Fifty Thousand Topics (!)

[Tom_Doak]

I just noticed the count on the web site, and was amazed to see that we were at 49,999 topics.


Of that many threads, how many different topics do you think we've actually covered?  A thousand or two, if you count individual courses as a topic?  Or maybe a couple of hundred, if you just count general "design" topics?

[JESII]

How many on page 1 do you think are redundant?


I suspect there's some overlap in 50,000 threads, but if we look at the thread (and discussion itself), it's probably no more than half.

[Terry Lavin]

Like the Courts of Appeal, there are fewer and fewer "questions of first impression" hereabouts, but there certainly are novel ways presented to discuss issues that have been bandied about before.  I would venture to say that there's about 80% repetition, regurgitation and re-argument and only 20% novelty.  Twenty percent, however, is a lot of conversation and well worth the effort required to keep checking the board and commenting from time to time and starting a thread from time to time.

[Ira Fishman]

As a newcomer, most of the topics have not gotten stale or repetitive.  What does amaze me is that those of you who have been posting for many years still bring freshness and zest to the table.  It really is like listening to old friends having a lively debate over beers even if the debate has been going on for years, and each knows that claiming victory or conceding defeat is against the house rules.


Ira

[Tom_Doak]

Like the Courts of Appeal, there are fewer and fewer "questions of first impression" hereabouts, but there certainly are novel ways presented to discuss issues that have been bandied about before.  I would venture to say that there's about 80% repetition, regurgitation and re-argument and only 20% novelty.  Twenty percent, however, is a lot of conversation and well worth the effort required to keep checking the board and commenting from time to time and starting a thread from time to time.

That's a good analogy! 


And I guess there's enough people trying to re-litigate the past, to keep you in business.

[John Kavanaugh]

I never understood how difficult it is to remain consistently creative over 20 years until I lived through the attempt.

[Peter Pallotta]

I never understood how difficult it is to remain consistently creative over 20 years until I lived through the attempt.

The trick is to change your mind every few years, or at least be willing to.
That way, and other than "The Old Course" (which is the answer to every question ever raised here), each thread no matter how repetitive is tackled fresh and anew, every topic an opportunity to discover what you actually/currently believe.
The other trick is not to know very much about anything: as Paul Newman says in Cool Hand Luke after winning a poker hand with a bluff: Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand.

[John Kavanaugh]

Kinda like the Grateful Dead going Disco on Shakedown Street? I'd rather at least try to stay honest with myself.

[Peter Pallotta]

JK - oh certainly: if you don't actually have a change of mind then it's better not to fake it. Indeed, if Time and Troubles and Technology and Temptation and Trial and Error and the Transpersonal have left you or me exactly the same people with exactly the same thoughts for over 20 years, we're better off accepting this stasis instead of fighting against it.
But see? Eight thousand posts and I'd never used the term Transpersonal before!

[Blake Conant]

I remember my art criticism teacher suggesting that (in the art world) there are really ever only 2-3 original ideas floating around at one time.  Everything else is a riff, or reaction, or copy, or improvement on an existing idea.


That theory holds true when applied to most disciplines, golf design being one of them.  Perhaps someone will be boil down these 50,000 topics into the 2-3 that hold the most water. 

[Blake Conant]

Perhaps someone will be boil down these 50,000 topics into the 2-3 that hold the most water.

Not it.

[mike_malone]

I seem to recall topics at other milestones.

[Colin Macqueen]

Gentlemen,


50,000 is a lot of topics!  Just out of interest I went back and counted up the number, since GCA started, that I have bookmarked and tried to separate into various "Colin" categories. These categories reflected my own proclivities, so golf course history for example did not get a lot of attention ( sorry Sven!).


Nonetheless the grand total was around 670....... less than 1.5 % of the offering!! I seem to be over selective or simply too dull and dumb to recognise the pearls being thrown before this swine! Funnily enough Macqueen originates from Macsween .....Macswine... son of swineherd so there you go!!


23 Golf writings
29 Course Tours
10 Essays
20 Agronomy
17 Architects
178 Architecture
32 Templates
21 Routing Courses
43 Tees and fairways
50 Hazards and Bunkers
54 Greens and Surrounds
13 Minimalism
82 Philosohy and Metaphysics
26 Crane Behr Darwin MacD
41 Books and Writing
30 GCA Navel gazing


Cheers Colin

[Ben Sims]

There's an argument out there that in the fields of art--at least as we traditionally define it--humans have maximized the various fields. Without being to hyperbolic, there's nothing new under the sun.


Personally I consider that viewpoint to be somewhat cynical and dismissive of innovators. That said, of 50,000 topics on this website, what are we missing? I think it would be constructive if some of the industry insiders let us know what we are missing.

[Tom_Doak]

23 Golf writings
29 Course Tours
10 Essays
20 Agronomy
17 Architects
178 Architecture
32 Templates
21 Routing Courses
43 Tees and fairways
50 Hazards and Bunkers
54 Greens and Surrounds
13 Minimalism
82 Philosohy and Metaphysics
26 Crane Behr Darwin MacD
41 Books and Writing
30 GCA Navel gazing

Colin:


Cheers for your summary.


Does the above mean you have only catalogued discussions about 17 different architects?  Surely we have discussed more than that number in-depth?

[Mark Pavy]

There's an argument out there that in the fields of art--at least as we traditionally define it--humans have maximized the various fields. Without being to hyperbolic, there's nothing new under the sun.


Personally I consider that viewpoint to be somewhat cynical and dismissive of innovators. That said, of 50,000 topics on this website, what are we missing? I think it would be constructive if some of the industry insiders let us know what we are missing.

Given that the primary function of a golf course is to provide a place for people to play golf, you would assume that a golf course would be judged on how successfully it achieves that goal, why aren't there any "Top 100" lists on rounds per year, juniors per year, first time played golf at x etc etc. Our entire preconceived idea of what a golf course is has morphed into Augusta.

[RJ_Daley]

50,000 is a lot of topics!  Just out of interest I went back and counted up the number, since GCA started, that I have bookmarked and tried to separate into various "Colin" categories. These categories reflected my own proclivities, so golf course history for example did not get a lot of attention ( sorry Sven!).


Nonetheless the grand total was around 670....... less than 1.5 % of the offering!! I seem to be over selective or simply too dull and dumb to recognise the pearls being thrown before this swine! Funnily enough Macqueen originates from Macsween .....Macswine... son of swineherd so there you go!!

Wow, I've been on this site some 19 years and never realized the concept of bookmarking interesting threads to easily return to for reference.      What a disorganized guy I am...