"Getting to Eighteen" by Tom Doak

[Greg Gilson]

Tom, I have a number for Henry if you cannot locate him by email.

[Jason Connor]

I just received mine today and it's stunning.


Sincerely appreciate the time & effort Tom & all other contributors spent to give us amateurs such an amazing insight into the process.


I look forward to truly savoring this.


I even showed my wife where *will be* on the shelf and said "When Im gone make sure this goes to worthy hands.  It's valuable, and it's not even about what it'll be worth monetarily."

[Greg Holland]

I just received mine today and it's stunning.


Sincerely appreciate the time & effort Tom & all other contributors spent to give us amateurs such an amazing insight into the process.


I look forward to truly savoring this.

Agreed - mine arrived yesterday and it is stunning.  I opened it and actually took a break from work to briefly admire it.  Love the leather cover.  Even my 20 year old son who is not very keen on books was drawn in and flipped through it, saying it looked really cool.  Cannot wait to dive in tonight. 

[Michael Wolf]

I've enjoyed reading my copy all morning. One question - the front page of my book has a kind inscription to me written in Tom's hand, but no signature. Oversight, or next level marketing trick?


Michael

[Colin Macqueen]

Gentlemen,
Anyone got any ideas about the order(s) from Down Under?
Just asking' in anticipation!


Cheers Colin

[Tom_Doak]

We put 2/3 of the international orders in the mail on Wednesday and Thursday.  The Fed Ex rate was absurdly high, even with a very good corporate discount ; the post office charges $90 and takes 6-10 business days.  So your book is likely two weeks away.

[Tom_Doak]

I've enjoyed reading my copy all morning. One question - the front page of my book has a kind inscription to me written in Tom's hand, but no signature. Oversight, or next level marketing trick?

Really?  Damn, someone must have distracted me midstream.


On the bright side, now it's really a collector's item, all the others are signed!

[Michael Wolf]

On the bright side, now it's really a collector's item, all the others are signed!



AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE SALE: one of a kind collectors item, believed to be the ONLY unsigned copy of Tom Doak's new book, "Getting to 18". I will sell to the first person who venmos me $10,000.00. I will also throw in a used cigarette butt that Ben Crenshaw smoked at the 1984 Buick Open.


Serious inquiries only...

[Tim Leahy]

TD, is Stone Eagle included in this edition? I noticed it didn't make your top 10 on the Renaissance website.

[Tom_Doak]

TD, is Stone Eagle included in this edition? I noticed it didn't make your top 10 on the Renaissance website.

No, the opening-date cutoff for the book was the end of 2004.  Tumble Creek, Ballyneal, Stone Eagle, and Sebonack all opened in 2005-06.


That top ten list is a consensus of my associates, not my own list.  That Stone Eagle didn't make it is more a reflection of how stacked our top ten is.

[Lou_Duran]

I got mine yesterday.  Hurt my back picking it up from the porch.  It is so big and heavy that it won't fit in my golf bookcase.  I'll probably buy a solid end table and get a custom-made missal stand.  Mine was personalized, unfortunately.  I look forward to learning how a proven creative mind goes about laying out a course.  I also have a copy of Forrest Richardson's routing book on my desk.  It will take at least a month to get through both, back-to-back. 

[Tim_Cronin]

I've got to stop looking at this thread. And my front steps for the bundle.

[Carl Rogers]

Have read & re-read multiple chapters.  What sticks out to me is:
1. These courses could not ever come close into being if the individuals that ultimately write the checks wanted the best golf course possible and were willing to do what it takes to get there.  Very very rare.  (Exception is Charlotte Golf Links and The Village Club which is more the rule sadly.)
2. Rawls Course is a unique project in that an overall landscape idea was created and then the game was overlaid on top of that landscape requiring some message of that created landscape. 
Usually, though in big variety of contexts, Tom is making every effort  adapting the game to fit site.  The Pacific Dunes routing could only be where it is and no place else.

[Matthew Petersen]

Is everyone being notified of shipping before the book arrives?

[Tom_Doak]

Is everyone being notified of shipping before the book arrives?

If you are a U.S. resident, shipping is by Fed Ex, and you'll get a notice as soon as we print the label for pick-up -- unless you gave us a PO Box address, in which case we will ship by U.S. Mail.


Foreign orders are being routed through the post office -- they are keeping tracking data for us in case a book gets lost, but they don't do email notifications to recipients.  We expect those to take 6-10 business days, so most books should arrive by the end of next week.

