I think that raises an interingiest question: did Flynn take more care in the routing to make the hole appear "more natural" or more time shaping after the hole was installed?Bill, while I hesitate to generalize since Flynn was not dogmatic or as compartmentalized as some (read Raynor and Banks
). It will come as no surprise to you and most that I consider Flynn one of the most brilliant routers of all time. I know a host of other industry insiders that agree. Pat Mucci might think that green to tee crossovers is a design flaw, I do not when the technique results in excellence such as at Lehigh and Merion. I think it is safe to say that Flynn utilized as much of the natural features as possible but where he elected to create man-made features, he made the architecture look natural and not of his making. This takes more fill and less ego. It takes careful study to consider what was natural and what was Flynn and so much of his efforts go unnoticed. He didn't care, he wanted to make the golf course appeal to our eye and, as he was an excellent player, and one of the longest hitters in golf, he had the understanding of a talented player to create championship designs but also a regard for all classes of players so his courses tended to be built with a means of accomodating all players. As one of the outstanding green keepers in early American golf, he also had the good sense to design with future maintenance costs in mind. He clearly believed that natural features would not only appeal to our aesthetic sensibilities better but also stand the test of time better than overtly man-made features.
Don't Flynn's own words in his letter dispel the notion that he was a "naturalist"? And that he was as much of a "constructionist" if not more so than other architects ?I completely disagree with Pat's characterization of Flynn as a constructionist. That label applies much more so to Raynor and Banks, neither of whom knew much about golf or green keeping.
Flynn is a naturalist in my opinion because he used nature as much as possible, but his goal was to create the most interesting golf, and championship golf when allowed. To do this he would often add architectural features but took great care and sometimes expense to make them look natural. Naturalism in golf is not simply using what nature provided, that to me is minimalism. Naturalism includes using what nature provided and disguising man-made features (architecture) as looking natural. Coore and Crenshaw were minimalists at Sand Hills. But they, Doak, and other modern architects tend to be naturalists in many of their efforts.
Flynn called himself the nature faker. He brought more material in for good reason even if Pat would somehow spin it to having a constructed look. For the most part, it did not. This makes determining his green space by eye more difficult (except his scale drawings make it simple) as his greens tend to tie into the surrounds in natural ways (in general as do his bunkers) while other architects such as Macdonald, Raynor, Banks and early Ross leave no doubt where the green ended and natural grade began.
While this may mute abrubt lines and fool many golfers/observers, it would appear that this process could only succeed where funds were plentiful.That would seem so, but I think not Pat. In the short term, building golf courses efficiently and with less fill to tie them in would be less expensive. Flynn believed that spending more in the beginning would allow you to spend less over time in terms of maintenance cost that will be far more costly in the long run than initial construction expenditures. So Flynn's approach would not only look better but be better for the club over time. In many regards, like building in elasticity and recognizing the future effects of technology and better athletes on the length of courses, his long term approach enables his courses to stand the test of time better. This is true in terms of maintenance cost and challenge. His courses are less changed than most and his courses remain championship courses longer than most with the preplanned lengthening that is allowed. Macdonald, Raynor and Banks either were not hired to provide these sorts of courses or they did not foresee the changes that would come.