Your Favorite Architect

[Kyle Henderson]

Scenario #1: You own a piece of property that is ideal for golf (e.g. rolling topography, good climate, good soil, etc., etc.)

Scenario #2: You own a dead flat, 200-acre piece of clay.

Money is no object. You simply wish to produce the best 18 holes possible with the intent of playing the resulting course yourself exclusively for the rest of your lifetime.

What living architect would you choose in each scenario, or does the scenario make no difference in your ultimate choice?

[paul cowley]

I'd pick Paul Cowley for both.

But if he was too busy then I'd probably go with Tom Doak for the first scenario.

For the second scenario I would probably try to get together a group headed by Tom Fazio, with help from the Nicklaus/Love  groups, and Forrests Richardson and Fezler, Klein ,Whitten, Brauer,TPaul and ....

....well...maybe on second thought I'd go back and twist Cowleys arm a little more .

[Matthew Hunt]

#1.Me

#2.Me

Only Joking

Maybe in 15/20 years time but now it would be:

#1.Tom Doak or C&C

#2. Same as above but maybe Dye or Fazio too

[Kevin Pallier]

Scenario #1 - I haven't seen enough from many modern day designers of the like of Coore & Crenshaw / Kidd etc but of the one's I've seen Doak / Clayton / Norman + Harrison

Scenario # 2 - Doak - I'd like to see what he could do with such a poor parcel of land.

[Jordan Wall]

#1- Tom Doak

#2- Gil Hanse (?)

[Jeff_Brauer]

Oh I think I would go the Paul Cowley route - hiring my ownself. (not Paul)  I do okay on great ground, and for better or worse, have too much experience on dead flat sites.

Kevin,

If you want to see what Doak would do with flat, go to Lubbock, TX.

[Andy Troeger]

#1: There's a lot of architects that I could see doing a fine job. I'm most experienced and partial to Pete Dye, so I'd probably go with him.

#2: I'd sell the land...

[paul cowley]

....but Jeff, if you did hire me I would allow you liberal input in the process and even some form of fee rebate for really good suggestions!

And I don't care where I work....good space, bad space or outer space......

[Phil McDade]

Doak for No. 1, for playability for high handicappers like me.

For No. 2, the recent thread on the three centerline bunker holes got me very interested in the work of Chip Powell.

[Jay Flemma]

Mike Strantz - Mackenzie's line of charm concept + bringing back blind shots + Petedye's great use of horizontal movement in the fairways creating lots of angles and options.

[Michael Dugger]

Of course I'd pick Tom Doak.

or Gil Hanse

or Mike Devries

but these answers are so boring......so I'll go further and say I am really impressed with the images of Barona Creek on golfarchitecturepictures.com.  So I nominate Todd Eckenrode.

and I also really like Mike Nuzzo's attitude and reverence for fast and firm golf.....throwbacks....naturalism.

so I nominate Mike Nuzzo

and then I nominate Brian Phillips.  I want to see him design a stunning 18 hole course and become a success.

[Doug Ralston]

If only you have included:

#3. Steep mountain, forest, and lake terrain. Those other two inferior land areas wouldn't be fun for anyone.

1. Michael Hurdzan. He does this so well.

2. Tim Liddy. He did a good job with too flat Trophy Club.

3. Michael Hurdzan or Chris Chrisman [You should see Stonecrest in Prestonsburg, KY!]

Doug

[Doug Bolls]

On the second piece of land I would give the newly formed Tiger Woods Architectural Co. a shot - let's see what the young upstart can do.
DB

[A.G._Crockett]

I've got a huge, huge bias in favor of the guys that are willing to post here and talk to dufusses like me, AND whose work I've seen, AND who are here in the SE.  I also got born without an ambition gene, but with two loyalty genes, so...

I'll give the coastal piece (that's where the first scenario has to be) to Mr. Cowley, who lives on the coast and has done really beautiful, first rate work there.  

I'll give the flat clay to Mr. Young; I can't imagine that there are many GCA's alive that know more about clay than a guy working out of Athens, GA.  

That leaves out Mr. Brauer, whose work I also like very, very much, and who is also kind enough to write here.  I'll have to rectify that in the next lottery fantasy.

[Kyle Henderson]

Everybody seems to be picking the usual suspects for this group.

I haven't played any Doak courses, only 1 by Hanse, 1 by Kyle Phillips, ect., so I can't pick any of them from persdonal experience. Strantz would be my pick hands-down, if he was still alive.

But, I am going with John Harbottle III on the stregth of his work at Monarch Bay (scenario 2), Stevinson Ranch (scenario 2), and Cinnabar Hills (scenario 1) in Northern California for both scenarios.

[Kyle Henderson]

Isn't anybody going to go with Nicklaus to sell some real estate?

[Doug Ralston]

Kyle;

Hope you noted none of my choices were 'repeat offenders'. This is not to say i do not think TD or C&C couldn't create a sweet course. I have as yet not played either one though, and wanted to go with folks I KNOW can do things with the land that I appreciate.

Doug

[Chris Cupit]

Only because you said money was no object, I'd pick me.  I am not an architect (although many who design courses are course designers not architects exactly either) and I have virtually no experience.

I'd makes plenty of mistakes but with limitless money, I could fix the mistakes.  I've played all over the world, know what I like and you said the course was for one's self so......

But, if money were an object I'd get an expert.  Mike Riley from Atlanta  re-did my home golf course and he did a fantastic job.  I was amazed at how creative he was and how he could see things "in the dirt" no one else could.  

I also came away from the project convinced there are basicly two types of designers--"plans" guys and guys that are "dirt" guys.  With all do respect to those that put together elaborate plans, great presentations etc., the guy I want is the one who grew up in the business as the "dirt/field" guy--there is no substitute for that experience.  While a guy today must certainly do both, I want the guy who started outside and learned the inside stuff later instead of vice versa.

I'd also pick Mike Riley again since I would love to see what he'd do with a blank slate.  

For those of you that don't know anything about Mike, his work includes:  Atlanta:  Crooked Creek (high end daily fee that successfully transitioned to fully private), Reunion (daily fee), Governors Towne Club (private).  He renovated Brookfield CC (private), Rivermont CC (my club-private) and he re-built all the greens at Atlanta Country Club--where the old PGA tour Atlanta Classic used to be (he still consults for them), he also rebunkered and re-did all the greens at The Standard Club (host of US Open sectionals and US Am sectionals multiple times).

Currently Mike was hired to completely re-do the old Heritage Golf Course in Tucker, Ga.  It will be a high end private course and Mike's new routing and changes look to be fantastic.

Out of GA I know he did Kelly Plantation (with Fred Couples ) as well as stuff in Hawaii and Japan (maybe when he was still with Nicklaus Design?)  He's been own his own for more than a decade.