Architecture question from the past...nearly halfway into the future.

[Kalen Braley]

I was reading thru old interviews and ran across this question posed to Tom D in the very first GCA published interview in 1999.  Given we're almost to the halfway point of the future below, curious what the treehouse thinks so far... either in specific or general terms.

How do you think this period in course architecture will be viewed in fifty years time?

"Fifty years from now, we’ll look back on this period of golf architecture as a manic free for all, with some excellent work, some horrible atrocities, and a lot of quality-built high end projects which never paid off. Hopefully, it won’t be the last hurrah -ten years ago, I remember saying that I hoped my career wouldn’t consist of trying to fix Tour pros’ design mistakes"

Any surprises or insights from those who were in the biz or this site back then?

[Tom_Doak]

Well I did not anticipate the crash or the pandemic, so my bad.


But if we are talking about how the 1990’s will be perceived in another 25 years, I think I might not be far off in my prediction.

[Wayne_Kozun]

We also have a similar dividing line to the golden era as so much changed after the GFC as the volume of course constructions plummeted.  But I guess there have still been a handful of great courses open since then - Cabot, Sand Valley, some of Bandon (I think), Cape Wickham, Tara Iti, etc.

[Kalen Braley]

Wasn't trying to single you out Tom, just thought it was an interesting question just as the site was just getting off the ground.

The one part that stuck out was the manic free for all bit.  Curious if you had any other context to add around that.  As for trends in architecture since then, it seems like naturalism has taken hold with many attempting to make golf courses appear more organic by using natural land forms, building hairy bunkers, etc.  And now in last few years we're already to the point that more and more folks on this site are asking what is going to be next?

My perception is there has been lots of excellent work in the last 20 years and it seems like in large part the ideals and goals of this site have propagated into the mainstream.

[Anthony Gray]

 What were the game changers?


 Brandon Dunes? If you build it they will come?


 How did the Top 100 list effect golf and architecture?


 Is there a greater appreciation for the ODG then 20 years ago?






 

[Tom_Doak]

Kalen:


I took your question back then to be asking about the 90’s and not what would happen in the intervening twenty years.


The manic period I was referring to was when Nicklaus and Fazio were churning out 6-10 new courses each year and Jim Engh was a hot commodity.


I agree that the recent past has been more in line with what posters here prefer.  Part of that is because the scarcity of projects has slowed everyone down.  But the other part is because that’s what a few of us have been pursuing consistently since the early 90’s.