I learnt that there sure is a lot to learn

Sean,

That would be John Kirk's unified theory.

I've learned lots of stuff on this site but what's stuck with me is the profile of St. Andrews in Courses by Country.  All that room to the left everywhere on the course but the right is often a better place to be.  The birth of the concept of angles.  And it probably happened by accident.  Like the dimensions of a baseball field, which are almost perfect and also didn't involve any architectural mastermind.    

The architecture quiz by Mr. MacWood  with 10 photos that turned out to all be Donald Ross courses - that proves research is more important than anything else in understanding the dead architects.

The Garden City 16th pond debate would be 2nd, but I'm sure the thread was confusing or dull for most - it was really a thread about decision making and the shades of grey in restoration.

Reverse Jans.

Fun is the cornerstone of golf.

It's too hard to remember a specific topic.

I think the most valuable posts are the ones where our contributing historians present archival material that shows how golf architecture evolved.  These guys are the life blood of the website.

Last week I wrote a post about whether to use rough to defend the course, a different way to approach the increasing distance debate.  I really liked the post, and thought it would start a reasonable discussion.  I got one reply, a mercy offering from my best friend here.  It's hard to tell which topics will get attention.

Here's another vote for John Kirk's Theory of Time.

I had a Russian history professor who always urged us to "be brief and be brilliant" in our writing.

John did that with his theory; it's a concise and wonderful method for identifying and explaining great GCA.

Tom,

I cannot nailed down one topic.  Overall, I have learned and benefited from the knowledge that there are others like me out there.  It has given me encouragement and fortitude to pursue golf ownership and traditional maintenance practices.  It has made things worse in that I am even more dissatisfied with my employer which totes "American" golf standards without knowing how that is destroying the golf industry.  What will be will be.

I feel it is our job to spread the word about what we stand for.  IMHO, it starts with the PGA Tour, then the PGA club professional, then the public golfer.  Last is the superintendent/head greenkeeper, since most would prefer to maintain golf courses in the traditional since.

This discussion board is the greatest asset that can grow the game of golf and keep it alive.

Troy

I'd have to go with a tie between John Kirk's unified theory thread and Shivas' Reverse Jans thread.

The former because it explains quite simply why TOC is so great and the overwatered TPC courses the PGA plays on today are so crap, plus so much else we spend pages arguing the minutiae of.  It really is the e=mc^2 of GCA!

The latter because it gets to the origins of the game where you play the landscape as you find it -- for better or worse, without the architect's preconceptions about how you should play it getting in the way!

I’ve book marked a number of threads on here and I find they are mostly ones that give hard information. A few

Heathland – lots of courses to play.  This is clearly a case where this forum has allowed me to share the experiences of people who have done the travelling to learn about the wonderful courses that are close to home.  I was most surprised to read on a thread that Ran thought it was England that offered the greatest range of golf (I hope I'm not misquoting him).
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=20383

How to book the old course
http://www.popeofslope.com/scotland/AScalpingAtStAndrews.html

usga archives – wouldn’t have known about these otherwise
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=22158;start=25#lastPost


History of more ‘obscure’ Hutchinson Campbell Hotchkin
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=20338;start=0

And the very latest, photo site frank Pont
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=23373


and yes another vote for the ‘time & motion’ theory where part of golf’s charm is explained as when a ball takes the most time to travel the least distance, you have something very special.

Finally it has helped continued my golf education with the result that I have changed from playing a 6900 boring track to joining a club with a 'fun & challenging' course of less than 6000 yards.


Oh and yes

I learnt that there sure is a lot to learn

I'll nominate Jeff Fortson's awesome visual and verbal description of #10 at Riviera:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16619;start=0

For a relative GCA novice, it was great to both read and see the strategic options on this hole.

This should be a template thread - there should be a thread like this on every one of the great holes discussed on this DB.  It would be particularly helpful and educational for those (like me) that haven't had the opportunity to see these hole in person (much less play them).

Andy

For me, I found MacWoods 10 bunker photo exercise to be the best work on this site.

Posting Ass Pictures for free was also a valuable learning experience, even though it had nothing to do with golf architecture.