The Start of the Golden Age

[Adam Lawrence]

Just a quick one: where do we reckon that the Golden Age began? Was it Park at Sunningdale, Paton's bunker on Woking's fourth, Macdonald building NGLA, or somewhere else?

[Tom_Doak]

Good question, but I don't have a good answer.  I think it depends on where you live, to some degree.  1900 and 1904 were certainly not the Golden Age anywhere outside the UK. 


If you're looking for a sign apart from any one designer's work, all of those great books were written in the 1920's.

[Peter Pallotta]

I was thinking of this question in terms of the difference (or potential difference) between the 'actual' start (i.e in time, chronos) vs the 'conscious' start (ie as a psychological event/expressed idea, kairos).  Then Tom posted and I thought "yes, when were the books written?" And the only one written (I could think of) that might represent an earlier start (of the kairos variety) was Low's Concerning Golf, which as just around/just before the Paton bunker-Woking's 4th, i.e. 1903. And if that work at Woking was both an 'actual' start as well as a 'conscious' start, that might be a plausible answer.   

[Mike_Clayton]

In Australia it was when MacKenzie arrived and redid Royal Melbourne. So, beginning in October 1926

[Sean_A]

For me it is Low and Paton at Woking. There is the combo of work in the ground and writings which explain the work and its deritives. The 20s is well after the fact and really more about when the architecture world became fully engaged partly via writings. All that said, I think a very good argument could be made that TOC is the genesis of the Golden Age. Whatever date (1885ish?) the course became more or less as we know it today. When specific holes of a course are cited so often by masters in the field it seems a bit daft to then act as though those masters originated the ideas as any sort of big bang moment.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

Could an argument be made for it to be equipment related, ie when equipment, both clubs and ball, had reached a stage where architecture started to take flight and trajectory more into consideration?
Atb

[Ira Fishman]

Several of what are considered the top US courses were built before 1920–NGLA, Oakmont, Pine Valley, Merion, San Francisco for example.  Even PH2 in its early form. But perhaps that is not enough of a pattern. On the other hand, several Golden Age Architects were active in the US in the 1910s although certainly more prolific in the 1920s.


Tough question like most questions about historical eras are.


Ira

[Ian Andrew]

Adam,

My thoughts ...

The Golden Age is essentially the Roaring Twenties. So, the beginning would be tied to end of World War I. The resulting economic boom created new prosperity and expansionism. The catalyst was the amount of money the average person had since prosperity had reached more people than in the past. They wanted their own places to spend their money and enjoy their new found prosperity. This coincided with an explosion of interest in golf and belonging to golf clubs.

It's a hard question, so rather than avoid it, I thought I would throw this in for conversation.
 
 

[Anthony Gholz]

Adam:


My view is from the USA.  To me that means National to National.  The National Golf Links to ANGC.  1908-1932 or 1911-1934 depending whether you use course design dates or start of construction or finish or official opening day or ...


Macdonald to MacKenzie pretty much covers it. 


The Canadians and British had a much bigger problem with WWI so I can understand if Ian doesn't believe that the war years were very "Golden."


Anthony

[Sven Nilsen]

Do we consider an Age to start when the first courses representing the new ideals were built, or just when the ideas behind those courses started circulating?


MacDonald was writing about his ideal course well before construction started at NGLA.  And there were others who wrote about these concepts before him.


Or must there have been a groundswell of work to define the beginning of an Age.  Enough courses being built in the "modern" way to indicate a real paradigm shift.  If so, then surely we're talking about post-WWI.


Was any of this truly novel?  Or was it simply that it became easier to replicate the natural aspects of the earliest Scottish courses on land not necessarily suited for the purpose?  Did the Golden Age represent new concepts, or was it a return to the roots of the game?

[Lou_Duran]

Adam,

My thoughts ...

The Golden Age is essentially the Roaring Twenties. So, the beginning would be tied to end of World War I. The resulting economic boom created new prosperity and expansionism. The catalyst was the amount of money the average person had since prosperity had reached more people than in the past. They wanted their own places to spend their money and enjoy their new found prosperity. This coincided with an explosion of interest in golf and belonging to golf clubs.

It's a hard question, so rather than avoid it, I thought I would throw this in for conversation.

It should not be a hard question and one I've been trying to introduce for many years in this "frank and open discussion" platform.  Golf is capital intensive.  Without sufficient disposable income among the classes which play golf AND the ability of the relative few to amass large amounts of capital to risk on building our best courses, "golden age" discussions are essentially moot or just reminiscing about long past times.


We can attempt to ignore history or re-write it, but it won't change things.  I am doubtful that a third "golden age" is in front of us, but I would be delighted to be wrong.

[Tom_Doak]

[/font][/size][size=78%]I am doubtful that a third "golden age" is in front of us, but I would be delighted to be wrong.[/size]

A third one?  We are just hoping that the second one has not died from the virus, and will continue to live on, at a gentler pace.  But you surely can't have two Golden Ages only a few years apart and with most of the same players?

[Sean_A]

Was any of this truly novel?  Or was it simply that it became easier to replicate the natural aspects of the earliest Scottish courses on land not necessarily suited for the purpose?  Did the Golden Age represent new concepts, or was it a return to the roots of the game?

