First, Ron Whitten deserves all the priase in the world for having pioneered the careful study of course architecture and having helped turned it into a cottage industry. His early writings, largely for "Golf Course Managament" in the 1980's, remain stunning for the carlity, detail and informative quality. Little he has written in the lastd ecade for "Digest" comes close.He also single-handedly carried off "Architects of Golf." Cornish's modest contribution to the first edition, "The Golf Course," was an unreadable chaper on shot-values, and embarrasing drawings of stupid, unbuildable holes. The problem is that Whitten works for a major publishing company which places architecture no. 17 on the priority list, just behind junior golf fashion and ahead of covering the South Africa Tour. He has no space to work with, except for those infernal lists.It doesn't help that Whitten, a lawyer by training and a county prosecutor for years, is so tight-lipped and unwilling to share opinions. So he ends up cataloging designs, proliferating lists, and avoiding any critical and educative posture.Having said all this, he remains a perceptive student of the craft, and I only wish they would let him write more.