Jeff: If you interpreted my original post as suggesting that an architect should have total say and is always right, my writing needs improving. There is no way that a closed minded architect can be great. I assume architects get great ideas from an almost infinite pool of sources.
But, I also assume it must happen that an owner can have bad ideas. What if Tom didn’t like the owner’s suggestion on #17 at Tara Iti? Will only the top guys refuse such a request? I assume this must happen quite a bit and is a very tricky part of the business. On the one hand, an architect wants work. On the other, he doesn’t want to put his name on an imperfect design.
When I was working at Long Cove, the PGA Tour announced a new event at Kingsmill in Virginia. I happened to be taking Mr. Dye out to the job site the next morning, and he was clearly bothered by that, because he didn't like how the course had turned out. He told me that during construction, the client, Anheuser Busch, had decided to change the development plan and made him re-route four holes to accommodate the houses. He thought the change ruined the flow of the course, but the more he tried to fight it, the more the client dug in their heels.
Pete said it was in a period where there wasn't much work out there, so he went ahead and finished the course their way, but he had always regretted that. He told me [at an impressionable age 20] that if you were really serious about your craft, you always had to be willing to walk away from a project if the client wouldn't let you do the right thing.
Of course, Pete never had to worry about "feeding his family", and if I'm giving the impression he was rigid in his thinking, that's dead wrong -- he would use a good idea from anyone. But he did joust with the clients from Long Cove about what he was doing, on a weekly basis. ["I want to put a back tee in across the road on 12." "Pete, there's a lot there." "Well, I will buy the lot." "We've already got you down for eight of them!"] And they were a little bit afraid of him, because there weren't a lot of plans for the course, so it was going to be hard to finish it if Pete walked away. That was probably not the best dynamic for a 20-year-old to model, but it did teach me to ask questions, push back, and keep trying to make the golf course better.
As to refusing a request, the simplest way is to say I need time to think about it, and then come back to it later. Of course, if I just blow off their idea, I'm risking that they'll come back and change it themselves after I'm gone, so if I'm going to say no, I'd better convince them I have a good reason.
I've always had a hard time saying no to people -- it's an issue for many with ACA -- but it took me years to learn how to deflect such things. When I was younger, I would kind of freeze, wanting to avoid a conflict and not knowing what to say, but it would come across as the "death stare" which some have described. I guess I have a very bad poker face!