Offshoot of “Least Played Courses” Thread

[Phil Burr]

The following question has its origins in yesterday’s nomination of DMK’s Laucala course on a private island in Fiji as one of the least played courses in the world.  I’m sure it’s a wonderful course that sees barely any play at all.  After all, how many of us are going on a guys golf weekend to Fiji?  Likewise, if we’ve traveled halfway around the planet with our significant other to arrive at a tropical paradise, how many us are going to say we’re off to play golf?

I ask the following question with no judgment or preconceived notion of an appropriate response:

What motivates an architect to accept a job building a course that virtually nobody will play and where the owner may go to extreme lengths to keep the course from prying eyes or drones?  Does the architect care that his brilliance may remain unknown to the outside world?

Laucala reportedly has been been granted airspace restrictions by the Fijian government to keep unwanted aircraft away from the island.  I’m certain that there are other similarly restrictive courses with outlandish security measures in place.

I mean no disrespect to the community of golf course architects, all of whom have done great things to improve access and affordability in a game not known for such characteristics.  Yet it seems to me that building a course nobody will ever see could be similar to wondering if a tree falling in a forest makes a noise if there is nobody there to hear it.

[Tom_Doak]

Phil:


Most designers will not say no to a good paying project, regardless of purpose.  Some have regrets later when they can’t show it off to promote their work.


When Ric Kayne first approached me about Tara Iti, he said he wasn’t sure what his business model would be, or whether he would just keep it exclusively for himself.  I advised that he would get tired of that and should think about a different approach, so he made it into the Sand Hills or Augusta National of NZ instead. 


I guess I probably would have agreed to build the course anyway, but I’m very happy that I convinced him to make it more available.  It would be a shame for people not to enjoy it.

[Kalen Braley]

Their website seems to be pretty revealing.  If you click on the following link it has a 3-4 minute looping video, then on the drop down menu you can navigate hole by hole where it shows several pics of each hole.


https://www.laucala.com/golf

[Tommy Williamsen]

Their website seems to be pretty revealing.  If you click on the following link it has a 3-4 minute looping video, then on the drop down menu you can navigate hole by hole where it shows several pics of each hole.


https://www.laucala.com/golf

Shucks, I tried to get a room at $5600 a night but they are not taking reservations. The course looks interesting.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Wolf Point was Al's course.
It was an honor to create it for just him.
We loved every minute of it and how it turned out.
Would it be great to have been seen by more, yes.
And we were lucky that Al always wanted to support our work and allowed us to show potential clients and others like Tom and Ran.
Every potential client who visited hired us (when there was some portion of a project), many who didn't visit didn't hire us.
It also was our proving ground, we could do a lot more of what the golf industry would shun.
Peace