Female designers

[Mark_Rowlinson]

How much influence did Marion Hollins have at Cypress Point?

Did Annika Sorenstam have any input into the course which bears her name at Mission Hills?

Is there any reason why, in these less repressive times, a female should not be as good as the finest men designers? Or is there some reason why it might be similar to the attempts of Sorenstam and Wie to make it on the men's professional tour?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Mark,

I understand Marion Hollins had a great influence at Cypress Point. Apparently it was her idea to make the famous 16th a par-3 instead of a short par-4. (Hollins also made a site visit to Augusta National on behalf of Mackenzie.)

I don't know about Sorenstam at Mission Hills, but I do know she's planning a new course in British Columbia, working with Canadian Tom McBroom.

When I was writing my blog last summer, I penned a blurb about my interest in working with a female co-designer someday, in the image of Mackenzie and Hollins, Tom Simpson and Molly Gourlay, and of course, Pete and Alice Dye. I look forward to such an opportunity.

[BVince]

Dealing with your last question, I think women could be just as good at designing golf courses as long as they understand the numbers and averages of men's distance.  This knowledge and understanding would help them with strategic options if they choose to work those angles into their design.  That being said, women designers have a long way to go in the GCA industry before any fair comparison should take place.

Although I haven't played Whitehorse in the Seattle area, I have heard a lot of good things about the course.  Cynthia Dye designed the course with 5 sets of tees and can play up to almost 7100 yards.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Bryon,

I think, in many cases, men are much worse at designing forward tees than a woman designer would be at laying out "back tees".

[Art Roselle]

I think Nancy Lopez designed one of the courses at a place called The Villages in Florida.  You may have heard of it.  I may be remembering the advertisement wrong, since it comes on so rarely.  I have no idea about the quality of the course, but it seems like a very friendly "hometown" sort of community.

Seriously, has Lopez done anything else?  Is her Villages course any good?  I seem to remember that this might be her only design attempt.

[Norbert P]

Cynthia Dye McGarey (the daughter of Pete's brother, Roy), recently designed White Horse in Washington State. Though it was highly overshadowed by Chambers Bay, it did get a Best New Affordable from Golf Digest.

 One friend has played it and he thought it was terrific except for hard greens that wouldn't hold "good" shots.

   www.whitehorsegolf.com

 Cynthia Dye McGarey

[W.H. Cosgrove]

White horse is a very good golf course with room for improvement.  I believe it should become better with age. 

Didn't Jan stepehenson do some work in Florida?

[Andrew Mitchell]

Several of us met Line Mortensen, a Danish golf architect, at the GCA gathering in East Lothian last year.

Her website appears to be under construction but a profile of her career to date is here

[Ally Mcintosh]

There are a number of female architects and prospective architects both working and studying in Europe as we type.

I do not think that there is any reason to believe that the quality of their work should be inherently poorer than that of a man.

Just for the record, in terms of gender, I am Ally McCoist rather than Ally McBeal. I believe I have been mistaken for the latter on more than one occasion on these pages.

[Andrew Mitchell]

There are a number of female architects and prospective architects both working and studying in Europe as we type.

I do not think that there is any reason to believe that the quality of their work should be inherently poorer than that of a man.

Just for the record, in terms of gender, I am Ally McCoist rather than Ally McBeal. I believe I have been mistaken for the latter on more than one occasion on these pages.

Ally
Coisty is a legend to me but out of 1500 members how many do you think will have heard of him let alone know whether McCoist is a he Ally or a she Ally?

[Dan Herrmann]

Bryon,

I think, in many cases, men are much worse at designing forward tees than a woman designer would be at laying out "back tees".

I think that Doak did a fantastic job with forward tees at PD.   

[Tim Nugent]

Don't forget, Jan Beljan - long time Tom Fazio associate,  as mentioned - Alice Dye, long time Pete Dye partner, and Vicki Martz - long time Palmer Course Designs associate - All regular members is the ASGCA (w/Alice being a part president).  We have been lucky to have a female office manager who is a good stick (used to be an 8 - now about a 12) and a public league player who consults from the womens perspective.  So, guys do the back, she reviews the front and it's all good.

By their nature, I think men tend to be a little more inclined to risk taking and women want to be all-inclusive.  How this translates into golf design, I don't know because the comparitive body of work for Principal designers is relatively small.

As for Nancy,  Annika, and Jan - What do you think? Really, come on, you're not serious - are you?

[Ally Mcintosh]

There are a number of female architects and prospective architects both working and studying in Europe as we type.

I do not think that there is any reason to believe that the quality of their work should be inherently poorer than that of a man.

Just for the record, in terms of gender, I am Ally McCoist rather than Ally McBeal. I believe I have been mistaken for the latter on more than one occasion on these pages.

Ally
Coisty is a legend to me but out of 1500 members how many do you think will have heard of him let alone know whether McCoist is a he Ally or a she Ally?

Very few Andrew. But I suspect they know who Ally McBeal is and can deduce the right conclusion from that...

[Andrew Mitchell]

There are a number of female architects and prospective architects both working and studying in Europe as we type.

I do not think that there is any reason to believe that the quality of their work should be inherently poorer than that of a man.

Just for the record, in terms of gender, I am Ally McCoist rather than Ally McBeal. I believe I have been mistaken for the latter on more than one occasion on these pages.

Ally
Coisty is a legend to me but out of 1500 members how many do you think will have heard of him let alone know whether McCoist is a he Ally or a she Ally?

Very few Andrew. But I suspect they know who Ally McBeal is and can deduce the right conclusion from that...

 

[Norbert P]

I think that Doak did a fantastic job with forward tees at PD.   

The Forward Tee on #9 @ Pacific Dunes gives the finest views on the property.