That was a very nice article. Thanks to John if he is lurking, which he sometimes does here.
I think I come across differently in Scotland, because I'm just more comfortable there.
One thing John didn't use from our interview was that it occurred to me as we finished that The Renaissance Club will probably be more highly regarded in Scotland than by visiting Americans. It's a bummer that we aren't out building in the sand dunes next door [which are off limits], and Americans may be disappointed because it's not as dunesy as Barnbougle or Pacific Dunes; whereas the Scots don't mind a bit of difference and will probably accept it for what it is, an excellent test of golf on a hybrid site. I'm really pleased with the detail work everyone has done over there in creating true Scottish-styled bunkers from the flattish terrain.
Josh:
In that interview with Ran several years ago, we were waiting to begin construction on the two courses next door, which were going to be developed by John Ashworth. John had contacted us back in '97 on the recommendation of Archie Baird, the golf art collector who lives in Aberlady. I've played golf with Archie several times over the years and we were his first pick to design a course in the Scottish ideal. But, John A. lost control of the property, David Russell did a new design for the developer, and we thought we'd never get to work over there.
Fortunately, the developers of the adjacent property learned of my interest in the previous job, and were familiar with our work from Lost Dunes, and contacted us about The Renaissance Club three years ago.
The irony is that John Ashworth had also done his own layout for the property we're working with now -- with a friend of his from Wales and some assistance from David Savic. So we walked around this property years ago, too, and I still remembered John's routing which I thought was pretty good. The configuration of the land is slightly different now but there are a couple of holes in our plan which are essentially John's, most notably the par-5 tenth.