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Ran Morrissett

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Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« on: August 01, 2005, 10:14:13 PM »
...under the Feature Interview section and under the 1880s in Architecture Timeline.

Herbert Warren Wind wrote 'North to the Links at Dornoch' in 1964. Largely due to it and all its subsequent re-runs, Dornoch was viewed for the next several decades as the most remote of the world class courses. To this day, the expression 'North to Dornoch' remains a magical one and resonates with any true golfer.

Though there are plenty of compilation books on golf in Scotland, most such books (like golfers of today ;)) dash from one course to the next without ever getting to know any course particularly well. For instance, name a book that begins to do the eighteen holes at Dornoch justice? While A Season in Dornoch by Lorne Rubenstein certainly captured the charm of the town of Dornoch and its people, it was never intended to be an hole by hole study of the course nor did it contain any photos.

Along now comes a new book entitled Experience Royal Dornoch with the help from a long time friend of this web site, Rich Goodale.  The back jacket reads:

'This book is like no other. It contains unique images of all 18 holes of the course together with stunning photographs by acclaimed golf course photographers. Written by people who are knowledgeable and passionate about the course, this book will make a wonderful memento of your time at Royal Dornoch.'

That is the PERFECT summary and I'll go so far to say Experience Royal Dornoch contains the neatest photography of any golf book I've ever seen. I showed it to the Emperor last week in Irvine and he too was blown away by the various graphic/photographic techniques that were employed.  Somehow or another, the illustrations capture the humpy bumpy topo of the property, something that is generally very hard to do. The aerial found on pages 40-41 does a first job of highlighting the course's one of a kind setting/loop routing and then for the remaining ~ 60 pages, the authors and photographers take you on nothing short of a stunning hole by hole guide.

I for one have never understood the short, drivable 15th hole but have gained an entirely new appreciation of the hole thanks to this book. Also, even though I (like Herbert Warren Wind!) never liked the 16th, that too is changing with the help of this book. It is such a one-off mongrel hole, the exact sort that is missing on relentlessly perfect courses like The Sand Hills and Pine Valley. Perhaps Tom Doak will have the courage to build such an unloved hole at his new course in Colorado but I doubt it - most owners and members simply wouldn't stand for it. In fact, I admire the guardians at Dornoch for NOT altering the 16th, though many people have grumbled about it for decades.

Anyway, not to digress...Dornoch as a course is a beauty, as we all know. To think that a book could ever begin to do the course proud is hard to imagine but that is exactly what Rich & co. at OptimizeGolf have done with their first publishing effort.

When other Scottish clubs see this edition, we can all only hope that they contact OptimizeGolf about doing one for their course too - a series of twenty or thirty of these books/guides to the great Scottish links would be a most handsome addition for any golfer's library.

Cheers,

Tommy_Naccarato

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2005, 10:28:31 PM »
The images in the book are haunting. A masterful job has been done with the oblique aerials, layered in colors and then opaqued in Photoshop. I felt it was some really refreshing work to see.

Rich's commentary on Dornoch is passionate and full of insight and I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to add a unique book to their collection.

Bob_Huntley

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2005, 11:49:40 PM »
Gosh,I started a thread on this subject and I think I got all of six or seven responses. This is the Book of the year.

Bob


Tiger_Bernhardt

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2005, 12:01:58 AM »
Rich, I am looking forward to its arrival with the excitement usually reserved for the beginning of the Tigers season or a date with an incredibly hot girl who does not have no in her vocabulary. This is a great interview as well.

Brian Phillips

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2005, 12:37:10 AM »
Rich,

Congrats with the book.  It is as Bob states the Book of the Year so far!!

Brian
Bunkers, if they be good bunkers, and bunkers of strong character, refuse to be disregarded, and insist on asserting themselves; they do not mind being avoided, but they decline to be ignored - John Low Concerning Golf

T_MacWood

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2005, 06:13:25 AM »
Rich
It sounds like this book maybe a breakthrough in imaging technology...any thoughts of distributing it in the US? Good luck with the book.

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2005, 07:23:19 AM »
Thanks for the good wishes, Tom.

For the time being we are working at establishing UK distribution as well as getting other courses to be a part of the "Experience" portfolio.  Two well known venues signed up last week, and more are close to making the same decision.

As for US distribution, that is probably not likely to happen until next year, but this may move forward if demand so indicates.

As for the technology, it is stunning and with tremendous potential, as well as vast room for improvement.  The MD tells me that the next book will make the Dornoch book look like a Model T.  I've seen some of the stuff they can do and agree, and am meeting with him tomorrow to help move the project forward.

Cheers

Rich

Paul_Turner

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2005, 08:08:37 AM »
Excellent, Rich!

I hope the series is a real success and lots of courses are covered.  One for Painswick perhaps ;)

 
can't get to heaven with a three chord song

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2005, 08:15:07 AM »
Excellent, Rich!

I hope the series is a real success and lots of courses are covered.  One for Painswick perhaps ;)

 

Hmmmmmmm........

"Experience: Painswick"??????

