Do you Know it when you see it?

[Adam Clayman]

The art in golf course architecture.

There are many facets to golf and it's fields. Be they singular examples of a thoughtful shape and/or tie-in, or, the whole routing.

Examples of where, when, you may have appreciated such?

On a singular note, there use to be a bunker, cut into the dune, on the 16th at Spanish Bay. It exuded a naturalness that stood out a Jones design.

The whole... Devries counter cyclical finisher at Greywalls.

Both examples above made ME feel great, and at peace, with the world.

Got any?

Is the aspect of eliciting an emotional response essential to quality Art? I suppose so, but that means that when I see hideous examples of rote mounding, and they make me feel sick, it's art too.

[Peter Pallotta]

Adam - your mention of Mike Devries brought to mind a lovely section of his course, The Mines. I'm not sure of the hole numbers, but there are back to back Par 3s (I think holes 7 and and then another par 3 (the 11th or 12th) all group together in an  expansive/valley setting, and you come to this portion of the course after several quite expansive but still tree lined holes (all Par 4s or 5s) to find this open and high-up and totally different vista, and it is just a wonderful "Ah" moment -- routing as art, as it were.

Peter

[Mac Plumart]

Adam...

I'm unsure that my brain works in a classic "art" ful manner.  So, my answer my be off-base in relation to the intent of your question...BUT...

Chicago Golf Club is my answer.  The whole thing.

Brilliant bunker placement.  Wide open farm field feeling to it.  With a clubhouse with a Farmhouse/Barn motiff.  PERFECT! 

Old Elm also was artful in my mind as EVERYTHING ties together.  Tee markers, clubhouse, benches, style of course...everything.  There is nothing out of place and/or doesn't go together.

[Lyne Morrison]

Adam,

This comment is in part a response to a question Peter asked me about NGLA some weeks ago with respect to what makes the National so unique - in addition to the appreciation of art in architecture.

For me, truly great architecture carries with it a presence and a soulful union between the design elements and the broader environment. I think this is where - or when - the 'art' of golf architecture is revealed - when one is able to experience a course at a level above and beyond the essential or the obvious.

I have been fortunate to experience this at Royal Melbourne, NGLA, Friars Head and when observing the bunkering at Kingston Heath. There are others, but for me these are the leaders.

It's an interesting exercise to try and disassemble exactly what characteristics are in play to create such a powerful experience. Charismatic courses that sit easily with the earth seem to be a prerequisite. And those who have built such works are indeed the master architects and shapers of this craft.

Lyne

[Ronald Montesano]

so much depends on the mood of the day. if the student is ready, the teacher appears.

i think that the answer is more complicated than yes/no.

i suspect that i see "it" differently each successive time. i'll play a course tomorrow for the 4th or 5th time and will see different "its" from different perspectives.

i see "it" differently, depending on whether I am playing the course, photographing the course or spectating at a tournament. not playing the golf course frees me up to see it and "it" from various angles.

[Peter Pallotta]

Hi Lyne - thanks much for responding, and for such a good post/description; "a presence" is a powerful word, and it is striking to me that two people who in some ways are so different -- one a professional architect from Australian, the other an amateur enthusiast from California -- can both experience and describe in almost identical language something as ephemeral and personal as "presence".

Best
Peter