Every year about this time, I feel like I make essentially the same post stating that another fantastic year is behind us and we are charging full steam ahead into a new year with lots of momentum. Of course, repetitious outcomes sometimes can get a bit boring, which certainly is something that GolfClubAtlas.com is not! Ala when Tiger Woods enters an event, you still want to see how he does it, though the outcome is inevitable.
Many great Feature Interviews with Spaeth's and Tatum's marking an important turn in the range of such interviews (hopefully, we are going to do two this year with Open champions), a couple of the best In My Opinion pieces ever, some My Home Courses like Sean’s about Pennard that make you want to race there, a few quality course profiles, and a lively Discussion Group: These are the essential underpinnings that make this year after year a successful web site.
Also, according to my own recollections
, my match play record improved to about 900 wins and 1 loss since the site was started in 1999. However, the point of this post is not to talk about how Pat kept ducking a rematch from his Sand Hills debacle or why Geoff C. doesn’t look at extending our match all the way to the fourteenth green on his home course as a moral victory – we are all bigger people than that
Speaking of acting big, that’s GolfClubAtls.com. Punch in golf course architecture into Google and we occupy the number one or two spot in general. The Discussion Group drives a majority of the traffic and sometimes it is even a civilized place for erudite debate. More famously, though, at other times it overheats spectacularly
with strong-willed personalities failing to find a way to co-exist. Such moments aren't pretty, though some enjoy watching the train wreck. Ultimately, though, it's bad form (the British call it that because, well, it is) and it discourages others from participating, which cuts off the life blood to the Discussion Group
. Criticizing golf architecture is one thing; attacking another poster is something altogether different and has no place. People who struggle to appreciate the difference eventually are - not without disappointment - replaced.
As you can tell by looking at the front page of the Discussion Group, frequently guests outnumber registered participants by 2 to 1. Thus, there is no shortage of people who would like to share their thoughts and once again we added 200 plus new participants to the Discussion Group for at least the fourth year in a row. The only constant in the Discussion Group is the change-over of the 1,500 participants as we strive to find a mix of people that add the most to the study of golf course architecture.
Regardless of the skirmishes that erupt from time to time, many people, many of whom I have never met, continue to send voluntary donations. Thus, things can’t be all bad if you continue to see value in supporting the site. For the sixth year in a row, we raised more money than the year prior to the point where the board has elected not to pursue any TARP funds
. We should all THANK VERY MUCH everyone on the Contribution Section as they make it possible for GolfClubAtlas.com to get a needed facelift stylistically toward the end of this calendar quarter. Some behind the scene changes will also allow Ben and me greater flexibility in posting articles as well as doing so in a more timely fashion. We already have two in the wings (one from Phil Young and the other from Bob Crosby) that will add immeasurably to the site once we are on the new platform. In addition, we are paying one of my very favorite writers to do an exhaustive 10,000 plus word analysis of a particularly famous course, which will be posted in the March 1st time frame. I hope it will stir much debate and it will continue the exciting direction we have slowly been taking of getting professionals to contribute high quality content to the site. It is no secret that the print media is struggling mightily and GolfClubAtlas.com can and should act as a depository for skilled writers, provided that we can pay for their services. In that manner, we will steadily add superior content year and year.
As far as Ben and I are concerned, that remains the overall goal of the web site: to provide free access to high quality material on golf course architecture in hopes that it will inspire thought, debate and perhaps even great in the dirt work all around the world. A lofty goal indeed but perhaps not totally far fetched, at least not any more? Though it is hard to believe, we will be entering our second decade soon. Hopefully, we as a community can all take pride in the direction we have gone and will continue to try to help further a subject for which we care for dearly.
As always, we are keen to hear your thoughts on how we can make it better and I can be reached at rmorrissett@cabotlinks.com.
Happy 2009 to one and all.
Cheers,
Ran & Ben