Important new book, about Arana

[Mark_Rowlinson]

'The Golf Courses of Javier Arana' is now published and is available from Amazon in English. The author is Alfonso Erhardt Ybarra. The book is published by Turner with the ISBN number: 976-84-15832-42-3.

We know surprisingly little about Arana, who was not only an accomplished golf course architect but also Spanish amateur champion, captain of Spanish national teams, an international referee, greenkeeper and founder of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation. Alfonso Erhardt has produced an authoritative, scholarly account of all aspects of Arana's life and career with, of course, a detailed analysis of each of Arana's courses. Alfonso has studied his subject in the greatest detail. He knows what he is talking about. The book stretches to 300 pages, packed with interesting fact and illustrated profusely, acknowledging the influences of Colt and Simpson on his design philosophy. Tom Doak has provided his customary insight in his preface. This is a book we should all have on our shelves.  

[Ran Morrissett]

I ordered mine from North Carolina via Pay Pal and received it from Spain a scant seven days later. Both the content and production quality are superb to the point where I have already read it cover to cover. Alfonso has his eighteen questions from me and is our March Feature Interviewee. The book is a must for any gca library, as Mark says.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Gentlemen,

What's the easiest way to order a copy of the book?

[Frank Pont]

It can be ordered via the website http://www.javierarana.com/

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Jeff,

Thank you for your interest in the book. The easiest way is through Amazon.co.uk. Packages can be shipped worldwide from there.

Thank you also to Ran and Mark for their compliments. Lots of effort into the book and hopefully will contribute to making Arana more known outside Spain (and I will have some more time to contribute here after a couple of years in obscurity).

Cheers

[Frank Pont]

I was lucky enough to spend time with Alfonso last year visiting several Arana courses. Two things were very clear to me after those visits:

- Arana was a very special architect, probably the best of the after war European architects, the other notable ones being Frank Pennink (UK/Holland) and Bernard von Limburger (Germany). I loved the routings he was able to get out of his sites, and also loved his green designs. He suffered from the same shortage of funds that the other post war archies had to deal with, this showing in the sometimes less sophisticated shaping around the greens. Similarly to von Limburger it is intriguing that they both drew rough edged bunkers in their plans, but most/all bunkers were built with neat edges. I visited the Spanish Open this year at El Saler, and it was great to see how much trouble the players had to score well on his firm crowned greens with lots of short grass around them. It is a pity that Arana built so little courses, and that some of them (like El Prat) have been lost.

- Not only does Alfonso know the ins and outs of Arana's history and work intimately, he also is one of the few non-architects I know who possesses an architects eye. I hope he will not stop with his Arana work after completing this book, but that he will keep stimulating the Arana clubs to return as much as possible to their roots and will play an active role in any works that will be done. I know that won't be easy for him, since he has a very busy "real" job, but given his passion for Arana and golf in Spain I have good hopes......  and if he does I hope I will be lucky enough to get the chance to do restoration work with him on an Arana course sometime in my career.

Overal, if you haven't seen an Arana course its worth your while to go to Spain and get a taste!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks Alfonso, I'm ordering a book today… can't wait to receive a copy!

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Frank,

Thank you for the compliments. I am blushing.....

We did have a good trip. We still have Neguri and Pedreña to visit, maybe next spring? Although most of Arana's courses have seen little in the way of tinkering, most could use an expert hand in regaining lost putting surfaces, bunker shapes and tree removal. One of the goals of the book is to encourage owners to think about it and hopefully start some type of restoration trend which unfortunately is completely absent from Spanish golf courses.

Jeff,

I hope to hear from you once you read the book. Looking forward for honest feedback!

[Niall C]

Frank

Re Arana's bunkers, are you sure they didn't get built the way he wanted but over time with maintenance etc became what they are now ?

Alfonso - well done on your achievement. I'm not aware of Arana's work but hopefully your book will give me an insight.

Niall

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Niall,

Thanks. About the bunkers, they did start with ragged edges following Simpson' s teachings (late 1940s), but  Arana's style evolved over time to cleaner edges (though not as clean as they are today). I'll submit a couple of photos later today

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Bump

[Alfonso Erhardt]

The photos show the differences in bunker styles over time:


The first is the 18th in Puigcerdá, north of Barcelona. This photo is from 1950, when Simpson had just left Spain. Simpson's style was still in vogue in Arana's designs. You can see the irregular shapes and ragged edges.



This is Club de Campo (Madrid) in 1961. You can see how the bunker style has evolved into more regular shapes and clean edges




Finally, El Saler during construction (1967). This is the 9th and the NLE par 3 course. Again, bunkers are large with regular forms and sand faces.



I guess then that in the case of Arana we could argue that it was not maintenance which changed the style, but he also evolved in his idea of how bunkers were shaped over time. I guess that, despite working in isolation, he more or less clung to the prevailing style for newbuilds in the 1960s.

[Scott Macpherson]

Based on the feedback of the GCA members, I too have purchased this book. It just arrived today and it looks to be a very comprehensive study of an interesting architect. It's too early for me to give any detailed feedback, but this is the type of book I really like – lots of plans, photos, tables and details. Thank you Alfonso for your handsome contribution to golfing literature!

Scott

[Frank Pont]

I got the book last week, and I can only say we need more books like it on archies such as Simpson, Fowler, Abercromby and yes, even Colt (Paul Turner are you reading? )

Great detail, analysis, revelations (I especially love the direct and outspoken letters Arana sent to some of his clients), super pictures and lots of drawings make it a treasure of a book. Amazing that Alfonso got all of this done with a very busy day job...

Overall, I cannot recommend it highly enough!!

[Tom_Doak]

Alfonso:

The evolution of Arana's bunker style is a fairly natural progression.  He was working in a warm-season climate where the grass around the bunkers grows aggressively -- the only way a ragged-edged style will last for long in such conditions is if it is constantly being tended to, which almost no club does.  So, he probably watched the bunker edges of his first few courses disappear over time, and gave up hoping that the maintenance staff would keep them up.

The ragged style is better adapted for northern climates where the grass doesn't grow so fast or for so many months of the year.

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Scott,

Glad you like the book and thank you for the compliments and the recommendation.

Tom,

What you say makes total sense. Puigcerda, with the ragged bunkers in the photo is located in the Pyrenees and they do have a colder climate than the other Arana courses

[Tony_Muldoon]

Alfonso are you selling the Book via each club? 

The Creating Classics Colt book appeared in the bar of many Colt courses.  If only that book had more to tell the memebrs who bought a copy.


Congratualtions on getting this out there.

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Tony,

Thanks. Yes, the Arana clubs are buying the book and offering it to their members (or visitors). Reception has been very good as everybody holds him in high esteem, although nobody really knew much about him (until now). I do hope the book helps in elevating the profile of his golf courses and "steering" them in the right direction in terms of preservation and maintenance.

[ward peyronnin]

Could it also be that the Masters broadcasts of that later era of Arana's work were international and promoted that style? I don't know if they were.