[Adam_F_Collins]

As I mentioned in my thread on "the natural", over the past few months of my graduate program, I've been studying the history of pleasure gardens throughout the world. There is a requirement for a paper of my own choosing as a final project. I've decided on showing relationships between the history of pleasure gardens and the development of golf course architecture. I'm just now beginning to put form to the paper.

One of the threads I'm thinking of pursuing in the paper is the debate itself. At different times throughout history and in different parts of the world, pleasure gardens where used for different purposes. They have been used for meditation, for statements about god, man's place in the cosmos, and even as a kind of catalogue of conquests and the identification of rank within a social structure.

Golf courses, I think may be a little of all of that. One interesting idea is that, throughout garden history, there have been debates and struggles between garden styles as people tried to come to terms with their own "means and ends" through their gardens. However, the present climate seems to be one of what Tom Paul might call "The Big World" of pleasure gardens. There is something for everyone; with stylistic and formal elements being used and mixed from all over history and the globe. There doesn't seem to be the same level of debate in any of it.

Not so the case with Golf Course Architecture. GCA is very much active with debate of right and wrong. Golf holds an important place in the history of pleasure gardens, and I'm sure it will grow in importance in the future.

So let's talk about our own debate (if you're game):

• What and who is "good" and why?
• What and who is "bad" and why?
• What are the good uses of golf? Or reasons for it to be around?
• What bad things come of golf?

Also,if you can think of any threads of the past that show a heated debate around a point,  please include it or make reference to it.

I hope you're willing to take a shot at this. I think it might be fun.

[Craig Sweet]

Adam, historically only the wealthy aristocracy were able to enjoy "pleasure gardens".  With the growing numbers and affluence of the middle class following WWII, pleasure gardens became obtainable by nearly all.

This is just a thought, but the "home in the suburbs" dream is a middle class pleasure garden ideal???

Another thought, the modern day private preserve...Sand Hills,Sutton Bay, etc. are examples of the today's wealthy aristocracy building private pleasure gardens.

[RJ_Daley]

Adam, we had a barn burner of a discussion here on GCA in the very early days about LA and GCA and the influence of the English Tea Garden.  the fellow to ask for his take as a proponent of LA influence and positive influence of the English Tea Garten on GCA is Jeremy Glenn.  Yet, he has not been much of a poster contributor lately, sorry to say.  But as a practicing GCA in Montreal, with LA background, he would make interesting cases for his educational background coming from the LA school.

[A_Clay_Man]

Inner-city golf courses have always possesed a certain juxtapositon that make them stick-out as an extreme example of a pleasure garden.  

Yet, Most of the typical housing project courses have such shit for scale there's no drama, no WOW from the view of something largess, (ocean, mountains etc.)

My first guess is that, it's the scale that is important and a lack of it, is bad bad.

Southern Dunes is an example of a condo lined course that retained your focus on the field of play. And did it with interesting variety.

[Adam_F_Collins]

I think what I'm going to do is to show the golf course as the single most important (socially, politically, economically) pleasure garden of our time. By "our time" I mean of the last 100 years.

I'm using a pair of earlier articles by Chandra Mukerji (which discussed the sociopolitical importance of the French formal garden of the 17th century) as a model.

Billions of dollars are poured into golf every year by the world's richest nations. Many of the most powerful and influential people of those nations are very much interested in golf. People pay ungodly sums of money to spoil their good walks within these gardens and to become official members of golf clubs. People make pilgrimages across great distances to visit golf's "holy places".

Golf courses are used for everything from the simplest forms of social gathering, to grand-scale displays of wealth and power. Golf is used to teach business, as a metaphor for religion. It is used as a way to analyze people. It is used as a method of self improvement and for many, one's proficiency in the game is used as a meter of one's own self-worth.

Beyond these things, golf his still hotly debated from a variety of positions. "Natural" over "Artificial", concerns for the health of the Environment, equipment restrictions, women at Augusta, and who's the greatest - Jack or Tiger?

Much of garden history is reflected in the modern forms of golf courses. We see lessons from the far east and the Zen garden, to the Renaissance to the Landscape Parks of the 18th century, to the Victorian Age and eventually, the Arts and Crafts.

The golf course now can be seen as a point of evolution within the history of man's efforts to control his natural environment for pleasure and as a means for expressing his values and concerns. Attempting to take the position of a cultural anthropologist for a just a few minutes, we can see just how important it is to much of our world.

For many, Golf is just a game. But from the inside, we can see that it is so much more.