Not sure if this would be appropriate for a family-oriented site....... :)

Philip Gawith

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2005, 09:40:23 AM »
Nice interview Rich! I have commended it to the others in my group who make the annual pilgrimage, but I am afraid that I am not 100% confident that a further 7 sales will follow.  :)

It was nice to have a copy of the book at hand to be able to scurry to the relevant hole when you were describing various features, especially the various central hazards which lend the course much of its character.

I have played about 30 rounds at Dornoch - even so, I did not have immediate recall of all the features you were referring to. At least in part I think that is due to everybody playing a slightly different course. Put differently, the way I h it the ball, the feature you refer to on, say, the 3rd, does not really affect how I play the hole.

That said, I completely take your general point that much of the character and challenge of the course is shaped by some of these particular features of the land.

The observations/descriptions that particularly spring to mind: I completely agree with you about the 2nd and the 6th as wonderful holes; the 15th is so much harder than it looks because of the shape of the green; and you have done a wonderful job of describing the shelf mid-way along the 16th which makes it such a challenge.

As I said to you at Littlestone, I am not sure you don't underplay the difficulty of the 11th. Certainly in our group of players, you are more likely to get a par on 18 than on 11. Indeed, I think we have probably had more pars on Foxy than on 11.  But we can agree that they are all pretty hard, no matter the precise ranking. ;)

There is a huge amount to appreciate about the course and you have done a fabulous job of shedding light on it. ;D

Keen to see where the next projects take you...!

THuckaby2

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2005, 10:12:57 AM »
Great stuff!  Anyone who can quote Pascal in the context of a golf discussion is one worth having a beer or ten with, as Rich most definitely is.  Of course if this is going to blossom into a series, then we all know it's incomplete until Experience Santa Teresa is added.

 ;D ;D

I'd comment on the Dornoch book, but I gather Rich has a standard for answering emails that peons like me fall below.

I guess I'll try again.  Funny how the little people are so soon forgotten, though.

 :'(


ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2005, 10:18:51 AM »
Huck

I replied to your "Mehee for Yahoo" e-mail, but it got bounced back.  Little people like me don't get no respect from corporate faceless behemoths like your new employer.... :'(

Philip

11 is a bear, but I seem to be playing it well these days--touch wood!  Of course, 10 years ago it was:  stand on the tee, hope I don't slice it into the whins, oops I've duck-hooked it onto the beach.  I feel your pain......

George Pazin

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2005, 11:40:32 AM »
Great interview, I'll be sending Rich an email shortly. Hopefully our adversarial relationship on here won't prevent him from making a sale. :)

Like a golfer always remembers his great shots, I will always remember my ironic observation about Rich's piece on Dornoch and how it provided a paradoxical contrast to his belief that no golf course is natural. Yet he still clings doggedly to his beliefs. Some people never learn. :)

How do we go about pressuring OptimizeGolf to do more of these books? I can think of more than a few that I'd like to see books like this feature.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Tiger_Bernhardt

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2005, 11:53:53 AM »
I got my copy today and it is all Bob said and more. Richard has found his place in the great universe of life. What are the odds of meeting a lady in Dornoch much less ending up writing a great book about the course who gave the city its fame in the great golf world? The city has blessed this man's life.

Lou_Duran

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2005, 12:09:39 PM »
What a great course book and interview!  No longer may he be addressed as Rihc.  Congratulations Mr. Richard Goodale.  Well done!

Having played 3 or 4 times with the man, I can attest that he knows very well which end of the club to hold.  He shot one of the easiests 74s at a world-class course with very average putting.

With his strong educational background and abilities on the course, it is no wonder that he was a key member of the talented team responsible for this wonderful book.  Like others noted, I hope that this is the first of many more to come.    

Mike_Cirba

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2005, 12:16:23 PM »
Can Knighthood be far behind?  ;D

Nice job, Rihc.  I'll get you something for a copy shortly.

Of course, your next book should be an instructional one about the intracacies and subtleties of using "the claw" putting method.  ;)
« Last Edit: August 02, 2005, 12:18:00 PM by Mike Cirba »

RJ_Daley

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #16 on: August 02, 2005, 12:45:40 PM »
What a wonderful format for a book, with the interactive course drawings, etc.  Sort of a Where's Waldo at Dornoch...

Rich, I've sent e-mail attempting to work out the logistics of obtaining a copy.  

How many of these do I need to send?



No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #17 on: August 02, 2005, 03:02:22 PM »
Dick

Just one, if it is an 897 Albert the Great half-guinea with two 1/2 twists.  If those are Euros, about 45 would do.

PS--didn't get any e-mail from you.

Mike C

The  "Claw" book will make my fortune.  Used it last week in France under trying circumstances (took a 1/2 set, but the 1/2 I left behind included my putter....) and it proved faultless when combined with a bladed sand wedge.

George P

You can "pressurisze" OptimizeGolf by buying more books!  You should know as I'm still flogging the T-shirts you sold me in 2003!



Patrick_Mucci

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #18 on: August 02, 2005, 08:48:51 PM »
Rich Goodale,

Forget all of these sycophant accolades, tell us the important part, how can we get a copy of the book ?

