On Gib's point about the cognitive function: My personal golf IQ is very low, about on the level of a fence post I'd say. Not co-incidentally, my scores are usually quite high, about on the level of a hack. This direct inverse-relationship doesn't necessarily hold true for everyone, I'd imagine - for some, sheer physical talent can and does compensate pretty well. Now, in some areas of my life, I can absorb and analyze/interpret a goodly amount of information very quickly, and then act skillfully and decisively upon it. I can't do that on a golf course; I usually feel overwhelmed, an information-overload is what I experience. I don't think the long-time player can remember what that's like -- more importantly, he doesn't HAVE to remember what that's like, nor SHOULD he remember. That golfer's cognitive process is happening not on the level of fevered conscious thought (except maybe on the 72 hole of a US Open), but where it ideally should be happening, i.e. behind the scenes as it were, automatically. The fact that he may not be able to blather on about it incessantly (like I do) is actually proof that he KNOWS, and on a deep level. Which leads me to:
Lou's point about the golf IQs of professional golfers, and how this translates to course design. I know for certain that every pro golfer, every very good amatuer even, has a golfing IQ that I will never be able to match. They understand a golf course and what it's asking of them far better than I ever will -- and they have the physical talent to answer those "questions". But I think that, sometimes, this level of deep understanding, for the very reason that it is deep and largely automatic/unconscious, isn't something that is easily put into words or abstract ideas, and so isn't easily 'transferable' to another field of endeavour, like golf course design. (I think our own Jim Sullivan and Jamie Slonis, just to mention two, may be the rare birds who can do both.) This may sound condescending, and I really don't mean it to be (I've never played a course designed by a touring pro), but I think that, while some top-flight golfers turned designers KNOW, the trouble is that they DON'T KNOW THAT THEY KNOW -- and so they can't put what they've experienced for so many years into a form that allows others to share/replicate that experience. That's not a criticism, in and of itself -- I mean, my man Benny Goodman was playing professionally for Ben Pollack's band at 14 years old. He was already, even then, tearing-off sparkling and razor-sharp runs. If he'd ever wanted to be a music teacher, what could he possibly share with me that I'd TRULY understand, i.e understand on the experiential level?
Peter