Is architecture regional??

[Mike_Young]

As one studies Building Architecture around the country and the world it is very obvious that different regions have created different types and styles out of necessity and available materials.  For instance in the Southwest we have Adobe style contruction using clay, straw etc.  In the South we have the use of heart pine framing and shingles etc.  In the North and Midwest, granite and stone etc.

Yet we rarely mention regions when it comes to golf architecture.  The dominant style of golf architecture that this site treasures is sandy soil ,cool season grass golf courses.  With much ado this regional type of golf design has been tried in other areas of the country at much cost and not much success.
The majority of the top 100 classics as well as moderns will always be in these regions and over the years the most nationally recognized architects have been located in these regions.  
As a regional architect, I laugh sometimes when I see what some developers desire and expect from some of the national names in trying to acquire a look that will not work in a particular region.  
I recently did a course in another country next to a famous international name.  He has a certain style bunker that requires much flashing and this region has some months with over 100 inches of rain.  Sand is replaced at this course annually at a major cost.  The course is a good golf course.  My question is....
Are we doing an injustice to golf by trying to replicate golf of other climates and regions in regions where it will greatly increase maintenance and playability or should the architect just have his inherent style and put it wherever he goes??
Mike

[Joe Hancock]

Maybe not an injustice, but a diservice at the very least. GCA should encompass all things about the land, including the weather. Having said that, along with your bunker issue, bentgrass greens are being maintained farther south than anyone ever thought possible. It goes back to the supply and demand thing. If the customer wants it, and it is at least a possiblity, is it ok to burden the customer with the demand knowing it's going to be perpetual problems? Is it ever an issue that architects walk away from, or take the check and give the customer what they THINK they want regardless?

Waterfalls in the desert.......

Joe

[Mike_Young]

JHancock,
Your example of bentgrass in the south is a good one.  Many of the places that once tried this and have had problems have now gone to the new ultra-dwarf bermudas.  The oinly reason we could anticipate growing bent in the south was the USGA greens construction and yet many of the best greens in the north are just push-up.  
The next issue to confront us all will be water use and while it will affect some regions more than others it will definitely affect trying for a northern look in a southern climate.
Just think how many times the condition of the course is there more for lot sales than playability.  

[Tom Doak]

Mike,

You're dead right about this.  As I start to attract jobs far away from home, it's one of the things that I hope will keep my work evolving and different.  Yet I can already see that some clients want me to do the "Pacific Dunes look" on a site where it clearly won't work.

I was thinking about this as we drove around the sand hills the other day.  Few of us would want to be perceived as designing something which was a knock-off of Sand Hills, but for the majority of sites there, it would be stupid not to go with the same look, since it's perfectly suited to the region.  How could you NOT build bunkers that look like blowouts?  How could you NOT build wide fairways in such a windy place?

You are right, too, that people are biased toward the northern sandy look.  There are many fewer courses in the Southeast or Southwest which excite people because the palette of grasses is not the same, and because it's impossible to have lots of little movement and choppiness around the greens on impenetrable clay soils.  That doesn't mean people in the region aren't doing really good work; but I'm glad not all my work is confined to there.

[Ed_Baker]

REALLY GOOD post Mike, I'm surprised at how often the region is ignored by the money people that "conceptualize" these projects. It seems like they choose a name first and then try and build to the name.

How many times have we seen real estate ads extolling the virtues of "The Links at Dogmess Bay" and the only links are chain links from the boundary fences?

It must be realy difficult to impress the site realities on the sales people.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Tom,

You've done Apache Stronghold in the SW with a certain "style" and received rave reviews.  You will soon be doing Harmony in central GA in a very hot section of the South.  What will the style of Harmony be?  Will tall fescues be used?

Nearby Cuscowilla has 'red' bunkers, I assume having something to do with the red clay base, and note the fescue.

[BCrosby]

Mike -

I agree. There is far too little appreciation that regional soil/fauna/weather differences ought to dictate different architecural "looks."

It is to the eternal credit of MacKenzie that he didn't try to build a Cypress Point in clay hills of Augusta, Georgia.

But developers - the guys with the money - don't often understand that. I'm not sure many architects do either. (Exibit A-1, Pete Dye's designs in wind-swept Florida.) They want the flashy stuff.

All this came home to me yesterday as I stood in a dove field in northern Mississippi. Beautifully rolling land with native scrub on the borders. The scrub, maybe 5 or 6 different plant varieties, looks remarkably like whins and gorse in Scotland when you let it grow out. Set farther back were large native oaks and sycamores.

Gorgeous. It struck me that I was huning at the edge of a beautiful, native fairway. All that was missing was a tee and a green.

But it also struck me that I never saw these native weeds on courses in the SE. They would be beautiful, they would be cheap to maintain, they would serve useful strategic purposes in penalizing foozles, hiding greens and controlling erosion. Just like the native weeds in Scotland do.

But I've never seen them used in courses in the SE. Never. And I don't know why not, unless it's precisely because they ARE native and, thus, disdained by developers and architects.

They are making a mistake. Courses in the SE (or any region, for that matter) ought to look like they belong in the region in which they were built. It's not hard to do. And I'm convinced that after a brief adjustment period, people would love them.

Bob

    

[Mike_Young]

Bob and Scott,
IMHO many of the taller flowing grasses that we see in the SE are just not playable such as a taller fescue would be.  Scott you mention the fescues at Cuscowilla.  I am not positive that those are fescues.  In many cases they cannot take our heat.  A common grass that looks much like what you describe is known as broom sage but it thrives where there is a lack of fertilizer and therefore many of our fertigation systems etc. eliminate it from surroundings.  Once water is added to the picture these grasses become extemely thick.

Has anyone here ever seen ANGC in July.  It would surprise you.
Mike

[Scott_Burroughs]

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification for this agronomically and horticulturally challenged person.

Here's a question.  Is there a way to tell, without looking closely, if a hot climate course has zoysia or bermuda on it?  What's the difference?  Does one go dormant before the other?

[BCrosby]

Mike -

I appreciate that many of the native scrub varieties would not be playable. They are too thick. But they aren't playable in Scotland/Ireland either.

But if SE courses used them as they use gorse and whins in Scotland, it would be terrific, both in terms of course aesthetics and strategy.

My thought is not that they should be used to replace fescue/Bermuda as the predominate turf in roughs.

Bob

Bob

[Mike_Young]

Bob,
You are correct...if used as used in Scotland...and wouldn't you agree that the difficulty there is in direct proportion to how much rain these areas have had?
Another question???  Were you able to hit a dove?
Mike

[BCrosby]

Mike -

The question of my hunting prowess is a sensitive subject that I will not discuss in public.

Bob

[A.G._Crockett]

Scott,
Someone correct me if I'm wrong/incomplete, but...
Zoysia has a wider blade than bermuda, and goes dormant later in the year than bermuda as well as coming back to green earlier each spring than bermuda.  Zoysia makes a great surface to hit a golf ball from, but doesn't come back nearly as quickly as bermuda from a divot; consequently, in the SE you will see zoysia around bunkers and sometimes tee boxes, but only rarely as the primary grass of the fairways.  There are some very exclusive private clubs around the Atlanta area that are zoysia tee to green, but they get a ridiculously low  number of rounds per year.
I'm not sure that zoysia grows high enough to provide an acceptable level of rough for most courses, but I may be wrong about that.

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

I touched on this in 'My Opinion' essay on Arts and Crafts Golf (Part V). Two of the most distinctive US regional styles are the Chicago and California. Internationaly I'd include the Sandbelt and Japan.