[Ran Morrissett]

We have rung out 2017 and being that my brother John and I began working on the foundations of GolfClubAtlas in 1998, a 20 year chapter has come to a close.

During that time, we witnessed - and chronicled - a second Golden Age during which we enjoyed a ringside seat for the construction of some of the world’s finest courses. What good fortune! Additionally, the builders of those courses have proven to be great teachers so that the talent level of men age ~30-45 seems at an all-time high. These folks instilled with a hands-on, in-the-field work ethic should keep us in good stead for years to come.

New course construction will dribble in, restorations will flourish (in part because the talent level today is the closest it has been to the Grand Masters of yesteryear) and, in general, the sport will muddle on as it gets its house in order. We don't need more, we need better with golf embracing 'inclusive' architecture whereby people are encouraged to give the sport a try. Examples include the 10 hole course at Farmington and the Cradle at Pinehurst, both profiled in 2017.

Alas, scant new construction seems to connote an ending to the Golden Age II. More alarming is that designs have started to take on a certain sameness with many courses - at least superficially – looking similar. Picking what architect did what in the 1990s was easy; today, not so much. To be sure, it is a lot different than the sameness that infested the 1960s but 'eroding face' bunkers that are easy to photograph and increasingly broad fairways have become de rigueur. Inspiration and creativity seem to be dwindling as every architect meekly incorporates one or more drivable par 4s into his design. When you run across something different like the wide open 5th fairway at Ardfin, people clamor for - what else - bunkers! At least we have restorations to fall back on as a well-restored Travis course (Cape Arundel) is as different from a Raynor (YHC) as it is from a Ross (Cedar Rapids). The Golden Age architects had conviction and their own distinct styles, so it’s refreshing and intriguing to study their designs.

A quick review of GolfClubAtlas's primary sections:

Courses by Country: Thanks to the weekly, year after year time-consuming assistance from Joe Andriole and Chris Buie, this section continues to expand and improve. Combined with the other entries under Architecture Timeline, we hope to trace the evolution of golf course architecture around the world. To that end, we expect to visit more countries this year than in the past few and hopefully find a few gems that hold a candle to the UK venues that Sean Arble routinely profiles. While optimistic we realize how tough it is to match the ambience of an English countryside course.

Feature Interview: I hope that 8 of the next 11 will feature golf course architects who don’t receive the recognition they deserve from the major golf magazines. Our strength is that we give everyone a voice, not just the household names. The number of quality books on architecture seems at a low, so interviewing authors will be less frequent.

Discussion Group: 1,721 people enjoy the ability to post. Some are Herculean travelers who share their observations with us. How neat is that?! While I despise cell phones and the thought of being always 'connected' is appalling, even depressing, the use of technology to gain a window into the world is wonderful. For a poster, words need to matter. My wife is reading a book by Leah Weiss and relays to me that there is a murder of crows, an ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls, a knot of frogs, and a skulk of foxes. Not everyone is a wordsmith but taking the time to organize your thoughts before hitting the post button is time well spent. We will continue to keep the number of threads at 50,000 as the culling process to stay at that artificial number makes the archives tighter and more on point. I have made several false starts to categorize threads but a single thread often ambles in many directions so it isn't a simple task.


Stay ‘on point’  when you post 

In My Opinion and Best of Golf: Short, pithy comments like those on Twitter have their place but GolfClubAtlas was created without space constraints which allows us to deep dive into a subject. Yet, we received few new compositions - those received like Goat Hill and Foxburg were excellent and valuable additions. Our question to you: Why don't we receive more? Of course, one reason is that many people conduct their own photo threads where the pics aren't hosted on GCA. Those threads are a vital part of GCA's tapestry but their worth collapses when the author allows the photo link to lapse. Our hosting site is beginning to construct a report on all dead links and those that involve broken links will be removed. Email me at rmorrissett@cabotlinks.com if you are in the process of changing your hosting site so that your threads won’t be deleted. Happily, Photobucket has just slashed its price for hosting photos for other websites to $99, which might help matters.

