Stanley Thompson's gift

[T_MacWood]

What is it about Thompson's golf architecture which makes playing his golf courses so appealing. The obvious answer is the spectacular natural beauty of places like Banff, Jasper Park and Cape Breton. Or Thompson's aesthetic flair.

There is an early Thompson golf course in Cleveland, built on a lovely site but nothing unworldly and his aesthetic touch was not quite as well developed at this point in his career, but the golf course is one of the most fun I've run across--outrageous in spots. Is that his underappreciate  gift--fun?

[TEPaul]

"but the golf course is one of the most fun I've run across--outrageous in spots. Is that his underappreciate  gift--fun?"

Probably so. It appears to me when you start to understand architecture better and the distinctions in it that the personalities of these architects really do come across in their architecture in various interesting ways.

Stanley Thompson was, in many ways, a pretty outrageous man! So for that matter, was Macdonald, Tillinghast, Alister Mackenzie and even in their own ways, George Thomas and Max Behr!  And I think it shows in the architecture of all of them!

[A_Clay_Man]

Tom- Having just sampled my first Thompson designs I'd say he had an uncanny nack at using the terrain combined with earth shattering visuals, exceptionally well.

Banff and Jasper are so totally different, yet each invokes high levels of the stuff golfer's love. Whether it's the "V" that draws you to the river, at Banff, or the way he made Cleopatra seem so sexy, at JP. Either way he clearly made the golfer emote and therefore must have a wide appeal.

[ian]

Tom,

I thought about this for a while, and yes, it is FUN. He liked to make the course look bold and dramatic from the tee, but he always seemed to give you more room than you could see.

He loved illusion too, often a bunker complex was actually two bunkers a 100 yards apart. Again more room.

His sense of humour appears in many bunker shapes and mound complexes; Cleopatra remains the most famous.

A few courses by Thompson are tough tests, like St. George's, but most are very playable "resort" courses.

Funny, he was a very good player, but he designed with the average golfer in mind.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ian,

You kinda hit on something I was thinking about after reading Tom's original post... how many Canadian Opens have been played on Thompson-designed courses?

I mean, here's Canada's most revered golf architect, and if I'm thinking straight, not many national championships have been contested on his golf courses.

[T_MacWood]

Is St.Georges Thompson's most challenging test?

There have been a number of bold personalities, but Thompson is a unique one. I would not exactly describe Macdonald, Thomas or Behr as fun loving, but that is my impression of Thompson. That and a great sense of humor--I think of Cleopatra hole and the crazy course he designed for Harry Oakes. There aren't too many architects that can make you laugh while playing one of their designs...Thompson can.

[TEPaul]

I might not describe Macdonald, Tillinghast, Thomas and Behr as fun loving either in every instance, but all of them probably were pretty outrageous in one way or another, and it probably showed in their architecture. I like Coore's remark about NGLA--"I can't figure out where he got the guts to build some of those holes!" Thomas may not have been a bundle of laughs either but who wasn't amused by his "Mae West" hole? Tillinghast--he must have had a great sense of humor with all his humorous caricatures, poems and ditties, and certainly with his humorous writing style.

Thompson was clearly a hard-living man like most of the others mentioned. That alone probably gave them the inclination to do some unique and notable things with their architecture.

Flynn, personally, was known to be a real daredevil, and I think that showed occasionally in some of the things he did in his routing style.

Donald Ross, on the other hand, seemed to be somewhat of a staid man, and from all the Ross courses I've seen that seems to have come across a good deal in his architecture--a sort of democratic application with plenty of rope off the tee for all and probably one of the most subtle and nauncy second shot architects ever.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Tom,
Today St. Georges is probably the steepest test, but in original form, I have a hard time believing that Cape Breton and Banff were not tougher. St. Georges has continually added to tees to get over 7000 yards (which Banff did as well), whereas Highlands has not.