I am back in California after my trip to the midwest. I had a great time; it was not an easy trip but it was a lot of fun. I had the opportunity to visit a course renovation and meet with the lead architect and shaper for two days. Both of them were extremely genuine and sincere; they taught me many of the fine points of the construction process, not limited to how the site is organized, how cart paths are hidden, how bunkers are lined, and how drainage is built on the edges of fairways so that water doesn't pool too much in the short grass. I took some good notes and I know the experience will serve me well. I had the chance to do something similar a few weeks earlier in California, meeting with an architect and two shapers for a day at a course renovation; both were cool experiences and I probably asked more questions and got in the way more than I should have!
Other than the renovation work I saw (which was my main reason for the trip), I visited Lawsonia, Erin Hills, and Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, and Crystal Downs in Michigan. They were all very good courses in very different ways. Erin & Crystal had the most in common (the old-school design style, natural rolling landscape, and big fescue grasses as an example), and interestingly Lawsonia and Blackwolf were similar too - with severe trouble around many greens and sharp fall off areas to catch wayward approaches). Thanks again to Mike Wagner for connecting me with the head pro and director of golf at Erin Hills, who are both great guys and made my time out there truly special (I got the full tour of the course from a former Wisconsin State Open champ and a tour of the grounds from the director golf himself). A big thank you goes out to Sam in the golf shop at Lawsonia for giving me a cart free of charge to view the course. Thank yous go out to Fred and Andy at Crystal Downs as well, who allowed me access to the course untethered with a complementary cart on extremely short notice. The final thank-yous go out to Anton at Blackwolf Run for his personal tour and to all of you on the forum who provided wonderful suggestions of courses to see! I wanted to see them all, but with my physical condition it just wasn't possible. I feel very fortunate that I got to visit the courses mentioned above and I also got to spend many days with my Dad's family in Michigan.
I put in calls to Oakland Hills and University of Michigan, as well as an email to Greywalls. Oakland Hills offered to have me out to see the construction work being done this summer and to meet with the architect, but I chose to spend a few days with the family instead - I hadn't seen them in five years. I had planned to see U of M & Greywalls, but once I made the decision to stay close to the family those plans pretty much flew out the window. I am certainly indebted to the architect and shaper who allowed me access to their project and let me tag along; as well as all the courses who allowed me access for free on very short notice.