Contributions: In 2014 a record 312 donations were made, a number that had grown every year since 2002. A steady decline ensued and 170 donations were received in 2016. We were headed in the wrong direction!  When I asked people why, it was - you guessed it - the boorish behavior of less than a dozen people in the Discussion Group. We took steps to address the issue and people responded. 196 people donated in 2017, a 15% uptick. If the people who enjoy this site don't see value in supporting it, we can look to do something different. No one donated a Bitcoin but some of the notes that accompanied the donations were priceless and full of good cheer. Last week, one proclaimed GCA as the 'biggest bargain in golf'. As an aside, if you contribute through PayPal, please include your city/state. The new PayPal format omits those details but we take great pleasure in acknowledging from where our support comes.

What do the next twenty years hold for GolfClubAtlas? No one knows because golf is tied to geo-political events that are impossible to predict. As a 'community' though, we should continue to flourish, adding to the knowledge of golf course architecture while forming scores of friendships. As Gary Oldman’s Churchill uttered in The Darkest Hour, 'Let's try not to bugger this up!'

Speaking of the future, there will be a GolfClubAtlas.com gathering at Northland Country Club on Lake Superior the weekend of August 4 -5. Pat Craig is spearheading the event to which the first 40 responders are invited. I was blown away by White Bear Yacht Club but afterwards at dinner, a few of the lads suggested that Northland might be the pick. Northland instantly became a must-see course. It is happily going through the same Ron Prichard and Tyler Rae in-house treatment that transformed Cedar Rapids. Perhaps the architects will join us and explain the process and vision they are pursuing. We will make a post in early February with the details. I hope people from afar will travel to this event; the most rewarding thing I did last year was to go to areas I had never explored for golf and see how architects handled the land in places like Maine, Iowa and Minnesota.

G.K. Chesterton wrote, 'The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.' Hopefully this website will continue to attract travelers who take the time to share what they see. GolfClubAtlas charges past its 20th Anniversary with its mission statement intact: the frank discussion of golf course architecture in a congenial, commercial free atmosphere!

Best,

Ben, Joe and Ran

[Dan Kelly]

Please count me in for Northland in August!

[Criss Titschinger]

Vaughn/Pat/Ran, consider me in. Very much looking forward to this.

[PCCraig]

Thanks as always to Ran and everyone who continue to make this the best place to discuss golf course architecture, anywhere.


As for the Northland Midwest Mashie, please allow me a few days to put together a post with details. That would be the more ideal place to sign up. We've received some early confirmations from some frequent Mashie participants which we'll count but please wait until the thread is posted to RSVP so it's easier to keep track of.


The event at Northland is shaping up to be a very special one. I hope folks decide to make the return trip to Minnesota and specifically Duluth in August.


Pat

[Ted Sturges]

To Golf's Most Beloved Figure,


Thanks for all you do (seriously).


Please reserve me a spot for the Northland outing.  Perhaps a swing through Indiana a day or two prior is in order. 


TS

[Tyler Kearns]

Ran,


Count me in for Northland!


Tyler

[David Davis]

Nice work gents! 20 years, wow, you all ain't getting any younger nor prettier    But like fine bottles of wine developing wonderful body and refined characteristics as time goes by.


Would love to try and make it to Northland. Would be a good excuse to visit North & South Dakato, Minnesota and some other places I've never been all in the name of golf. Sounds like some nice vacation time.

[Tom_Doak]

the most rewarding thing I did last year was to go to areas I had never explored for golf and see how architects handled the land in places like Maine, Iowa and Minnesota.

Alas, a year too late for including those opinions in The Confidential Guide ... but some of those places, you only knew about because I'd already done the leg work!

[Tim Martin]

After following the Minnesota Top 30 thread I came away with the impression that Northland is a must play. Sounds like a great event is shaping up.

[Frank Sekulic]

Count me in. I strongly suggest that those who have never played golf in the North Woods of Minnesota, that you make the hour and 10 minute trip up to Giants Ridge, it is a true gem.

[Derek Holland]

I would love the opportunity to play Northland and would be in for the 4th and 5th.

[Colin Macqueen]

Ran,


Many thanks to you and yer comrades in arms for providing such an informative and valuable golf site.
I am not a very good contributor of threads, or even a good participant within threads, but rest assured I am an avid follower.
One of the most valuable aspects for me is that over the years GCA has provided me with, what I think are, cogent responses to fellow golfers complaining of this "bad green" or that "stupid bunker". The downside (or possibly upside!!) is that a few conversations seem to have been somewhat truncated!


