Social media and golf architecture etc

[Thomas Dai]

To what extent is social media having an effect on golf course architecture, construction, maintenance, restoration/renovation etc?


Speed of information flow? Spreading trends? Potential projects? Employment opportunities?


Thoughts?


atb

[John Kavanaugh]

So I go on twitter.com and search for golfclubatlas and this is the second find. https://twitter.com/ShackToLife What the hell is it besides another level of social media hell?

[John Kavanaugh]

Alright, I started with something bad about social media so let's go with something good. Huck became a member of Sand Hills and generously shares his good fortune with people playing in the 5th Major. Two events that would have never happened without social media. A very good pair of related events. Very, very good.


Your turn, name something bad and something good. I'm torn over who will win, the good or the bad that is.

[Peter Pallotta]

Remember a few years ago, that book co-written by two prominent members of the golfing media? It was a work of fiction about two prominent members of the golfing media who exchange the secrets of big name stars via emails to each other - and the book itself was written in the form of email exchanges between two prominent members of the golfing media. As you can tell, it still rankles me, this product of the social media age. Bad.

A few years ago, when one of us here was still a member of the NY Athletic Club and I was planning to be in NY, he kindly reached out to offer me accommodation there. Also, there must be no less than 7 different states in America where I've been told I'd be warmly welcome to visit and play with my gca.com hosts some of the leading courses there. Sure, they are all the blue states* but still -- to offer that to someone like me who brings so little to the table and can offer nothing in return is very generous. Good.
* Not really, just joking.

Thomas - I think social media has led to a veritable explosion in the number of golf course renovations. I can't make a blanket statement on whether that's good or bad.

[Joe Zucker]

Social media has probably had a negligible effect on golf course architecture, but if it has had an impact I think it would be negative.  In hopes of chasing the perfect picture for instagram or facebook, this has probably pushed people to value pretty golf courses more than they should.  Two of the best courses I have ever played, the Old Course and Prairie Dunes, are not easy to photograph well so perhaps they are undervalued in the technology age. 


Pretty much any course with a coastline is going to be highly valued because those pictures are almost guaranteed to look good. All this might push people to favor the kind of resort courses that are generic and lack substance.

To find something positive for John , I hope the volumes of pictures that are easy to find have inspired people to travel and see different places.  I know many of the pictures I've seen online have made me want to travel to places I have never heard of.

[Tom_Doak]

Social media has probably had a negligible effect on golf course architecture, but if it has had an impact I think it would be negative.  In hopes of chasing the perfect picture for instagram or facebook, this has probably pushed people to value pretty golf courses more than they should.  Two of the best courses I have ever played, the Old Course and Prairie Dunes, are not easy to photograph well so perhaps they are undervalued in the technology age. 

That's been a trend since the invention of golf marketing, which goes back to before Mark Zuckerberg was even born.

[Jaeger Kovich]

Social media can influence your opinion on a course way before it is even 100% built and open. If you are smart about it and good with it, you can get people to love a place before they play it... there was a great Ted talk about it by a building architect who was working on Fire Island https://www.ted.com/talks/marc_kushner_why_the_buildings_of_the_future_will_be_shaped_by_you

[Joe Zucker]

Social media has probably had a negligible effect on golf course architecture, but if it has had an impact I think it would be negative.  In hopes of chasing the perfect picture for instagram or facebook, this has probably pushed people to value pretty golf courses more than they should.  Two of the best courses I have ever played, the Old Course and Prairie Dunes, are not easy to photograph well so perhaps they are undervalued in the technology age. 

That's been a trend since the invention of golf marketing, which goes back to before Mark Zuckerberg was even born.

That's true, but I think the fab is heightened when the picture is taken by you and tied to your experience/status.  Before Instagram and Facebook, very few of us had means to publish our crappy pictures.  Now we can all do it for free.

[John Kavanaugh]

Plus, raters, especially these top 100 guys post where they play and are motivated for their posting to remain top 100. I'd love to follow the guy who every time he plays a new course it falls into oblivion. The TopNot100 guru so to speak.


Not to name names but at least the internet, thru the latest election, has revealed just how opinionated some leading critics can be. I honestly don't know how they kept their jobs. Why can't a golf guy just be a golf guy?

[Kalen Braley]

Didnt want to start a new thread for this, but figured i'd put it here.  I think its relevant in todays times where anyone can talk trash from anywhere...


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/gary-player-rips-robert-trent-jones-jr-details-years-long-feud/ar-BBCzC4D?li=BBnbfcL


On Monday, a feud between Player and course designer Robert Trent Jones Jr. that began with harsh criticisms Player made during the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay once again broke into the public sphere.

[Thomas Dai]

The way the world changes and the speed with which it happens always amazes me.
It took Dr Alister MacKenzie a month to reach Australia from the UK in 1926. Now the mere mention of an original, but unused for nearly 80 yrs, MacKenzie green at a relatively unknown private members club in a quiet rural part of the UK is known in Aussie within a matter of a few minutes. Social media and golf architecture.
atb