 ;D

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #19 on: August 02, 2005, 08:56:53 PM »
Pat

A I say at the end of the interview, either drop into Dornoch or send me an e-mail.   Distribution should be a bit wider in the future..... ;)

Tony_Muldoon

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2005, 04:23:04 AM »
Thank you for sending a copy to my Brother who loves it and is keen to know what other courses are proposed.

As well as reminding him of happy times it also revealed to him how bad one of his shots there had been. With his tee shot he managed to hit the house to the left of the 1st(?) and I asked if it was worse than Baker Finch's famous shot at St Andrews?  "Oh worse, much worse". ;D
Let's make GCA grate again!

Dan Kelly

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Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2005, 04:54:43 PM »
I’ve had my copy of “Experience Royal Dornoch” for a month now -- and have just finished it.

What’s the rush, eh? As I’m sure Rich would tell you (if not necessarily demonstrate), one does not chug a fine wine.

I know nothing about fine wines -- but I know a little something about fine books, and make no mistake: This is a fine book. If you have been to Dornoch, or intend to go there someday, you will be happy to have it in your library.

The graphic display of the individual holes -- collages blending four-color and black-and-white ground-level pictures with aerial photography, pencil drawings (?), partially and completely hand-tinted B&W pictures, and watercolors (or are those hand-tinted photos?) -- is, as I said privately to Rich (he quoted me, too!), almost psychedelic. I’m still not sure quite what I’m looking at! Not that I know anything about psychedelia, either, of course -- or about Cubism, for that matter, which the picture/collages sometimes suggest, to my unschooled eye. It’s quite unlike anything I’ve seen in a golf book.

I’m sure that, if there’s to be a series of these “Experience” books, the temptation will be to slavishly follow the “Experience Royal Dornoch” template. I hope that that temptation will be resisted, lest the series become formulaic.

(One small criticism: Some of the touch-up work is a little heavy-handed -- outlines of bunkers, flags and such.)

The writing is simple (high praise!), clear-eyed, occasionally (and intentionally!) humorous (e.g., the banks of the No. 2 green having once been “shaved as close as Kojak’s head”), and evocative -- even for me, who has never been to Dornoch, except in longing. I imagine, as I must, how much more evocative both the writing and the pictures are for those who’ve been privileged to play Royal Dornoch.

Some of the Rich-supplied (and occasionally Rich-starring) anecdotes are memorably good. Two examples

-- “The back tee [at No. 1] can be very intimidating, particularly in open competition. The local chemist once whiffed his drive but then struck the ball as he was trying to bring the club back to position. It rolled backwards down to the edge of the tennis court, where he hacked at it, finally passing the first tee with his 7th stroke. Later on, he fell into the quarry on the 16th and broke his arm, but still played on to post a score.”

-- At No. 4: “25 years ago there was a bunker 100 yards ahead of the tee. In his first medal round a new American member [Dan interjects: Any guesses who?] managed to thin his drive into that bunker. 12 shots later he completed the hole and with an 11 on the 7th managed to get out in 63. As he professed to be an 8 handicap player, his playing partner must have wondered about American handicaps. Thankfully for our American friend that bunker was filled in some 15-20 years ago.”

I have only one major criticism, and it’s a serious one that I hope will the publisher will hear:

Our friend Mr. Goodale should be credited on the cover (along with any authorial co-conspirators) as the author(s) of the book. It should be clear that HE’S the writer -- not just some guy who gets some credit on the Acknowledgments page. I found it odd and uncomfortable to be reading a book officially credited to “OptimizeGolf” (says so right on the Title Page: “Experience Royal Dornoch … by OptimizeGolf”), when it was very clearly written not by an organization, but by a human being. (At least one unattributed sentence begins with “I.”)

But that aside: Highly recommended.

"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2005, 06:06:29 AM »

I’m sure that, if there’s to be a series of these “Experience” books, the temptation will be to slavishly follow the “Experience Royal Dornoch” template. I hope that that temptation will be resisted, lest the series become formulaic.


Thanks, Dan

Not sure about a complete series, but #2 ("Experience The Old Course--St. Andrews Links" is now underway, and should be available in October/November) and all of the UK/Ireland courses in the top 25 of Golf Magazine's world rankings are either signed up or actively interested (plus a number in the 26-100 category).  Preliminary contacts are being made with people in the Colonies.

As the Old Course is different from Dornoch, the book will have its own individuality, but the look and feel will be similar.

Watch this space....

Rich
« Last Edit: August 04, 2005, 06:14:02 AM by Rich Goodale »

THuckaby2

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2005, 10:30:06 AM »

 Preliminary contacts are being made with people in the Colonies.

Darn right - the folks at Santa Teresa told me they were being pestered by some "weird expatriate who says he used to live here" in their words.  I told them to take him seriously, as wacky as he sounds.

 ;D
« Last Edit: August 04, 2005, 10:30:49 AM by Tom Huckaby »

ForkaB

Re:Feature Interview with Rich Goodale is posted
« Reply #24 on: August 04, 2005, 10:40:42 AM »
Huck

The Jewel in the Crown will be Rancho del Pueblo........

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