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By Design
V
ariety is not only ‘the spice of
life’ but it is the very foundation
of golfing architecture. Diversity
in nature is universal. Let your golfing
architect mirror it. An ideal or classical
golf course demands variety, personality
and, above all, the charm of romance.
”
Charles Blair McDonald
This quote, alongside several
others from the forefathers of our
profession, hangs on a wall in my
office. Their purpose is to continually
remind me of what makes our game
so special—and why golf courses are
both criticized and loved by all who
play the sport.
The staging of the 2015 U.S. Open
championship at Chambers Bay
attracted a tremendous amount
of attention and courted no small
degree of controversy. It certainly
generated a great deal of discussion
among the board of the ASGCA.
As members of our association
traveled across the country we
encountered comments that were
both complimentary and critical:
these comments were directed at
the design of the course; its set-up
and conditioning; the grass selection
for the playing surfaces; spectator
viewing areas, as well as the new
format of televising the event.
The USGA determined to make
two bold moves: for the first time
in its history it took our nation’s
championship to the Pacific Northwest,
and for the first time in 45 years the
event was contested on an ostensibly
‘new’ golf course. Chambers Bay,
designed by two ASGCA Past
Presidents, Bobby Jones and Bruce
Charlton, occupies a spectacular site
adjacent to Puget Sound. The creation
of the course is itself a great story of
how a golf development revitalized
a distressed parcel of land and an
economically stagnant area. In another
‘first,’ fescue grasses were utilized
across the entire golf course, and most
notably on the putting surfaces.
It was a historically significant week
as the USGA was breaking with some
very time-honored traditions in not
staging the country’s premier event
at an already established ‘old school’
type venue. For the past several years,
the Open course set-up has typically
followed a formula of narrow verdant
fairways, thick punitive rough, and
ultra-slick and ultra-smooth putting
greens. This year’s championship
exposed to millions a quite different
way that the game can be played and
also a different version of how good
golf courses can be designed and
maintained—and indeed how very
differently they can look.
In all that I have read, studied
and experienced about the game
of golf—and specifically as regards
course design—heated debate has
seemingly always accompanied the
unveiling of a cutting edge design
and/or its hosting of an important
tournament. Pine Valley was declared
to be Crump’s folly by many who first
visited his innovative masterpiece. And
I remember Jerry Pate throwing Pete
Dye into the lake at the conclusion of
the inaugural Players Championship
at the TPC at Sawgrass—Dye’s novel
and original ‘stadium’ layout not
being to the taste of the majority
of the competitors. Since that first
event, Sawgrass has been somewhat
refined but it is essentially the same
layout and is now one of the PGA
Tour’s most popular and esteemed
venues. And you can go further back,
too: the putting surfaces on Donald
Design debate
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Steve Smyers, ASGCA President
Celebrating
golf’s variety
OPINION
The unveiling of a cutting-edge golf design
often triggers heated debate. ASGCA
President Steve Smyers considers the value
of diversity in design
“