Confidential Guide in the WSJ

[Kevin Pallier]

As others have said, I for one would like to see at a reprint of the original version of The GCG (an update would be an added bonus) - as simply I would like to expand my knowledge of golf course architecture from a respected and revered writer.

I have enjoyed reading "Golf Architecture" by Dr A Mackenzie and "The Golf Courses of the British Isles" by B Darwin in recent years which thankfully are still in print and readily obtainable. But finding a copy of The GCG at a reasonable price (I see it on EBAY at over $1,000US) !! is almost impossible. Tom - I think you underestimate how revered your book is !!

There is certainly no need for Tom to include his own courses (how does one objectively critique their own work ?) and the general public can form their own views of them just as they do on various threads here.

I think it's amazing that Tom as a budding architect at the time chose to write a book on his opinions on the worlds golf courses which included many of his peers works then pursued a career in that very field.

How many people or authors have succesfully done that ??

That's the equivalent of an up and coming artist criticizing the works of Monet and Michelangelo and then trying to pursue a successful career in painting......

[Tony_Muldoon]

.

I think it's amazing that Tom as a budding architect at the time chose to write a book on his opinions on the worlds golf courses which included many of his peers works then pursued a career in that very field.

How many people or authors have succesfully done that ??

That's the equivalent of an up and coming artist criticizing the works of Monet and Michelangelo and then trying to pursue a successful career in painting......

Kevin it's not that unknown for a Young Turk to have a go at the established figures of his time or to work as a journalist/critic before becoming a creator themselves.

A few examples.  

For a good laugh find what the young Arrigo Boito had to say about Italian Opera and by direct implication, Verdi the leading composer of the time. Something like "the noxious stains that besmirch the walls upon which great Italian art is built."  Nothing I've seen in the Confidential Guide is anything like as strong.  The irony here is that Boito produced a couple of his own Opera's, the best of which is a Doak 4 equivalent, but as he entered Middle age he saw the error of his ways and through a friend persuaded the aging Verdi to write the music to two Shakespeare adaptations he did. The result was two more masterpieces and one, Otello, may well be the most perfect 10 in all Opera.  (any resemblance to Tom and a recent project? )


Practically the whole of the Impressionist Art movement was meant to be a reaction to what was being done at that time by the establishment.

In cinema many critics have made films
Peter Bogadanvich and Cameron Crowe in the US. And practically all the French Nouvelle Vague directors had written for the Cahier du Cinema Goddard, Truffaut, Chabrol etc.

In my youth I used to read the New Musical Express and for a while two of their reporters were Chrissie Hind and Bob Geldof.

[Kevin Pallier]

Tony

I am certainly not as well versed as you in the world of "Arts and Entertainment" as some of your examples are misnomers to me but appreciate your points.

But when one challenges the very "establishment" in a sense as Tom's book seems to have done - you certainly open yourself up for criticism. However, I don't hear much criticism ten or so years on from when the book was published of the consistency of it's contents (other than those who feel that their courses were unjustly viewed) ? nor are Doaks' courses widely panned -why ? because of the respect that people seem to hold for the quality of the products.