[Kerry Gray]

New course in my town, it's ok but could have been better. I know who built it and found an email address on his website. I sent him a polite letter enquiring about some of his ideas behind the design and have never received a response. Honestly, it was polite.
To you designers out there, would you reply to these inquiries?
Should I expect a reply?
As a designer, do you get offended when people question some of your work?

[Mike_Young]

New course in my town, it's ok but could have been better. I know who built it and found an email address on his website. I sent him a polite letter enquiring about some of his ideas behind the design and have never received a response. Honestly, it was polite.
To you designers out there, would you reply to these inquiries?
Should I expect a reply?
As a designer, do you get offended when people question some of your work?

It's like anything else....everybody does it differently.  Some will and some will not....

[John Kavanaugh]

You sent an email, not a letter. Have you tried tweeting him or leaving a like on Facebook?  I think that if you make a real effort you will get a reply.

[Tom_Doak]

Kerry,

Honestly, I'm pretty busy to respond to every inquiry we get.  [Maybe 2% of them are actual feedback about one of our courses.]  For me it would depend a lot on the tone of the letter.  I've responded to lots of people over the years with particular questions.  Others have not gotten a reply and some of them have not deserved one. 

Everyone has a different perspective; the question is really whether I will learn anything from yours, or whether I think you will listen to my side, after you've already declared you don't like what I did.

 

[Sam Morrow]

When did you send it?

[paul cowley]

Kerry - I've decided to not reply to your question 

[Don Mahaffey]

Seems like if you are going to post this you should name the designer, course, and concerns.  We talk about golf courses here. Lets talk about it.

[Kerry Gray]

John, I do not Twitter or Facebook, decisions I made to keep life simpler.
Tom, thanks for the feedback. I sent you an email years ago and you replied within a day as i recall. I called you and you spoke to me on the phone, I remember and appreciate it very much. circa 2003/04.
Sam, it's been more than two weeks, I sent it twice.
Paul, is it ignorance or apathy? Do you not know or not care?
Don, I might do that. Thomson-Perrett course, in China. Name is Tongli. In the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Opened in May of 2014.
Thanks all.

[Tim Gerrish]

Most GCA run small offices handling almost all the requirements that they demand.  Taking the time to respond to letters/emails and even phone calls by people other than paying or perspective clients can be next to impossible.  Heck I would rather be with my family!  But a truly positive inquiry will get a response.    Now back to menu planning for the coming week/Easter and off grocery shopping.   

[Sam Morrow]

Would you mind posting the questions you sent?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Kerry,

While I may miss a few, I try to respond to most inquiries made of me. Not that its that many.

When I was 12, and just interested in golf course architecture, I sent Robert Trent Jones a letter, and he responded with a nice long letter in return.  Sure, it may have been a secretary or Roger Rulewich, etc., but it showed real old school class.

I also wrote Killian and Nugent that same letter, and they responded, invited me to their office and eventually hired me.  They responded to every letter they ever got.  Real old school class.

In college, I wrote an employment request letter to Art Hills, and he responded with a nice long letter.  Sure, it may have been his secretary, but it was real old school class.

So, I try to carry on the tradition.......

[Nigel Islam]

Pretty cool of the architects to take the time and write back. I emailed Renaissance a questions a few years back, and I was actually pleasantly surprised that Tom Doak emailed me back himself. One of the great things about this site is that architects, superintendents, golf pros etc. "let us  in" on their day to day thought processes.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Kerry,

It might be possible that you mistyped the email address or that the email address was no longer in use, or that your email didn't make it through the spam filter since it wasn't from a recognized and approved sender.

I'd give the architect the benefit of the doubt and follow up with a "personal letter".

It's been my general observation that people tend to respond to personal letters, more so than to emails.

Hope that helps

[Tim Martin]

Kerry,

It might be possible that you mistyped the email address or that the email address was no longer in use, or that your email didn't make it through the spam filter since it wasn't from a recognized and approved sender.

I'd give the architect the benefit of the doubt and follow up with a "personal letter".

It's been my general observation that people tend to respond to personal letters, more so than to emails.

Hope that helps

Kerry-I agree wholeheartedly with Patrick. A handwritten letter carries far more weight than an email or some form of social media. Good luck.

