https://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-no-7-with-tom-doak/Books are like golf courses; they come in all shapes and sizes. Tom Doak’s latest contribution to his profession,
Getting to 18, is his grandest scale book to date, both figuratively and literally. Be warned: it won’t fit neatly in most book shelves given its width. It is the definition of a coffee table book.
As you likely already know, it covers routing courses, which is arguably the least understood and most important subject matter in golf course design. Tom walks you through his first eighteen designs and the roles that routing played in each. Something different is gleaned from each chapter, be it on drainage on a flat site like the Heathland or routing up, down and around luscious sandy landforms as at Barnbougle Dunes. Each site presents its own puzzle and the more experienced the architect is at problem solving, the better. The importance of the owner shines through, too, and the fewer restrictions he places on the architect, the better as well.
Our generation of golfers has been very fortunate to grow up in a period when great architects were given great parcels and they knew what to do.
Getting to 18 opens the kimono on just how some of those courses came to fruition. Packed full of diagrams and photos, the book nonetheless centers around Tom’s long form writing. Nobody is better at summing up a course in a scant 100 words but Tom’s deep dive on this crucial subject matter remains characteristically pithy, if less caustic. The term ‘minimalist’ applies to his writing too; the man never waste words.
Getting to 18 might prove cautionary as well. Given the paucity of new construction, is the next wave of people who can route courses being developed? Hard to know. Restoring a Golden Age course doesn’t develop the skill set for routing nor does building shaggy, handsome bunkers of the sort that populate Instagram. Routing comes from doing. Pete Dye helped bring along a wave of talent, in part because he remained busy building new courses for five (!) decades. That hasn’t been the economic landscape for a decade now. There are bound to be some consequences.
I love books and like with most things, if you feel like you got a bargain, even better. $385 for the book, delivered, stings any wallet but with time, you may well look back and consider it just that - a bargain. Put another way, I have spent $385 some days for golf, caddy, food/drink and in hindsight, not received value for money. You will have no such regrets adding this book to your collection.
Best,