GCA.com's finest moment - Tom MacWood's Arts and Crafts Golf is posted

[Ran Morrissett]

Original, non-fiction writing generally has several key ingredients.

First, the author must have an intimate knowledge of the subject; otherwise, he won't be able to form an hypothesis(eses) that has yet to be tested.

Second, the author must have the ability to perform research and be able to gather fresh material on his subject matter.

Third, and this is a rare attribute, he must be able to interpret the data. Without bending the facts to fit any preconceived notions, the author must draw his own conclusions from the information that he has gathered.

Once he has done all that, he then has to arrange his findings in such a logical manner as to convince the reader of his theories.

This is precisely what Tom MacWood has done with his five part Arts and Crafts Golf.

For those who want to learn about golf course architecture as an art form, this is it. It is so well researched and presented that it may truly change your view of golf course architecture. At a minimum, it will give you a far greater understanding of how and why golf course architecture developed as it did.

Congratulations to Tom for this Herculean effort and just as it took him well over one hundred hours to compile it, it will take you a while to read, re-read and digest it  -this is fine, as it will be up as a cornerstone to the website for many, many years to come.

Tom has long been an admirer of Country Life and there is no higher compliment to give this 50 page typed document  than to say that Bernard Darwin, when he was the golf editor,  would have been delighted to publish it as an ongoing series for Country Life.

We are extremely honored to have this treatise posted on GolfClubAtlas.com and hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,

[Michael Moore]

Mr. MacWood -

Have you ever PLAYED The Chalk Pit???

In all seriousness, thanks for your novella. When I tell people that I participate on a golf architecture discussion board that often appeals to my bookish side, I get funny looks. This is a great piece of intellectual history.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom Macwood's article is beautifully written, astoundingly researched, evidentially persuasive,  comprehensively educational, and should be a must read for anyone interested in golf course architecture.  Thank you, Tom, for sharing your research in such fine fashion.

[Geoff_Shackelford]

Outstanding work, if the publishing world wasn't what it is, this would make an epic book. I've become fascinated of late with Southern California's link to this movement, the Greene brothers and we have tried to incorporate elements of local Arts and Crafts style into the design and theme of Rustic Canyon. I think many of you will see where we succeeded and where the theme took a beating (hint: they're 8 feet wide and made of concrete!).

Tom has beautifully explained how the principles of the entire Arts and Crafts movement are linked to the "Golden Age of Golf Design" (maybe we should call it the "Craftsman Era of Golf Design?). This is clearly the result of hours, months, years of research. Well done Tom.

[Ted_Sturges]

Thank you Tom for doing the months of work that it obviously took to produce this piece.  All who take the time to study this article will enhance their education of golf architecture (isn't this the true reason Ran and John started this site in the first place?).  I agree with Ran that having someone share a project of this magnitude with the participants of this site is one of the site's finest hours (this might also point up the fact that the Bridge argument/debacle is perhaps one of this site's darkest hours).  

My mother told me when I was about 5 years old that it is nearly impossible to "learn" when your mouth is engaged.  Here's hoping the "lost" souls on the Bridge thread disengage their collective mouths (read: keyboards), and take a moment to review  Tom's article in an attempt to enhance their education(s).

TS  

[RJ_Daley]

What a thouroughly enjoyable afternoon I have just spent reading Tom's treatise.  I intended to go out and enjoy one of the last remaining days of decent mild weather, but started the reading and could not stop or refrain from reading passages multiple times.  

Tom, you have taken the great ones thoughts around the central theme of design as a partner of nature's handiwork and coalesced their ideas in one concise work of great research and explanation.

I am left after this afternoon's reading with a sense of overwhelming admiration for your effort to bring clarity to foundational aspects of design in general and golf course design in particular.

[Tim_Weiman]

Tom MacWood:

Wow!  You're in a different league than most of us here.

Ran:

Thanks for including Tom's work at your site.  We get so into the discussion group that we often forget how good the rest of Golfclubatlas.com really is.  My hat is off to both you and Tom.