I think it's at least worthy of a few pages...

[RJ_Daley]

The isssue or need that comes first is man's need to escape the everyday environs to a pleasure garden (or venue) to meet, socialise, debate something, or recreate.  Had the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Phonecians, or any other organized culture (B.G - before golf) known the game, I guarantee they would have had artistic and motivated citizens that would have designed a place that reflected their ideal (artificial emmulating natural, minimalistically altered natural, or artificial nothing like natural) and they would have all gathered to debate which venue was more aesthetically and functionally valid.  

Mankind is changeable and varies within their lifetimes their thoughts on what is enjoyable to do or pursue, what is aesthetically pleasing, and to what degree they appreciate their natural environment.  I think the closer you get to the leaving time of the natural environment, the more you come to love it purely for its' natural being.  When you are younger, you are more captivated by the technical possibility/capability of the manipulation to enhnance or emmulate or completely cheat nature that man attains.  Then, later you gravitate to the wonderous real creation that is just there for us, conferred to us by whatever powers you may or may not believe exists.

Places of contemplation, pleasure, or competitive pursuit (all of which the pleasure gardens that are golf courses) are just our recent (couple of hundred years) gardens that slip in beside all the other pleasure places we have created for ourselves.

Single most important pleasure garden (venue)?  Not by a long shot...  too many stadiums, racetracts , ski hills, and Oriental gardens, and City parks and gardens to say that...

[Adam_F_Collins]

Single most important pleasure garden (venue)?  Not by a long shot...  too many stadiums, racetracts , ski hills, and Oriental gardens, and City parks and gardens to say that...

I don't really see stadiums, racetracks and ski hills as gardens. If you're broadening the scope to include "venues" other than gardens, that's fine - but then they lie outside the discussion of gardens and their importance to the shaping of society and culture.

Which "oriental garden" do you see bringing together the number of powerful influential people and world-wide focus that the Masters does each year? What other "garden figure" moves the fashion industry as easily, or is as consciously emulated by our youth as Tiger Woods? (That may seem like a reach, but where would tiger be without the golf course? Also, according to Nike, whatever Tiger wears in televised rounds will often show immediate effects on sales of those items to consumers). Which city Park is the subject of as much attention from the world outside its own region as is given to the pro am at Pebble Beach each year?

Your points about the core being pleasure is certainly true. But why are more and more people learning to play golf because they feel that it's important to their career? Why do business schools teach it? I think the importance of golf stretches beyond just pleasure and simple relaxation.

[RJ_Daley]

While I am out of my element trying to name great gardens of the world that are as visited or used as golf course, I'll try...

Central Park and all the mini gardens within
Hyde Park and various gardens and speakers corners
Versailles and gardens
Xochomillcho
Dozens in Japan and China
Disney and Epcot have large components of L.A. gardens
Vatican Gardens
Villa Borgese
Busch Gardens
Tivoli Gardens

As for the power to bring together the movers and shakers, well I think quite a few world history greats have made a point to spend time and meet other powerful figures of history within some of the confines of the gardens named.

While I can see where you are coming from about all the big shots turning to golf in recent times, and all the influential ancillary by-products of golf as a sport like advertising, fashion and social climbing etc.,  I don't get your connection that it is a uniquely important plaeasure spot for socio-econonmic development, per se.  It is just a matter of a venue where we have been participating in a popular game for the last 125 years.  I'll bet more fashion, big deals, and historical decisions were made in the box seats at the Roman Coliseum than any golf course... even if it was a venue rather than a garden.  But, right up the Palatine hill, there were plenty of lovely gardens for the Emporers to roam around with their cronies too and schmooze..  

[Adam_F_Collins]

RJ Daley,

Okay, you're clearly not in agreement with me. I'm actually glad. If everyone was like, "Well, YEAH! Of COURSE!" Then it probably wouldn't be worth exploring and writing about.

I'm just looking at it strictly from a Pleasure Garden standpoint. I realize that there are lots of "venues" and places where people talk about business and exchange thoughts and socialize. But I'm talking about the golf course being the single most important TYPE OF GARDEN in terms of the it's effect on modern society and culture.

There are what, around 30,000 golf courses worldwide? How many golfers? How many annual rounds? How much industry is connected? How much debate surrounds it? How much popular culture is affected by it? How much fashion? How much language? How much television?

"Garden" or "Park" are now ambiguous words to us. "Golf" is much more specific in terms of it's meaning and it's place. How many business deals are going down in the park? (not counting dime bags of pot).

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