By Design - Winter 2016

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Big Bay Point, Ontario,
which is currently under
construction, will give
golfers that option.
“Not only are we more often
asked to look at shorter formats,
but there is a genuine shift away from
the par-72-must-be-above-7,000-yard
threshold,” says Richardson. “The
pursuit of length led to the need
for width. That led to using more
land, demanding more time and
inflicting more cost. Today we are
embracing clients who understand
that the game is supposed to be fun,
and fun does not always translate
to giving the golfer a long and tiring
journey. In terms of routing this means
we are seeing more courses where the
‘rules’ are relaxed. Old presumptions
are being replaced by innovative ideas.
Solutions no longer need to conform as
much as they need to perform.”
But in a changing marketplace, it
is important not to lose sight of the
factors that have made golf appealing
for hundreds of years.
“To keep the youth of tomorrow
interested in the game, we have to
build golf courses that hold their
interest,” says Smyers.
“Even a hundred years ago,
the legendary Alister MacKenzie
understood the importance of
forward thinking in course design.
As he put it: ‘Unless we provide golf
courses full of intricate problems,
players will get sick of the game
without knowing why they have
gotten sick of it and golf will die
from a lack of abiding and increasing
knowledge.’ That quote has been on
my office wall since I started my own
design firm in 1984 because I believe
it is as true today, maybe even more
so, as it was in MacKenzie’s era.
“That’s why I have always felt an
obligation to stay true to what made
the game of golf popular when it
began hundreds of years ago and
what remains its most alluring quality
today—the challenge of playing a
demanding game over an infinite
variety of landscapes.”•
The clubhouse at Copper Creek Golf Club in Kleinburg, Ontario,was the first feature to be located on the routing plan
developed by ASGCA Past President Doug Carrick, ASGCA, creating a dramatic backdrop and views over the ninth hole
Routing the Golf Course by Forrest
Richardson, ASGCA, covers the
early history of how courses came
to be formally routed, as well as the
process and considerations that go
into developing routing studies and
final plans.
The book is available to purchase via
e Smyers, ASGCA,
s on a plan by
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Photo: Clive Barber