Golf Course Architecture - Issue 61, July 2020

35 Bill Yates, the founder of Pace Manager Systems, who died in 2018, probably knew more about pace of play issues in golf than anyone else in the world. He applied his engineering training to thinking about pace, and after a lot of research came to the conclusion that it is not actual speed of play that golfers worry about, but rather the flow of play – it is waiting to play shots or holes that golfers hate. Yates applied his theories at courses around the world, perhaps most notably at Pebble Beach, where he found a way to slow play down on the sixth hole, thus reducing the jams on the tee of the famous par- three seventh. Yates was a friend of, and a contributor to GCA , and it is a pleasure to remember him, and to feature his posthumously published book Out of Time in this column. In the book, Yates busts 40 widely held myths about golf and brings to life the ‘inside the ropes’ story of his transformational work for nearly three decades on behalf of players, courses and the game. Architecture was vitally important to Bill, who dreamed of himself being an architect one day, and the book contains a chapter on the role of course design in pace of play. It is a very easy job for us to strongly recommend his book to all course operators and any golfer interested in knowing how courses should manage play. Seal Bay Publishing, US$19.95 www.pacemanager.com Available from amazon.com Out of Time GOOD READ but that with respect to land planning and architecture,” said Cowan-Dewar. “Ron Krater Studio [land planning] and Studio RHE [architecture] have been busy refining concepts towards the production of a final master plan. “We have a special property that requires extra due diligence to environmental controls and stewardship and in light of that, we have developed best practices for protecting the site and the coastal environment. Real estate pre-sales have been ongoing, and we look forward to officially launching sales later this year.” Nine of the course’s greens are right alongside the ocean Seven holes have been rough shaped, including the seventh Coore believes that the fifteen- to-eighteen stretch will be many people’s highlight Image: Ron Krater Studio