[Ken_Cotner]

TomMac,

Volume I down, four more to go!  Really great stuff so far.  Interesting how the Dark Ages featured hazards in the fairway (to a fault), and so many modern courses limit their bunkers to the outside of the hole (to a fault).  All things in moderation, I guess.

KC, committed to finish both Tom's piece and Harry Potter by Friday!

[Kevin_Reilly]

Tom, absolutely fantastic.  Something I can read over and over.  Many thanks.

[Ken_Cotner]

Just read Volume II...wow.

"A man who remains any length of time in a modern Gothic room, and escapes without being wounded by some minutiae, may consider himself extremely fortunate"

How great is that?  AWN Pugin goes into my "dream dinner foursome".  Oh, to have the gift of language...

KC, also loving the tie-in to the Pre-Raphaelites, and wondering who knows what modern musician used the term "pre-Raphaelite curls" in a rock song recently.  Pretty obscure; a free CD to whoever guesses it.  Dan King, you out there?

[THuckaby2]

KC:  Richard Thompson:  "Sights and Sounds of a London Town" - from the album Mock Tudor.

TH

ps - Tom MacWood's treatise gets a huge WOW from me.  It's miles and miles over my head, but I am enjoying the read in any case.

[John Bernhardt]

Tom, Your thought provoking and wonderfully written treatise will give me many additional hours of enjoyable reading. Your work will be enjoyed and enlightening to many. thank you and thank you to Ran for posting this fine work.

[T_MacWood]

Thanks for all the very kind words. I must also thank Tommy N, Paul Turner and Russell Talley for helping me with some photos. When I told Ran when I was planning to write this, one thing I knew for sure is that this one would be shorter, unfortunately it didn't work out that way. I have to thank Ran for even considering the presentation of this monstrosity and his work in setting it up and placing all the photos is a major reason it turned out so well.

And no unfortunately I've never played over the 'Chalk Pit'.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

I too have never played Royal Eastbourne's "Chalk Pit" and can only say that when I get over to England, it will be a must see for me.

The picture is just another great one from Horace Hutchinson's "British Golf Links" which is what I would call one of the great golf books of the 19th century!

Why it looks if both Jeff Bradley and Jim Wagner had been building bunkers during that golden era of British Golf.

Tom, Just absolutely great stuff.

[Michael Moore]

Mr. MacWood -

Of course I was joking, contrasting your elegant essay to some other things that can be found on this site.

I just wanted to reiterate how excited I was to read this (I have already done so twice). European intellectual history is a fascinating subject, but it can be dry, and you have done a masterful job of bringing this movement alive.

Thanks,

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom,

One of the fascinating aspects of your work is the spotlight that you put squarely on Horace Hutchinson. No one, from Whitten's The Golf Course on down, has ever done the same. What were the tip-offs that got you to pursue the Hutchinson angle?

Also, James Braid doesn't get much of a play; do you think his skills as an architect have been overblown? While staking out a course like Brora might have been a two day hit-and-run job, surely he devoted some genuine time and effort - and talent - into the King's Course at Gleneagles?

Cheers,

[Ken_Cotner]

Huckaby,

Well, I never... Email me at kcotner@sterling-capital.com and let me know which RT disc you want.  Oh, and I expect full disclosure if you had to do a Google search to find that lyric!

KC, looking forward to reading Volume III

[THuckaby2]

Ken:

Busted.  I was gonna regale you with my musical knowledge, but I just can't do it.

Google yielded a review of this album.

I am ashamed!

TH

[Ken_Cotner]

TH,

No shame at all!  You exhibited admirable resourcefulness.  Kudos!  Email me the request.

Volume III, here I come...

Ken

[T_MacWood]

Ran
I never thought much about Hutchinson. He was not known as a prominant golf architect, his name popped up from time to time, but only as a secondary figure, perhaps as a writer or amateur champion. Colt, Macdonald and MacKenzie all mentioned him, but I always thought it was done more out of respect for him as an old golfing figure and nothing else. Hunter wrote that Hutchinson's book on golf courses and greenkeeping was largely outdated by 1926, and C & W has a short quote where HH states that golf design was 'a wonderfully easy business'. He was not a man that I had any desire to research.

