A quick thought on the World Atlas of Golf

[Peter Pallotta]

Jeff - thanks, yes, I remember that thread, and I've been dancing around the topic as well over the years (with threads like the romantic-logician one, in which - using that framework instead of others we use around here -- I seemed to conclude that various architects/styles have a LOT more in common than we tend to recognize). But I think the question is quite subtle, and that our views may have more to do with "impressions" than with "realities"...though perhaps in the world of gca, impressions (given the basic foundational principles) ARE the realities.

Peter

[Russ Arbuthnot]

I ordered a copy of the original WAoG based upon this thread. I plan to read it and then get the latest version to compare. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Paul Gray]

Jeff, Peter et al,

Thank you for returning us to a worthy discussion.

For me, the game of golf is fundamentally about turf, ball and the interaction therein. So, the real question should be something like:

Do all architects, putting aesthetics to one side, place the same empathise on the interaction between ball and turf?

And if we were to disagree about the question in itself, wouldn't we in effect be fundamentally disagreeing about the essence of golf and therefore disagreeing about what a golf course architect should be trying to achieve? That, surely, suggests differences far greater than simply differences in appearance, no?

[Michael Whitaker]

I ordered a copy of the original WAoG based upon this thread. I plan to read it and then get the latest version to compare. Thanks for bringing it up.

Me, too.

My copy of the 1976 original arrived today. I'm looking forward to reading it this weekend.

[Jeff_Brauer]

One thing I recall about that first edition was the preface, where they decreed that taking away the tax deductions for golf would just kill the game, and force it into secret hiding places.  A bit overwrought, and about the same tone Fox News and others use in describing this years "end of the world" political policies......