Brain,
My Dad calls me Brain, but in jest...
Thanks for playing.
At what age did you take up golf?
Great first question! I used to be an avid Rugby player and played for my Army station every Wednesday. However, I picked up a knee injury one week and could not play for a while so I had to take time off. Wednesday afternoon was always training or sports afternoon. I hate running and training so I conned someone to take me to play golf.
I was lucky and started to play at Tidworth Garrison (Harry Colt, I believe) golf course for $150 a year and I was hooked. That was at the age of about 20. I had played on some courses in Blackpool and actually played Stanley Park a few times when I was about 18 but I just hacked it around so that doesn't really count!
When I moved from Hong Kong at the age of 18 I moved to Lytham St. Annes and my bedsit (that was all I could afford) was right across from Royal Lytham! I have never played there!
I have a good friend from Norway, Isn't it rich with oil?
Mega rich with oil. All the profit from the oil goes into what we call the oljefondet (oil fund) and that is at about 472 billion dollars as we speak and rises about $1000 a second. The Norwegians did not hit oil until 1969 and up until then were a pretty poor nation. That is why it is a very Socialistic nation. It is more what can we do for the fellow man than how much can we get out of this country. My wife is a true Socialist and she is married to a Capitalist.
What famous people are from Norway that we would be familiar with?
A-HA the band, Norwegians invented the paperclip and they are very proud of the cheese slicer....I will have to ask the missus about famous people
On the MUPPETS, What is the sweedish chef saying?
I love that guy, I just showed my kids some videos on youtube. He aint saying shit, pretty much like most Swedes...The Swedish used to be the big brother of Norway, now it is the other way around and the Norwegians are just loving it!!
Have you golfed in the States?
Yes, I am one jammy bastard. I have played Sand Hills at the last Archipalooza which was just out of this world. I got up at 5am one of the mornings to just look at the course alone and I bunped into one of Tom Doak's senior associates as I was coming back in at about 8am and we both looked at each other and knew how lucky we were to witness such a course in an amazing sunrise. Pine Valley twice (shot 16 over on the front nine by 3 putting every green then 2 over on the back with a little help from Rocky, Merion a number of times, walked Hidden Creek which is so underrated, Aronomink once, walked Gulph Mills with Tom Paul which was awesome, Lederach (another superb course) with my good friend who never beats me, Kelly Blake Moran and Stonewall which I was not that all impressed with.
Where did you go to school?
Moved to Sabah, Malaysia when I was 5 and was the only white kid at the school, then Hong Kong from 10 til 18, Survey school for 6 months in the Army and then out in the real world before convincing the wife at an age of about 35 with two kids to re-mortgage the house to study in Edinburgh. Great life but never grew up until I met my wife and had a year at Uni in Edinburgh where the boys put me in my place!!
What threads are your favorites?
All the ones where other architects give opinions, especially the guys who have mentored me like Jeff Brauer and Tom Doak. Those two really helped me in my career. I think I am the first person on here to become a GCA because of the site. I was mentored on here by Jeff and Tom. I asked them on here about 8 or 9 years ago how to become an architect. Tom and Jeff still look out for me, to this day.
What courses are high on your must play list?
I am off to Aussie in two weeks time on a trip of a lifetime with a bunch of architects from Europe and from America. I think we are 66 in total. Ian Andrew is going so that will be great to meet him at last. I am an Associate member of the EIGCA who I had big arguments with on here back in 2000 about the way they were handling students and helped get a few things changed. As Jeff said to me, you cannot change anything from the outside, so I joined the year I graduated which I think surprised many of them.
I would really like to walk Augusta, looking at the old photos of the shaping by MacKenzie I think he gets too much credit sometimes. A lot of the changes before 90s were good changes like the 11th and 16th ponds. Some of the shaping and the green shapes are awful.
I really would like to see Alison's work in Japan. I am a huge Colt fan, I don't think Mac even gets close to Colt. There are a number of crap MacKenzie courses but you nearly never ever find a poor Colt course.
I would like to see Cypress Point to see if it is all aesthetics or it is as good as people say. I have heard mixed reviews from those that speak to me in private. Although FBD would live in the bunkers if he was allowed.
What is Norwegian Wood?
It is Pine for furniture and birch for firewood. What a great song! The lyrics just sum a very typical night out in Norway if you get lucky. The women over here are very confident. If they invite you up for a coffee they mean coffee. They will let you know if you are lucky or you are sleeping in the bath which is what happened to whichever Beatle wrote the song. There is very little bullshit with most Norwegians, they take an age to get to know but will never really let you down.
Just read the lyric and it is like going home to a Norwegian girl.
I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...
She showed me her room, isn't it good Norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine,
We talked until two and then she said: "It's time for bed"
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't, and crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good Norwegian wood.