When I discovered what I thought were distinct similarity between what the A&C leaders were writing and what the golf architects of the day were writing, I decided to look at 'Country Life' for evidence of a possible direct connection. CL was a well-known source of A&C architecture and I knew Darwin had written for the magazine for years. That is when, much to my surprise, I discovered HH and one thing seemed to lead to another.

There was a general lack of respect among the 'Amateurs' for the professionals. They were looked upon as poorly educated and not their social or intellectual equals -- the exception being Willie Park, although Tom Simpson was not a fan of his either. Hutchinson allowed Braid to write a three part article on his theories of golf design, but then follows it with short article disputing some of his strict ideas. MacKenzie and Darwin both believed CK Hutchison deserved a great deal of credit for Gleneagles. And Braid, a homebody, was famous for very inexpensive 'consultations' usually in a day or two. He was a very good artist, and I wonder if the wonderful maps he produced, which look great hanging in the clubhouse, has led to him getting more credit than perhaps he deserves. Darwin wrote his biography, and devoted a very short chapter to his career as a golf architect, it doesn't leave you with a very positive impression, "I would not say that he was very imaginative or subtle in the designing of a hole--and it is possible to be too subtle for ordinary human nature--but he had what the golf architect needs, a good eye for country and, as in everything that he touched, a temperate judgement and a fund of plain common sense."

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom,

What is your sense as to what Colt did at Rye in 1894 and how much of that effort is still present at Rye today? 1984 pre-dates Park and Fowler and yet I have always thought of Colt as following behind in the wake of Sunningdale Old and Walton Heath Old.

Also, any chance of finding that anonymous letter that critized Fowler's re-design at Westward Ho!? Or Fowler's response? That would make for some fascinating reading.

Cheers,

[Will E]

Tom
This is a great effort, I thank you for such a wonderful contribution. It should be required reading for all of us, and all of the people that we discuss. HH is my new hero, you are too.

[jglenn]

Tom,

Absolutely fantastic essay!  Have you considered submitting it as part of a thesis for a Ph.D. in Landscape Architecture?  (only half-joking, here...   )

Anyway, I apologize for admiting that I'm only halfway through part III, but as I continue reading, I've got two questions that have popped into mind that I'm hoping you could answer.

1)  How important would you estimate the romantic or picturesque movement to be in the development of golf course architecture?  Isn't the "graceful curve" look of many golf courses, old and new, largely influenced by the gardens of "Capability" Brown or William Kent?

2)  With earlier "geometric" golf courses being influenced by the structured Victorian aesthetics, is it fair to to judge these golf courses based on today's values rather than in the context of the prevalent aesthetics of their time?  In other words, are those course really crude failures, or are they instead the result of another equaly valid style of landscape architecture?

[T_MacWood]

Ran
I get the impression that Colt and Douglas Rolland layed out a crude but very interesting links course. And that Colt as the club secretary layed the foundation of his later career, picking up greenkeeping expertise and studying and constantly improving the course over a period of time. I know the course has been altered over the years by Simpson, Guy Campbell and others, and I don't recall off the top of my head which holes remain from Colt, but I think it is siginificant portion.

I have the article that Fowler wrote in response, but I haven't yet looked for the anonymous letter in The Times, but when I track it down I'll post both.

Shooter
Thanks, if this essay succeeds in anything I hope in succeeds in bringing HH name to the forefront.

Jeremy
I'm sure it had to have some effect, but just I'm not sure how much. The three most influencial minds of the A&C came from different disciplines, Pugin was an architect, Ruskin was an art critic, and Morris was more multi-disciplined. But it had to have some an effect, even if it was subconsious, and that is one of the reasons I mentioned the previous century.

[T_MacWood]

Jeremy
I do think you can judge those early courses, those who came after sure did. They knew what a naturally evolved links was like and they compared them to the Victorian efforts. Just like we compare an early film to an earlier film. There are some early films that are respected as outstanding examples of the art and there are some very early films that are historically interesting but not very good.

[Tags:]

Tags: