Tom Paul,
I think its best to understand, and this is what I hope David Gookin and other green committee guys find out what Bill Greenwood has found out; that courses do evolve over a period of time, and this is much of Forrest's point about evolution of change, but it doesn't mean that you go out and change the architecture of the golf course.
Tastes change because members go out and see things at other courses that they want for their courses, and this is primarliy what is wrong right now at Rancho Santa Fe because they are trying to make their wonderful course compete with three other brand new near-by courses that can be compared to a shiney new car. They are going to want the curbed concrete cart paths and the bridges with running water presentations that take place in the middle of all of that "Permanent Architecture" and this creates further problems in the architecture because of all of the modern immenities that have been implemented.
Its all like the computer game "Sim City" where you actually are given a site and are given the chance to build and expand and develop over a period of years--in minutes--all the while, episodes that are the result of your decisions to build-expand-develop take place. All sorts of disasters can happen from expansions from traffic delays, nuclear power plant explosions, fires, earthquakes and the like. Its quite hilarious, but its also quite interesting to see how evolution works.
Here is the website with a smaller version so you can play the game on-line:
http://simcity.ea.com/But back to RSF!
Rancho Santa Fe has suffered from the same mistakes many Golden Age classics have here in California and across the country. It barely made it through a depression and World War, and when it did, it was welcomed into a world where the original design which was neglected, was taken into a different direction architecturally. Trees were introduced and what many percieved as the unsightly nature of nature was taken for ugly, and this is where it was most unfortunate because the people in charge of making the decisions--several different people--too many people--just don't understand the parameters of what it was to grasp that nature and utilize it to its fullest. Why, its like designing a house in Rancho Santa Fe that may have Italian influences involved in its architecure--surely out of place in Spanish California and a community thats takes pride to its old "Rancho" days.
(Geoff, NOW I can see why the Bridges clubhouse doesn't work! ! ! ! )
Simply put, RSFCC has been on a path for a great many years that has taken it away from its roots. Imagine taking a Califronia Ranch-style ranch house, and over the years influencing it with Italian-like add ons, or landscaping it with a Japanese garden-like flair. This is the same at RSFCC, only its receiving its influences from other country clubs throughout the country and this is where they have lost it. BUT Rancho Santa Fe still has many of the features that are still shining through all of that melange of styles that have influenced it over the years, and it is recoverable, IF the right minds are willing to take the step to get it back.