David - to really understand GCA, I think you need to understand drainage. And I'm willing to bet that very few non-architects really understand drainage.
The rest of us are largely fanboys, which is great. But I know I'm no expert.
And yet, I challenge you to find one instance where drainage was indicated as an architectural flaw in a course or individual golf hole. The only example I can think of is the occasional discussion of catch basins. I would also challenge the existence of a single comprehensive discussion or paper on the do's and dont's of drainage engineering.
Furthermore, I think most experienced golfers can look at a design and see where the potential drainage issues might be. Look at the low spots first.
I do find it interesting that the group is leaning toward practical experience being the cut-off for expertise, at the same time that most architects believe that professional courtesy should prevent one from criticizing another.
I agree. We've spent a lot of time lately identifying who the real architects and engineers are, and noting their superior position to judge the work. But these people often have professional responsibilities that prevent them from speaking freely on the subject. Furthermore, the professionals have work related biases that the players and the dilettantes don't.
Mike Young, I think it can be assumed that an architect or design professional can get themselves ostracized by offering too many negative opinions.
Let's take a prime example of experience around here. Let's say Patrick Mucci has played 75 rounds of golf per year for 50 years. That's 15,000 hours of golf playing experience. In addition, Patrick has studied GolfClubAtlas for at least an hour a day for fifteen years, which adds another 5,400 hours of study. Add in practicing plus hours spent examining golf courses before he was 55 years old, and it's easy to see Patrick has something like 30,000 hours devoted to observing golf. In addition, he's smart, he's opinionated and he takes chances in his rhetoric. Pat Mucci is fully qualified to evaluate golf and golf courses.