Ran,
I've been thinking about this.
Wouldn't the ultimate measure of talent/greatness be, if your most recent work was considered your best work ?
That's one way to look at it, but I would guess that somebody of Doak's stature would be suspicious of this sort of sentiment, because it is way too susceptible to the passions of the moment.
Terry:
Yes, I would be very suspicious of that sort of evaluation. There are a couple of architects working now that, every time they open a new course, their fans exclaim that it's even better than their last work! The only way you can do that for very long is if your early work was vastly overrated.
There is an unfortunate Bell Curve for acclaim in the golf design business. Early in your career, even if you build something terrific and original, it's hard to get the credit you deserve. Then, once you've achieved commercial success, you can do no wrong. But then you get to Step 3, when people perceive that you're coasting or letting your associates do most of the creative stuff, because you've got nothing left.
The unfortunate part of that is that nearly everyone's work is "preceived" to lie somewhere on that curve, no matter the quality of the work they are doing or who else is involved or the underlying potential of the various sites.
I believe that I'm bringing the same effort and determination and skill to each job that I always have. But, my learning curve has certainly flattened over the last ten years as opposed to the previous ten; so I think the differences between my projects have more to do with the site and the client and the associate and the shapers, than they do with me.
I am determined not to use the same lineup of players twice ... so, for example, Ballyneal and Rock Creek and Old Macdonald [three of my most highly acclaimed recent projects] had three very different teams. In fact, three different guys ran those jobs -- Bruce, Eric, and Jim -- and the shaping crews were almost entirely different, although Bruce and Eric did a bit of the shaping at the two jobs they didn't run, and Brian Slawnik and Jonathan Reisetter spent a fair amount of time on all three, and Kye Goalby spent a lot of time on the first two. From that perspective, though, I hate it when people from outside try to assess who did a better job, because they really don't know who did what out there.
Jim Urbina has certainly gotten a lot of attention for Old Macdonald, and deservedly so, but he would be the first to tell you that a lot of other people had a share in its success, including many who don't get a design credit.