History of Factuality on GCA.com

[John_Conley]

One time a thing occurred to me
What's real and what's for sale?

If I'm able to follow, what's real is not a journal with sketches that recently was profiled in LINKS Magazine.

What's for sale is that very journal!  At an auction house to the highest bidder, who presumably would believe it to be authentic.
 
I confess: I'm naïve, cursed with a child's understanding of right from wrong, and equating the virtue of truth with Utopia.  To me it doesn't make sense - I cannot wrap my head around it - that a person or small group of people would mislead or distort just so they can seem cool.  When I was younger, there was the older kid in our neighborhood saying we just hadn't reached an elusive level of Donkey Kong yet.  I looked for a long time for the ferris wheel he described, but gave up when even the guys in Fistful of Quarters never reached it. 

So after 15 years on this site, can you help me discern if any of these are real?  I generally can't keep up with all the back and forth over page after page when there are scalding hot topics.

•   Melvyn Morrow – Has anybody met him?  In person?  The name sounds made-up like Hunter Hearst Helmsley. 
•   Top 100 course NLE in Madagascar – I believe this was the site’s version of Sidd Finch.
•   Merion – No energy to revisit.  Simple answer choices: A) Guys were lying, B) Unclear or differences were of opinions, not facts
•   Phil Young’s mention of great seaside Georgia course that does 68 rounds per year – I think we discerned it was actually a fictional essay mistaken for real
•   Ian Scott-Taylor – The little bit I read this morning seems to indicate bogus.  How pervasive does this reach?  Who knew it wasn’t truthful but advanced the idea anyway?  Are there any individuals mentioned that don’t exist?
•   Phil Young – Is this a real person?
•   Phil Young’s brother’s course record at Bethpage – He’s mentioned it often.  Are there any other records of it?  Did he go on to have other golf accomplishments?
•   Others I’ve missed or forgotten? 

This is a great site.  We’ve all had a place to gather to share, discuss, and learn.  Unfortunately it isn’t like the produce department where parody is in a different bin than course reviews with biographical information on Flynn across the aisle.  Apologies in advance for not being as discerning as others; thanks for any assistance divining.

[John Kavanaugh]

I have a confession to make. I have propagated the rumor that Huck has red hair. I've said it so many times that I believed it myself. I believe it today to not be true. My apologies. If this and my twitter novela @TheGingerCronicles is the reason for his long absence I should be and am ashamed. Even though a measure of pride could be had from the creators of South Park stealing my idea I wish the whole sequence of events never occurred. Again, my sincerest apologies.

[BCowan]

Wonderful, another GCA morale builder thread 

[John_Conley]

Wonderful, another GCA morale builder thread 

Ben, I don't check this site as often as I once did.  It's great.  I love reading about courses, learning others' opinions on golf architecture, and studying or following trends for what is or was in vogue for newly constructed courses over the history of the sport.

I've never logged on to have my morale built.

Sorry if my sincere an honest inquiry doesn't sit well with you.  Judging from the length of these contentious threads, I'm not alone in wanting a filter to dismiss faux news.  The Onion does a great job of faux news, and by now almost everyone knows that.  I think several people didn't catch the made-up part of some of the ruses here.

[Jon Wiggett]

Wonderful, another GCA morale builder thread 

+1. What a t.......

[Mike_Young]

John,
You raise an issue that has always brought out the cynic in me when it comes to golf design and this site as well.  Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy the site and what it brings to the table but I feel my path has allowed me to disseminate the BS more than some on here can. 
What makes BS so easy to come by here are the barriers to entry and the ease of entry into expertise on golf architecture.  Think about it.  A guy can have no golfing skills and often no ability to get a ball airborne( which makes him a ground game expert ) and yet he can start walking around a few old courses, find some other souls that fit the same mold and begin to pontificate back and forth about what some old dead rich guy who designed a few courses was thinking.   Next thing you know you are a rater.   Now also think about the professional barriers to entry in this profession.  We have guys professing to be golf designers who actually went to a few clubs and gratis did so called master plans so they could say they had "designed" golf courses.  Next thing you know they profess to be an expert of a particular ODG until they need to be an expert on the next ODG.  Drawings and meetings don't count.  Often I have been at meetings where some guy who worked in a signature office will be there spouting off about this site and the"TD Butt boys" etc...  that crap irks me..why?  Because I consider a guy like TD, JB, PC or myself to be true experts(don't mean to sound cocky or arrogant) for one simple reason.  We have acquired the job, ROUTED the course, hired the staff, signed the front of the paychecks and actually seen the project open and be played.  Between that end of the spectrum and the other end where some guy did a free master plan for his local club and printed a business card you have all levels of expertise.  You have signature associates who have been out of the office a few times and confuse themselves for their bosses.  You have the guy who convinced another he would be a great rater and can explain to club boards the benefits of halfway house placement at the top clubs.  But in between all of this are a lot of guys who really enjoy this stuff and innocently get bombarded with BS and unknowingly absorb much of it as fact. 
And so, for me, the entire issue boils back down to how easy the entry into expertise is for GCA.  If a guy can't teach golf lessons, grow grass or hit a ball he can quickly establish himself as a design expert and go around the country explaining to listeners how old sunken tree rootball areas were once the long lost bunkers of some ODG.

[Mark Bourgeois]

"Jordan Wall" is really Tom Doak.

[Mike_Young]

"Jordan Wall" is really Tom Doak.

Jordan actually came and worked a month or two in Costa Rica for me...

[Rick Shefchik]

I have met Phil Young.

[Bill_McBride]

I'm pretty sure Melvyn is real.  We tried to meet in Tain in 2008 but he couldn't make it.  He did however say he had left a bottle for me at the Glenmorangie distillery.  Sure enough there was a lovely bottle of Nectar d'Or.  Either MM is real or there IS a whisky fairy!

[Bill_McBride]

I have met Phil Young.

I have talked to him by phone about the Capital City Club in Tallahassee, a Tillie course in need of restoration.

[Mark Bourgeois]

"Jordan Wall" is really Tom Doak.

Jordan actually came and worked a month or two in Costa Rica for me...

You mean in Madagascar?

[Tim_Weiman]

John,


Believe it or not, for a long time I had friends who thought Tommy Naccarato was not real. It was weird. My young daughter understood Tommy was a real person, but not some of my friends. They truly thought he was a character I made up.

[James Bennett]

Tim

Tommy is larger than life.

James B

[Peter Pallotta]

One time on here  I made like I'd played Pine Valley and deadpanned that it was nothing special compared to the other greats I'd played. Two hours later someone PMed me and introduced himself as a big fan of my writing and of my astute insights about golf course architcture, and asked whether I was going to be playing PV again any time soon...

[Jeff Bergeron]

I have spent considerable time with Phil Young and I like him very much. I would never question his integrity or motives. As for many of the rest of you..............

[Ken Moum]

One time on here  I made like I'd played Pine Valley and deadpanned that it was nothing special compared to the other greats I'd played. Two hours later someone PMed me and introduced himself as a big fan of my writing and of my astute insights about golf course architcture, and asked whether I was going to be playing PV again any time soon...

Well, for the first time I can honestly say that my total lack of access makes me happy.

Oh, by the way, my golf sucks so much I'm thinking of getting my name changed to Oreck Dyson Hoover.

Which is why I tty to be VERY careful what I say about hard golf courses

[Tommy Williamsen]

Im really John Kavanaugh's Priest.

[Steve Lang]

In factuality:

I'm fake.

Dave, I thought you were auditioning for the Shivas role?




and no mention of the characters Hamilton B Hearst or Tuco?

[Rick Shefchik]

Even though I've never met him, I do believe Dr. Katz is real.

[John Kavanaugh]

Even though I've never met him, I do believe Dr. Katz is real.

I met Dr. Katz. He spent the last years of his life working in a Barnes & Noble. The last time I spoke to him he tried to get me to buy Bhato's Evangilist of Golf for $80. I missed that deal, I miss him more.

[John Kavanaugh]

This is a link to Dr. Katz's obit: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/courierpress/obituary.aspx?pid=155224068

[Peter Pallotta]

Edited...

Peter

[Joe Bausch]

This is a link to Dr. Katz's obit: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/courierpress/obituary.aspx?pid=155224068

Small world:  my father knew Tom pretty well (no great surprise as they both worked at MeadJohnson and were Marines, to boot!).

[Kalen Braley]

Funny Jordans name came up.

I believe he joined the military and is now in training, Dr. MacK style to be the worlds next phenom designer!! Or something like that.

P.S.  I met and shared a beer with a guy at a KP years ago who claimed to be the D. Schmidt, but I can't confirm it was actually him.