I'd like to see TD give us an analysis of this interesting discussion you have posed here Don, comparing his experiences of the team he had to co-manage at SEbonack vs the team he had to manage at DR and which produced more order or chaos and which is to the most successful final product of a golf experience for the golfing consumer.
Seriously?
Well, OK. There was some chaos at Sebonack because there were so many different players [architects, associates, shapers, superintendent, owner, etc.] with different points of view. Plus, the contour of the land was almost as good as the best of Nebraska ... all sorts of opportunities there. But we had to reach a consensus, which requires order, and there was politics at every step. [Somebody should have done an organizational chart for Sebonack ... that would be really funny to see now.]
If either Jack or I had just had the final say, and not had to get the other [or the client] to agree, the course would be more original. But the client chose not to do it that way, because he wanted to create more space [chaos?] to voice his own opinion, which he wouldn't have been able to do as much with either architect acting alone.
At Dismal River, the land provided most of the chaos. The construction process was as smooth as silk, and I was fine with understaffing it with equipment and manpower to ensure that the land ruled the day. I'd be curious to know what parts of the design Don ascribes to being "chaotic" ... certainly there are some features like the bumpy fairway on #15 that we would never have thought to create from scratch ... and one of the places we did move some dirt [to address cart traffic near #4 green] resulted in one of the most praised holes on the course.