Very kind of all of you folks. I was really honored and humbled when news came of the award. I think it's easy to be cynical about such stuff -- especially for those who adopt that attitude professionally or avocationally over drinks. But for those of us who have been getting up at 5 AM every day for years and walking and talking golf courses with superintendents and architects and builders and shapers and players and owners and then writing about it and trying to get obliged in a market that's getting harder and harder and that squeezes out more and more good people - persisting in this as a (second) profession is a lot of work in its own right.
As with any trade, doing the actually work (of writing) is the easiest and most enjoyable part. And in my case, being able to spend endless hours watching the sun go up and shift across a layout an then watching it as the shade lengthen sand the day ends -- well there's no more beautiful office in the world. There's a world of difference between between playing those courses and forming a judgment about them - and studying them, learning the technology of their deep structure and making she of all that to casual players and even to those who are sure they know all about how to fix a golf course. As I'll tell the assembly of ASGCA next March, I've been really lucky to have been bused along the way by some real dedicated people who have been gracious with their time and advice - Herbert Warren Wind, Geoffrey Cornish, Rees Jones, Pete Dye, Lorne Rubenstein chief among them, and latterly, a whole range of good folks, Michael Pascucci, Mark Hissey, Mike Policano, Steve Lapper, Tommy Naccarato, Dick Youngscap and various editors at book houses and magazines. And of course a whole generation or two of superintendents, from Ted Horton and Oscar Miles to Mark Stovall, Paul Stead and Scott Ramsey; and architect/builders, like Gil Hanse, Jim Urbina, Bill Coore, Tom Doak, Brian Silva, Steve Smyers, Paul Albanese, Andy Staples, Jay Blasi -- and dozens of others. So it is a pretty big community we're all part of, a lot larger than 100. And it's been an honor to be part of that and to have found a home where I can share what I love with others who share that commitment. .