Each project is different, no doubt, but Tim Weiman is asking what an architect's responsibility is to the club, to himself, to architecture, whatever.
Probably not much more than simply doing the right thing architecturally, in his opinion, whatever that might be.
The problem between architects, committees, memberships, whatnot is an architect might be asked to do something; solve a problem, do a master plan, change a hole etc, and he comes up with a plan and then other people, committees, members, whatever, object and start suggesting all kinds of ideas and personal opinions that vary from what an architect is recommending.
The funny and dangerous thing is they are apt to do and say these things in the name of valid architecture. How can they really do that when they aren't architects? They can because oddly many people seem to think somewhere in their being they too are a brilliant architect. Don't know why that is in golf, but it is!
So the question becomes why then are they even hiring an architect? Why don't they just do it themselves and screw things up without having to pay some architect to endorse their ideas? Well they do that too. That's the green committees making architectural changes on courses all over America all by themselves.
To do things correctly, in my opinion, the club needs to do the research to get a clear idea about what they are wanting and asking for and then do plenty more research to find the particular architect who can do it the way they envision it.
This part is important and in this area I totally disagree with Pat Mucci's argument that any architect can fill the bill if you just tell him what you want. More and more these days that belief seems to be getting proven wrong. Not all architects are going to come up with the same solutions and not all architects have the same tastes, styles, construction styles, techniques, whatever.
So not only does a club have to know what they want and probably in some real detail if the project has any complexity to it, and what that involves, but they should know also what various archtitects do do, can do, have done and want to do. If every architect had the same take on architecture we wouldn't have such variance in golf courses, would we?
So understand exactly what it is you want and then find the proper architect, and not any architect, to accomplish that for you. And lastly it would be a good idea to listen to him and take his advice if you happen to have gotten the first two steps right!!
As for the architect's responsibility to himself, his craft or whatever, if things are going really contrary to what he feels is right, then he should walk.
But apparently that gets into a whole separate set of problems like feeding his wife and kids or making himself famous or thinking he will.
I know I've talked a lot about Coore & Crenshaw but I do only because I have so much respect for them in the way they operate and what they do and I think those on here should know about that--and this is the perfect thread to mention them, even again.
When the proposal to move Gulph Mills came to us (totally unsolicited, by the way), it became my mission from the club to find the right architect for us and to have them really analyze the proposed new site. The move proposal was never one that was even remotely popular within the membership because generally speaking the membership loves our Ross course.
So I talked to a few architects and eventually came upon Coore & Crenshaw (through Shackelford, BTW, for which I will be forever grateful to him) and they helped me analyze the other site for a very long time.
It was determined that the other site had awesome potential so it was proposed to the membership that we pursue the move proposal. This did not go over very well and eventually we had an entire membership meeting and I got up there and told them that the architects I'd found that I truly felt were right for us had determined that the other site had tremendous potential. Little to no reaction from the membership! Then I said that the only problem is I'm having real difficulty convincing those architects to do this project even if that's what, you, the membership wants.
Well, if you wanted to see about 300+ quizzical looks, that was it! About five people asked me at the same time how and why that could be and I told them that Coore & Crenshaw basically could not stand the thought of a course like Ross's Gulph Mills going down the tubes!
And if you wanted to see about 300+ people melt and get on board at the same time, that was it too! After the meeting all kinds of people came up to me and said; "Wow, where did you find architects with that much integrity?"
So there you have it, and some of the answer to questions on this thread about what kind of responsibilty does an architect have to a club, their craft and themselves?
The project ended for entirely separate and different reasons, but had it not, we had almost that entire membership on board and with Coore & Crenshaw and for the odd reason that they didn't really want to do it at all--and for all the right reasons!
I don't even really know if they ever would have done it, but somehow I think I could have convinced them--but they wanted no responsibility whatsoever for encouraging a membership to shut down and leave a course like ours!
So to answer Tim's question about should architects be little more than order takers? No way, not in my opinion.