[Niall C]

I'm very pleased to say mine arrived this afternoon, mind you the three men it took to carry it up the stairs weren't so happy that I live on the second floor 


I haven't had much chance to have a serious read but from a quick flick through it is clear the production values are off the scale. I look forward to spending the rest of the evening immersing myself in it. One quick question in the meantime that I dare say Tom has already answered somewhere but to my count there are 19 courses discussed (judging from the content page) so presumably the "Getting to Eighteen" was a reference to the number of holes rather than 18 courses ?


Niall 

[PCCraig]

Apparently I ordered way too late....still waiting!!!! 

[Matthew Petersen]

Is everyone being notified of shipping before the book arrives?

If you are a U.S. resident, shipping is by Fed Ex, and you'll get a notice as soon as we print the label for pick-up -- unless you gave us a PO Box address, in which case we will ship by U.S. Mail.


Foreign orders are being routed through the post office -- they are keeping tracking data for us in case a book gets lost, but they don't do email notifications to recipients.  We expect those to take 6-10 business days, so most books should arrive by the end of next week.

Excellent. We had something stolen from our front step last week which was a reminder to watch shipping notifications. Delivery people for whatever reason aren't good about ringing the bell or not leaving stuff in plain sight and this book I for sure don't want to go missing!

[Michael Whitaker]

“I am fortunate to live and work in an era in which Tom Doak is practicing golf architecture. His golf designs and his writing are gifts to golf” - Bill Coore


What a magnificent comment in the foreword from Bill Coore. Tom, this has to make make you so proud and honored to have your body of work recognized in this way. What a tribute!


I can’t thank you enough for creating “Getting To 18.” We all look so forward to absorbing and discussing it over the coming months.


Hopefully I’ll learn why you so enjoy holes that travel uphill! 

[Eric Smith]

That is quite a tribute and one I wholeheartedly agree with. Can’t wait to dive in when I get home.

[Ronald Montesano]

Bill Coore is the most decent man that I've never met. I did a phone interview with him as he trudged through a swamp, on a property where they ultimately did not build. Might have been a bog, or perhaps a morass. I get distracted.


I have the interview in a file. I saved it in case he disappeared, because of me and my enthusiasm.


I've met Tom on three occasions. Each one has been unique to the others, and each one has been a valuable escalation of my appreciation of golf course architecture. I ordered in wave two, so I'll see mine down the road.

[Tom_Doak]

One quick question in the meantime that I dare say Tom has already answered somewhere but to my count there are 19 courses discussed (judging from the content page) so presumably the "Getting to Eighteen" was a reference to the number of holes rather than 18 courses ?

Actually you are the first to notice that!


The 19th course was/is The Sheep Ranch.  I never counted it as official because it was an unfinished symphony and, later on, I knew that it would eventually be built over.  But I did include it in the book, and its inclusion prevented me from numbering the chapters 🤣

[Tom_Doak]

What a magnificent comment in the foreword from Bill Coore. Tom, this has to make make you so proud and honored to have your body of work recognized in this way. What a tribute!

Michael:  I have known Bill Coore for 39 years this summer - long before there was anyone who thought our careers would both progress as they did.  We are a long-standing mutual admiration society.  I'm glad he agreed to do the Foreword because he hasn't written enough himself.


Maybe one reason for that is that his Foreword was three pages in cursive, which he sent via text message!  😮  And yes, it's still on my phone.

[John Emerson]

What I'd really like is a ticket to a Fantasy GCA Boot Camp where someone who knows what they are doing spends a week teaching me how routing, construction, drainage, irrigation etc all works on an actual site.

But in the meantime, sure I'll order the book. I've found everything I've purchased from Renaissance Publishing to have outstanding production values. Agree with the content or not, the books themselves are well made. Certainly at the top of class of what is unfortunately a field with rather sparse new offerings.

I'd seriously consider such a thing, too.

I’d say a week isn’t remotely close to enough time to explain all of these topics in much depth.  But, it would be a cool idea. 

[William_G]

What a magnificent comment in the foreword from Bill Coore. Tom, this has to make make you so proud and honored to have your body of work recognized in this way. What a tribute!

Michael:  I have known Bill Coore for 39 years this summer - long before there was anyone who thought our careers would both progress as they did.  We are a long-standing mutual admiration society.  I'm glad he agreed to do the Foreword because he hasn't written enough himself.


Maybe one reason for that is that his Foreword was three pages in cursive, which he sent via text message!  😮  And yes, it's still on my phone.

Such ying and yang here 
He hasn't written enough because life and golf are self evident, gunga galunga
Bill know's what life and golf are about and no verbosity is required unless you are selling, no press required
Bill must be the happiest man I've met in golf, he was so happy to see all the smiling faces at opening day Sheep Ranch 2.0, he was there all day


cheers