Mr. Lipe, I'm sorry if I kept you waiting on a respectful response ( I was out squeezing the last drops of golf out of the soon to be frozen tundra).
I did shoot from the hip before- or in lieu of- trying to use the darn inadequate "search" function of GCA.com, to get exact quotes and attributions to the previous discussions that took place about DR, pre-construction, during, and during grow-ins. As a matter of fact, back then, I asked one of the moderators who JWL was, as I didn't know. I have at this moment a search going to find some of the stuff written under DR thread titles. But, I can not find that you said anything about the construction at all (as I eroneously reported above) and when you say you didn't even work the site, well that is good enough for me, my apologies, sir.
Just for the record, I did find this thread, where I vigorously defended the "rumormongering" that had been placed on GCA.com about the over the top degree of difficulty of DR, and I said how it was unfair to say those things as a third party told by someone who posted the information as hearsay, prior to the course even opening.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=24316;start=0As I defended DR from the stink of the rumor at that time which was at or prior to official opening, I just want to be clear that I tried to be fair minded about the whole issue then.
As it now appears, there is mounting evidence that only one year out of the box, DR does have enough design problems to require significant rework, which could indicate a certain amount of lack of care and research into completing a sand hills design by the JN team. It ties in with the thread of who you read, respect, study, to learn about the craft. And, that being a player, even the best, and having seen most of the great courses, still isn't enough if you are a craftsman and serious about your work. I believe you need to study the craft from the cradle and ground up and pay proper respect, or it will show in the quality, IMO.
As unfair as it was to drag JWL into the matter mistakenly on the minor point of who was overseeing the project, my greater point is that it would appear a great degree of arrogance was in play when JN&co did not seem too interested to review issues and conditions at SHGC by paying a visit and talking to folks involved out there. What could it have hurt? And I am now coming to an understanding of what DR. Klein referred to - that a routing which only took 2 days - is one more piece of evidence that JN&co mailed it in.
In my humble opinion, if JN&co received 2 million dollars for a signature design fee above actual cost to build, it makes me a bit sick to think there are proven experienced sand hill design/builders that could have done the whole damn course, design and build, for that and would have studied SHGC, talked to everyone they could about issues encountered, and respect the craft, not just themselves.