To quote Cornish and Whitten (page 328 The Architects of Golf):
...Low was also a respected authority on the rules of golf, serving as chairman of the Rules Committee of the Royal and Ancient until 1921. John Low was on the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette and later the Athletic news and wrote extensively about golf in those and other newspapers. He also wrote several books on golf, including Concerning Golf (1903), the first book to codify the principles of golf course architecture
In the early 1900's Low and fellow club member Stuart Paton worked together in remodeling Woking golf Club. Their efforts turned a staid Tom Dunn layout into a remarkably strategic course. Although they did no other design work, their discussion, publicity and controversy arising from their changes at Woking contributed greatly to the development of golf course architecture.
John Low's pinciples of golf course architecture, which were widely circulated and followed during his lifetime, included these points:
They go on to list a more in depth version of Rich's points.
Cornish and Whitten do not state where or when these principles where first published if at all.
According to Fred Hawtree in Aspects of Golf Course Architecture 1889 - 1924 it was Tom Simpson who named one of his many articles on golf - John Low's Principles Stand Up
In his book The Architectural Side of Golf (only 40 odd pages are really about design) Tom Simpson donates nearly a whole page to the bunker on the fourth at Woking to illustrate how one bunker can influence the first rate golfer in his choice of tactics and to trap is second-best strokes.
To quote Cornish and Whitten again (page 32 and 33):
"It was one particular bunker, or pair of bunkers, that made such an impact upon club member Tom Simpson, who would later design many courses himself.
The fourth hole at Woking resembled the 16th at St. Andrews in that both were straightaway par 4s with a rail line running along the right. Paton futhered the resemblence by placing a pair of bunkers in the center of the fourth fairway at the landing area, in the manner of the "Principal's nose" at the Old Course's 16th. Many years later Simpson recalled hearing outrage and condemnation of the revised hole by his fellow members at Woking and wrote:
'I went out fully prepared to find myself in complete agreement with the views which had been so eloquently expressed. So far, however, from agreeing. I realised for the first time, as soon as I saw this much maligned hazard, that the true line to the hole should not always be the centre of the fairway, and the placing of a bunker had a far more serious and useful purpose than merely the punishing of a bad shot. this led me to see the importance of golf architecture as an art as well as science.'
Paton and Low never designed or remodeled another course, although they spent years refining Woking. Yet they deserve mention in any history of golf course architecture, for they demonstrated, perhaps before anyone else, that it was possible on an inland course to challenge a golfer in more than one way, in much the same fashion as the great links of Scotland"
So, John Low never published his own principles, they were made up by Simpson from Concerning Golf and many hours together at Woking.
Sunningdale first opened for play in 1901 when it was a Willie Park design but of course the Master himself Colt made many changes to the course.
Woking was first laid out by Tom Dunn in 1893/4.
To quote the strokesaver from Woking:
'Woking also played a part in the development of golf course architecture. Our fourth hole can be considered to be one of the first, if not the first, strategic holes in English golf. Shortly after 1900, our then Chairman of the Green Committee, without prior consultation with his colleagues, placed two bunkers in the middle of the fairway. His intention was to compel players to make a decision on the line of the drive and to reward those who took the braver line appropriately. Such options are now commonplace in golf course design, thanks to the innovation on our course.'
Tom M,
I don't care where the principles come from but I do like them.
I think I have now proven that Low himself did not actually create any true principles but Tom Simpson created them from what he had read in the book and of course his time with Low at Woking....but to be honest I don't care.
Brian