Why did the second Golden age (1995-2010) miss Great Britain?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Adrian,

Thanks for such a comprehensive list. What a lot of people have designed courses who are totally unknown to me! It is particularly valuable since the R&A handbook has stopped listing architects for each individual course. How many of these one-off designers were the proprietors or resident professional golfer?

I wonder if we compiled a list of courses constructed in the golden age and their architects how it would compare with this list. I suspect the great majority of courses would have been attributed to the likes of Braid, Colt, MacKenzie, etc with very few designers about whom we no longer hear.
 
Mark.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I think one could argue yes it did. Most of what I have seen built during this period looked and felt like average American courses. However it is easy to note the exceptions like Kingsbarns which is special. What I have not done is compared percentage wise the better American efforts to the numerous very average courses to the same in the UK. That will tell the tale. One will be hard pressed to find the courses Rees did which are exceptional so Donald Steele dong the same in the UK is just a push.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I think some of the 90s-95s UK inland courses will get more respect over time. A lot designed for 20 years time. Minimsalism was not in 15 years ago, who is to say it will still be in 15 years further on. Not everyone likes contoured greens. Countoured greens and 7500 yards might be too tough. Width is liked by poorer golfers but as soon as competitive golf hots town they need to grow these courses in. The majority of thoughts are you hit the ball straight and dont get away with as much as you might on 50 yard widers. Minimal golf course require more land than yesteryear courses, with a rising land price we might to get 18 holers back onto 120 acre sites. Who knows....flares might even come back.

Mark I have a list of all UK course, I expect I have 70% of the courses with a known architect, it might be worth seeing if we can fill some gaps on here and some of my info might not be totally right either.

[Niall C]

Adrian

I'd be very interested in seeing an expanded list. Like Mark, I was amazed at the number of architects I didn't know and have quite a few courses to their name. Perhaps a thread like Mark's British Courses NLE which expanded into In My Opinion piece.

Niall