Custom dictates analysis and resolution at the start of each year and GolfClubAtlas embraces such moments. What went well? What can we work on? A critical reflection of the factors and principles that have delivered success is welcome and beneficial.
The website continues to grow at a blistering pace, more firmly establishing itself as the preeminent resource for golf course architecture and as a non-commercial beacon on the cluttered golf web. Chris Buie continues the thankless but yeoman-like work on all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Thanks to Jerry Kluger’s efforts, there are a couple hundred more GolfClubAtlas.com logos on shirts roaming the planet than there were a year ago. THANK YOU to all those monetary contributors that have enabled this site to remain non-commercial. Many of you have done so for over a decade so that we can all enjoy the site’s elegant, ad free appearance.
Our year-over-year growth is remarkable because ours is a niche, if not esoteric, subject. A fortuitous combination of personalities and photojournalism has conspired to create a lively appreciation for our obsession. A sense of community has been forged through the exchange of ideas/experiences and the personal interactions at various worldwide gatherings under this banner.
Conventional wisdom says that golf has lost its way. Ben, Joe and I think differently – we believe that its contraction is healthy because golf is returning to its roots. Core golf courses are back, housing is out, walking is in, artisanal forged blades and leather walking bags rock, it’s all good! For a period, golf was the ‘cool’ ‘in thing’ and that’s always ephemeral. Money drove our beloved sport and tried to make it into a series of things it can’t be. Compounding the problem is the change of lifestyle. Club life is no longer at golf’s center and people are on the move.
GolfClubAtlas.com won’t ignore such big picture lessons and we are rededicating ourselves to our stated mission: the frank commentary of golf course architecture. In 2015, we will expand those things that augment that mission and diminish and expel those that detract from it. While there was some pouting, most people understood the intent of my December post based on the flurry of calls, emails and donations. General Patton once barked
‘Better to fight for something than live for nothing.’ Several people jumped in to help. Steve Lapper and Joel Stewart identified more than 800 irrelevant threads for swift removal. These could be categorized as having the
‘intellectual vigor of a flounder,’ as one of them sardonically noted. Posters afflicted with ‘keyboard courage’ who spew meanness will see their accounts removed. As few as several hundred frivolous threads without historical merit or with broken photo links remain. Please pitch in to identify and eliminate them. We archive quality material, not gibberish on blood diamonds or Woody Allen.
Speaking of quality, the In My Opinion section is still dazzling and contains some sparkling research. Yet, last year there was a dearth of new entries. Why is that? We would appreciate feedback. It was similar for Best of Golf, which will remain a repository for exemplars of all aspects of the game.
GolfClubAtlas is a community of individuals, diverse for sure but kindred in their affection for the game and its playing fields. This amalgamation enthuses the Discussion Group, the bedrock of our enterprise. However, sometimes we suffer from the unbridled enthusiasm of a small (less than 10) but prolific set of posters who dominate and clutter the interaction. Ours is a time honored but not time sensitive topic. It would be far better if many of us paused (even overnight) and thought about what we are about to post than to spew forth frivolous, trite or worst of all, vehement commentary. Cicero once sniffed,
’If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.’ People who post and post … and post fail us because they inhibit and impede more meaningful dialogue. A discerning review of the threads current and past reveals by and large an excellence in the extreme. We should all be mighty proud, especially with so much silliness having been deleted since my December post.
Our site is not a message board; no one should feel compelled to tell us about their state of play; no one should comment on every thread. In fact it is nearly unimaginable that you should post every day. There should be a constraint to post so that there is more certainty that what is said advances the discussion and understanding of golf course architecture. We can have what our esteemed British friends might call an argy-bargy but it must be substantive and dignified. GolfClubAtlas provides a platform to speak to the world; it is a privilege, not a right and comes with obligation. The theologian and poet Fenelon summed it up well,
'The more you say, the less people remember. The fewer the words, the greater the profit.' What does 2015 hold? Former posters will be returning to the fray during the first quarter as they see changes in both the tenor and focus of the Discussion Group. Our subject matter is vast and there is much to scrutinize, categorize and classify. We want an organized repository to ease reference. Rather than leave the current ~49,000 threads higgledy-piggledy, we are remodeling the archives. Exactly how this will be accomplished is still being determined. Big picture, pre-2014 threads might be segregated into as many as twenty-five baskets, many of which will be unique to GolfClubAtlas.com. Examples would include one containing Sean Arble’s
scintillating English countryside tours, Tom Doak’s musings, a basket for missed posters like George Bahto
, Greenkeeping, ones for the Philadelphia and Californian design schools, and past GolfClubAtlas.com gatherings. Bottom line: “To File is Human, To Retrieve is Divine”. Once we get a better handle on the technical issues, I will start a thread seeking input on what ‘baskets’ or ‘library’ would be most beneficial. Stay tuned for that in early February. One side benefit will be the ease in identifying topics that have been overlooked, enabling us to approach experts to advance discussion in those areas. For example, Archie Struthers shrewdly recognized “drainage” as one such subject.
GolfClubAtlas is growing but we intend to ensure that its expansion is consequential. We are attempting to build something special on the Internet. It’s not easy - and rarely done - but we firmly believe that we are creating superior information that is be freely accessed around the globe and serves the greater good of golf. GolfClubAtlas is intended to be a lasting legacy and we solicit your support and your advocacy of our mission. David Moriarty and I had a series of engaging telephone conversations as this past summer’s events played out. We concluded/acknowledged that GolfClubAtlas.com as a ‘group’ is superior to any ‘individual.’ A variety of skills are represented by the ~1,650 people that can post. By tapping the strengths of each, we end up with something richly textured, significant and far-reaching.
We charge out of the gate in 2015 with articles about Mike Hurdzan, Sunningdale Old and the President’s Putter. A friend suggested that GolfClubAtlas.com is ‘the most honorably intended website on the internet’; such a complement is music to our ears. We look forward to validating that praise and welcoming your participation in what promises to be another grand year.
Best,
Ben, Joe & Ran