To me this hits at just as important aspect of the Golden Age as design principles. The discovery of non links turf and soil which made possible the firm playing conditions and essentially stretegic design is an often overlooked aspect of these very early heathland courses. I am sticking firmly with just after 1900 as the start of Golden Age because all the elements of what people speak of after WWI were in place. It was then down to economic conditions and public infrastructure which allowed for the boom, but the golf elements already existed.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

[size=78%]I am doubtful that a third "golden age" is in front of us, but I would be delighted to be wrong.[/size]

A third one?  We are just hoping that the second one has not died from the virus, and will continue to live on, at a gentler pace.  But you surely can't have two Golden Ages only a few years apart and with most of the same players?

Golden Age.
Silver Age?
Bronze Age?
Iron Age ... given the terrain it plays over I imagine this Age would include Painswick (plus some of it’s near neighbours)!
Atb

[Duncan Cheslett]

Surely the Golden Age began when great golf courses started to be built on land other than linksland. In the UK this meant the discovery that heathland was ideally suited to golf.


Courses suddenly had to be designed and made rather than simply laid out on the nearest warren. The profession of Golf Architect was born.


Which was the earliest heathland course of note? Sunningdale in 1901?

[Mike_Clayton]

Surely the Golden Age began when great golf courses started to be built on land other than linksland. In the UK this meant the discovery that heathland was ideally suited to golf.


Courses suddenly had to be designed and made rather than simply laid out on the nearest warren. The profession of Golf Architect was born.


Which was the earliest heathland course of note? Sunningdale in 1901?

The first paragraph is related to Melbourne also. None of the clubs making up the current sandbelt began life on the sandbelt. They all migrated there from the poorer soils further north and closer to the city. MacKenzie came, partnered with Russell and Morcom, and began the path to really good golf.

[Tom_Doak]

Somehow I think equating the Golden Age with the start of golf architecture as a profession is mistaken.  Doesn't leave much room for professional improvement!

[Sean_A]

Somehow I think equating the Golden Age with the start of golf architecture as a profession is mistaken.  Doesn't leave much room for professional improvement!

I don't get any sense that ideas of the best archies of today are better than compared to the Golden Age.  I am not convinced architecture has been improved except it is possibly more consistent in quality among the best because of machinery. Taken individually, I don't see any marked improvement when comparing the best holes of 1900-1940 to the 2nd Golden Age of 1995 to the present. It could be argued that in some ways architecture is worse today because less risks are taken.

Ciao

[Sven Nilsen]

The common usage of the phrase has to do with the massive expansion of the game of golf in the US after World War I.  It is the time period when Ross, Raynor, Travis, Emmet, Tillinghast, Watson and others were working like madmen to build courses across the country.  If we're talking about something else, that should be made clear.


Would the Golden Age have still been a thing if there had been too many mosquitoes out by Shinnecock?  Or if Vardon had beaten Ouimet?  Or if Donald Ross had decided to stay at Dornoch?



To try to decide when it all actually started is an impossibility.  It was an avalanche.  The first snowflake hit the ground when the first rock was hit by a stick and someone decided to do it again.

[Ally Mcintosh]

To Sven’s point, this comes back down to whether “The Golden Age” was driven more by quality or more by quantity. In many ways, the catch-phrase is driven most of all by Hollywood, the Roaring Twenties and the Golden Age of Film.


If quantity is the primary driver, the second Golden Age finished in 2008. But we know quantity isn’t the main driver of how most of us interpret the phrase, at least nowadays.


To Sean’s point, the base architecture is no better in the 2nd age than the 1st. But construction expertise is and the best of today spend more time on the detail. However, “strategy” as a design tool is inferior in the 2nd age, partly because equipment has made it less important; partly because golf course clients and consumers are more mature and expect a course to sit within a quite restrained homogeneous box; and partly because aesthetics and photos are much more important these days.

[Niall C]

Adam,

My thoughts ...

The Golden Age is essentially the Roaring Twenties. So, the beginning would be tied to end of World War I. The resulting economic boom created new prosperity and expansionism. The catalyst was the amount of money the average person had since prosperity had reached more people than in the past. They wanted their own places to spend their money and enjoy their new found prosperity. This coincided with an explosion of interest in golf and belonging to golf clubs.

It's a hard question, so rather than avoid it, I thought I would throw this in for conversation.

It should not be a hard question and one I've been trying to introduce for many years in this "frank and open discussion" platform.  Golf is capital intensive.  Without sufficient disposable income among the classes which play golf AND the ability of the relative few to amass large amounts of capital to risk on building our best courses, "golden age" discussions are essentially moot or just reminiscing about long past times.


We can attempt to ignore history or re-write it, but it won't change things.  I am doubtful that a third "golden age" is in front of us, but I would be delighted to be wrong.

Ian/Lou,

I suppose it depends on your perspective. I can quite understand why from a north American viewpoint that you might associate the "golden age" with the explosion in the number of new courses being built during the period of economic boom. However here in the UK it was anything but a boom time, yet there was significant numbers of new courses being developed in the UK.

All that said, to me the expression "golden age" refers to the quality and type of courses being built rather than the number. To me the term signifies a philosophy in course design that embraced strategy, risk reward, variety, beauty and nature etc. as opposed to some of what had gone before. Of course, you need to be building courses to be able to give rein to those ideas.

In terms of when the era started I'd suggest that would be with some of the early discussions on gca in the golfing press around the turn of the century, and that encompassed the ideal hole discussions and the like as well as books such as "Concerning Golf".

As an aside, I was looking at a plan of the initial Huntercombe course and it had an awful lot of cross-bunkers. The only difference is that they were "natural" looking rather than the ramparts in some of the Victorian efforts.

Niall