacific Dunes.
When I played there, I looked to the right of the green, and I thought that there was some undercutting via natural processes or the mechanical properties of the soil itself. I think that left alone for a few more years, a decent size portion of the collar and perhaps the green may fall off to the beach below.
Here's my question: How much does GCA work take into account engineering principles? If a site is analyzed before a design is completed would the tendency be to change the routing, or to work on a solution for the issues present to incorporate the preferred routing.
For the 4th at PD, are there any plans to mitigate the undercutting?
Jonathan:
Well, that's a topic most professionals wouldn't want to touch, because there are potential liability issues and the whole subject raises the possibility of "malpractice," if there is such a thing in golf architecture.
However, I'll bite.
Most architects would never build a green that close to the cliff edge, even if allowed. To be safe, they would build it 25 or 50 feet inland, where it didn't come into play so dramatically. It would be a good hole but would become better many years later, when the edge had eroded a bit and had evolved to be really in play. Essentially, we decided not to wait. I told Mr. Keiser that eventually the green would erode, and at that point we would have to build a temporary green to the left of the dune, and carve out more of the dune on the right side, to rebuild the green much like it is today. That was a dozen years ago, and so far the green has not eroded nearly as much as any of us anticipated it might ... [knock wood] ... though someday it will.
We did not pursue an "engineering" solution for the site. The green sits on a cliff top 100 feet high, with various layers of sand and sandstone underneath. I'm not sure anyone would let you work at the very edge, if you asked.
I was familiar with the situation and prepared to take the approach we did, because the site for that golf hole reminded me immediately of the 7th hole at Ballybunion, where they went through exactly the process I'm describing above, after part of the original green fell away in the 1970's. I don't know if Molly Gourlay planned it that way, or not. I do know that the replacement green they've built is nowhere near as natural-looking as others on the course, because they are trying to be "smart" and leave a buffer for some future erosion.