Cheers Colin

[jeffwarne]

Thanks Ran for another great year.


An incredible wealth of information and an invaluable resource.
Tough time of year for me with the Northland but looks like a lot of fun.


2018 is shaping up to be a great year for golf events!

[Doug Wright]

2018 contribution made. Thanks as always Ran.

[Mike Sweeney]

Like the original internet itself, GolfClubAtlas is an idea with radical — almost communitarian — possibilities that at the same time has attracted some of the most bold and regressive appetites of golf course architecture. We spent our first years online in group defined by open "frank commentary" and intellectual commons; we spent the second phase in a world increasingly dominated by "clubbish" architecture with dominant themes and personalities. We have learned enough from this history to support the hypothesis that open works better than closed, at least where base-layer issues are concerned. But we don’t have an easy route back to the open "frank-commentary" era. Some messianic next-generation golf course architecture is not likely to emerge out of Cornell University research, the way the "Second-Generation Golden Age Golf Course Architecture" did nearly 20 years ago.



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Adapted from Steven Johnson's recent essay in the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/magazine/beyond-the-bitcoin-bubble.html


Through the miracle of Golf Club Atlas, I had the pleasure to play golf with Steven Johnson and Michael Moore many years ago at Yale Golf Course. Steven's essay reflected the evolution of GCA, so I popped in a few GCA phrases to use it for our purposes. He is a wonderful writer.


In reference to GCA's 20 year evolution, former posters are now "friends" over on Facebook. But let's be honest, my wife, kids, and the majority of my friends don't care about our hairy bunkers and the GCA message gets diluted.


Much of Steven's essay is about the growth and potential destruction of centralized organizations on the Internet such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. GCA conversations often seem to focus on the Central Organizations of golf - R&A, USGA, PGA Tour and their role in taking golf to places where it should not be: bomb and gauge, expensive, slow....


So at the 20 year mark, where will Golf Club Atlas go, and can it, and should it, lead golf in that same direction?

[Jeff Schley]

As a newbie, I'm loving the insights and topics that are afforded to be discussed in GCA.  Thanks for providing and maintaining this site, which I hope to be a member of for years to come.  2018 contribution made.

[MCirba]

Thanks again, Ran, for the opportunity to participate here.   

I'd also encourage others here to venture to write In My Opinion pieces as those articles live on for better or worse long after our meandering blurbs on the Discussion Group.   

Also, for those heading to Northland, I second Frank Sekulic's suggestion of venturing further north to Giant's Ridge (Quarry) which is a blast.

[Philip Gawith]

Thanks for all the hard work Ran. I have derived huge pleasure and benefit from GCA.com over the past 15 years and your curatorship of the site is exemplary! We all remain in your debt!


Philip

[RJ_Daley]

I'll add my thanks to Ran, Ben, and Joe for their dedication to continue to maintain this wonderful source of discussion of golf course architecture, playing the game, promoting the sport, and facilitating the social aspects of this community of 1700 registered (and who knows how many lurkers) for those who have interest in the subject.  Even though the primary express purpose is golf course architecture and design concepts, the other aspects are inevitable and natural to take place within the wide ranging internet community.  I hope it will continue for those who are just recently being drawn to the subject and have discovered the Golf Club Atlas resource to educate themselves and offer their fresh perspectives. 

The challenge for Ran, Ben, and Joe in my view is to keep the passion burning to do the chores it takes to keep the site up and viable.  I will try to do my small part to maintain periodic contributions/donations and the occasional post or response to ongoing discussions.  But, being one of the older dogs, I can't get too motivated to repeat many of the same thoughts and observations on the same aspects of the GCA subject mater that have already been hashed over many times. 

Yet, those ideas are fresh to newbies, and their enthusiasm to discuss and share their ideas is more entertaining to me personally than rehashing something some of us older members already discussed years ago.  The future is theirs to discover, and thanks to the leadership of GCA.com and their seeming indefatigable efforts to maintain, I hope there is another 20 years for a kid just recently born to explore the compelling aspects of GCA ideas we have nurtured.

[Kalen Braley]

I too would like to add my appreciation to Ran & co for this website.


I know it gets a little heated from time to time, but this site is so well behaved compared to the massive amounts of other train wreck sites out there!


Thank you!

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