Donal,
Pine Valley does not close during winter as a matter of course. Of course that doesn't change your point, which is a fair one, but for clarification, PV does not belong on the list of limited season courses.
Scott:
My bad. I have removed the reference to PV from my previous post. Thanks for the clarification.
BTW, conditioning was not a factor in TDs ratings, as the book was "primarily a book about golf architecture."
I would love a definitive explanation as to what is exactly meant by "golf architecture" - as the term is bandied about here quite a lot (naturally) and I think most folks would consider the grasses / turf employed to produce certain playing conditions as falling within this ambit.
Brian:
A very good question. I'm sure it has been discussed before. Time for a new thread?
I believe TD excluded conditioning from his book as he thought that good architecture should not be judged on temporary conditions such as drought / dampness that affect turf conditions. I don't think that temporary (e.g. few months) turf conditions should be taken into account when judging a course, but poorer long term turf conditions probably should. If a links course no longer plays like it should, condemnation is justified in my opinion.
When a hole that was designed to allow a certain running shot, no longer accommodates that same shot - solely due to a change in the turf/grass conditions - then I think the architecture has taken a turn for the worse.
Sean:
Yes, my example of BN and SH was a bit extreme, but also comparing a parkland course in East Anglia (I saw a programme once where it mentioned that the annual rainfall there is similar to Israel) to one in the north of Scotland is also a little unfair don't you think?
I know for example, that a parkland course in Donegal gets 300 days of rain/year. A course in Dublin gets half that amount, yet both stay open all year round. The drainage costs involved in transforming that Donegal course to the same condition as the Dublin club would be astronomical. Your ordinary golf club doesn't have that sort of cash lying around.
As Adrian has said, the courses stay open but many members don't bother to play in the winter. Perhaps many of the parkland course in the GB&I should close for a few months in winter. The problam is that Painswick, or any other modest club cannot close, even if they want to. While all the neighbouring clubs stay open, they are forced to do so. Only clubs such as the Old Head and the like can survive on a shortened year.