The following is from an article by Ron Whitten on the AOTD thread, which I thought bore some wider viewing, and possible discussion...particularly Silva's thoughts on random bunkering, which I applaud wholeheartedly.
"....But if anything, Silva has been more intrigued with Seth Raynor architecture. He touched up a few holes at Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh, host of the 2002 Curtis Cup, and at Mountain Lake Club in Florida. He also totally restored Lookout Mountain GC outside Chattanooga in accordance with Raynor's original plans. (Raynor had died during construction and many of his intended bunkers were never built.) What those experiences have given him, Silva says, is a new perspective on what "vintage golf design" is all about.
"I think it means random bunkers," he explains. "No more of this functional bunker crap, where a bunker has to go 250 yards slice side, 280 yards hook side. The courses that really have a beautiful palette have random bunkers. Some bunkers at the beginning of a fairway, some at the landing area, some are approach bunkers. And there are others sprinkled in between. What they do is give the golf course flow.
"You know why the Old Course at St. Andrews is still a great golf course? Because the wooden shafts would hit over the first group of bunkers, the steel shafts over the next group of bunkers and now the titanium shafts have to hit over the group after that. It's random bunkering."
Silva's appreciation for the old-style art is reflected in his most recent work. Waverly Oaks, a daily-fee in Plymouth, Mass., sports a hunkered-down set of greens accented by steep-sloped geometric bunkers highly reminiscent of Raynor. The exquisite Cape Cod National, a private course in Brewster, Mass., looks even more retro, thanks in part to high wispy fescue grasses outlining most bunkers. Its greens are inverted saucers, toned-down versions of Donald Ross designs at Pinehurst No. 2, most flowing off into subtle chipping areas. What's more, Silva's bunkers there are scattered all over.
"They're put in where the land accepts the bunkers," Silva says. "We finished the cuts and fills at Cape Cod National, then we started placing bunkers. Where the land allowed them."
In the process, Silva utilized Raynor's trick of using bunkers to make steep transitions in elevation. The right side of the long par-4 11th, for instance, drops down into a long strip bunker, then into a sink hole. The bunker shouldn't come into play, but if it does, the player will be grateful for its existence. At the par-5 15th, Silva countered a pond on the left front corner of the green with a hidden bunker at the right front corner. Is that hidden bunker unfair? No, because it keeps a ball from bounding downhill into a wooded ravine.
"Too many architects think traditional design means not moving much dirt and not doing anything artificial," Silva says. "That's missing the point. You tell me these Raynor greens aren't artificial? There's nothing more artificial! But they're great greens. And easy to build."
"What's more," he says, "traditional golf shouldn't be boring. Donald Ross wasn't boring. You should see his original nine at Rolling Rock, and how 'untraditional' it is. Deep steep bunkers, crossbunkers, wild green contours-hollows instead of inverted saucers-where did that come from? If you went to Pinehurst and then Rolling Rock, you'd never think the same guy did both."
The same can be said of Brian Silva's work. His recent work at Captains, two new nines merged with the original 18, graphically shows his progress. His Black Creek outside Chattanooga will be his full-blown tribute to Raynor. But don't be surprised if his Bison Run north of New York City hints of Tillinghast. Silva's stuff is as varied and intriguing as any in golf today. Anyone who thinks otherwise deserves to have his design critic credentials revoked.