I thought it was good. Not sure I agree with Tom about the state of golf course design as art is currently an 8? Maybe I'm a glass is half empty type of guy but I still see a lot of work that is not so good. It's certainly much better and agree that it's been raised 2 points from 20 years ago but would say it went from a 5 to 7.
[/size]Q: On the Doak scale, how would you rate the state of golf course design as an art form when the first Confidential Guide was released versus now?
TD: The state of the art is very high right now -- let's say an 8 today, versus a 6 twenty years ago. There are a ton of talented young people in this business today, working on construction crews for us and for other big firms; our internship program has helped give some of them a foothold. The only thing missing is opportunity. You only see real divergences from the design style that's in vogue during boom periods, when designers are more likely to go out on a limb to attract attention. There are so few new courses to build that developers are more cautious than ever. They're less likely to take a risk on a young designer when the big names aren't too busy to talk to them. [/color]