[Randy Thompson]

I canīt comment because in twenty two years I have never gotten an email or a letter. Frankly, if and when the first comes, I imagine I will find it flattering to find out somebody actually gives a shit!

[Adam Lawrence]

John, I do not Twitter or Facebook, decisions I made to keep life simpler.
Tom, thanks for the feedback. I sent you an email years ago and you replied within a day as i recall. I called you and you spoke to me on the phone, I remember and appreciate it very much. circa 2003/04.
Sam, it's been more than two weeks, I sent it twice.
Paul, is it ignorance or apathy? Do you not know or not care?
Don, I might do that. Thomson-Perrett course, in China. Name is Tongli. In the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Opened in May of 2014.
Thanks all.

Kerry, did you send your mail to Ross or Peter?

[Tim_Weiman]

Kerry,

While I may miss a few, I try to respond to most inquiries made of me. Not that its that many.

When I was 12, and just interested in golf course architecture, I sent Robert Trent Jones a letter, and he responded with a nice long letter in return.  Sure, it may have been a secretary or Roger Rulewich, etc., but it showed real old school class.

I also wrote Killian and Nugent that same letter, and they responded, invited me to their office and eventually hired me.  They responded to every letter they ever got.  Real old school class.

In college, I wrote an employment request letter to Art Hills, and he responded with a nice long letter.  Sure, it may have been his secretary, but it was real old school class.

So, I try to carry on the tradition.......

Jeff,

Not golf architecture, but as a college student I once sent a letter to Henry Ford and actually got a pretty nice reply. Definitely leaves an impression.

[Tom_Doak]

as a college student I once sent a letter to Henry Ford and actually got a pretty nice reply. Definitely leaves an impression.

Henry Ford?  That's pretty cool.

Somewhere I have letters from Gerald Ford and Ben Hogan, when I was writing for GOLF Magazine and tried to convince them to be on the magazine's course-rating panel.  The letter from Hogan was pretty curt ... he "could not possibly" do that, or something of that sort.

Not all of the golf architects I wrote in 1979-80 were that responsive.  Pete Dye and Geoff Cornish did write back.  RTJ and a couple of others did not.  Mike Hurdzan did not write back, but did write a column for a magazine about how one "had to be struck by lightning" to be lucky enough to get into the business.

[Mike_Young]

My coolest letter is from Neal Armstrong commenting on a Costa Rica course after he had a lot there....I didn't realize how cool it was at the time.

[Sam Morrow]

My coolest letter is from Neal Armstrong commenting on a Costa Rica course after he had a lot there....I didn't realize how cool it was at the time.

The Bears coach?

[Terry Lavin]

I sent the movie critic Gene Siskel a letter criticizing his review of the original Halloween movie in 1978. A week later, he sent the letter back, with his red-ink corrections and some classic margin notes that cut me down to size. Still have that letter.

[Mike_Young]

My coolest letter is from Neal Armstrong commenting on a Costa Rica course after he had a lot there....I didn't realize how cool it was at the time.

The Bears coach?

moon man

[paul cowley]

John, I do not Twitter or Facebook, decisions I made to keep life simpler.
Tom, thanks for the feedback. I sent you an email years ago and you replied within a day as i recall. I called you and you spoke to me on the phone, I remember and appreciate it very much. circa 2003/04.
Sam, it's been more than two weeks, I sent it twice.
Paul, is it ignorance or apathy? Do you not know or not care?
Don, I might do that. Thomson-Perrett course, in China. Name is Tongli. In the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Opened in May of 2014.
Thanks all.

Kerry - it could be ignorance but I think I'm smarter than that...and I can assure you apathy is not a malady of mine.

It's a playful response to your query about whether or not I would respond to your questions if you were to ask them of me....but without you asking I don't know how to answer...and if I didn't care, you would not be reading this.

Fire away if you want to ask me something specific...and what does the emoji mean? Tongue hanging out? That's my question for you!

[paul cowley]

...on second thought you don't have to answer my emoji question...I'm good...I'm good too if you don't respond to any of this...and have a good life! We're good

[Robin_Hiseman]

I make a point of replying to every enquiry that comes my way, though I'm sure I only get a small fraction of the number that the likes of Tom get. It's polite and I remember how much it meant to get a reply when I was young and trying to get into the trade.

However, one very rarely gets a "thank you" by way of reply.

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