13 MA I L BOX Dear Editor Transformative adaption… it’s midsummer now in Scotland and outside the window the fairways are turning an inimitable shade of golden links brown that gets golf addicts excited. The ground is firm, running… and almost hollow sounding when the ball lands. For a moment, I think to myself, perhaps if the water gets turned off – or doubles in price – I might even be able to keep hitting the ball 40 yards further until November this year! The courses (and specifically the grasses) around me are adapting to the changes in climatic conditions, and it’s great to see. Nature does this constantly (and increasingly quickly), coping with the natural cycles that happen throughout the year as well as the larger systemic shocks that impact our natural systems. As humans, we need to understand and learn from nature – genuine adaption to our surroundings demonstrates the greatest creativity and interest. The best golf projects to my mind have not been the ones with the biggest budgets – in these cases creativity can sometimes give way to showmanship and laziness – but it is the ones with stiff constraints that lead to the most creativity. In the situation of tight budgets, limited resources and time constraints, we need bravery and ingenuity to be able to move away from what is (and has been) comfortable and instead push forward with a new idea and chart unchartered territory together as a team. The existential constraints on projects are increasing – land, water, sand are key ingredients in the golf course cake mix and they are all under increasing pressure in most parts of the world. What has been so good to see over the past few years has been the ratcheting up of efforts in good project teams to find creative, and often low-tech and low-input, solutions. The result is golf courses that are not only cheaper to build but are also much better crafted to fit their sites, allowing them to deliver great golfing grounds despite numerous untold compromises. Perhaps every golf project is like this – I don’t know – and that is part of the mystery behind the various ways in which you can go about building a golf course in the 21st century! Last week I walked a site where the owner has next to no money to create something – the mantra was, “let’s do what we need to do, not what we can do”. Work with what you have and celebrate the moments of quality, character and memorability that your land gives you, and the rest should follow… with a bit of effort! Sam Thomas North Berwick, Scotland We are delighted to receive letters from readers, and the best in each issue will be rewarded with a golf shirt. Send to 6 Friar Lane, Leicester, LE1 5RA, UK, or email us at letters@golfcoursearchitecture.net Sandy was in California for April’s competition, on the ‘Duel Hole’, the par-three seventh at the ultra-exclusive San Francisco Golf Club (back here at GCA Towers we are racking our brains to figure out how he got on), so named because it was the venue for the last legal duel in the US state in 1859, when senator David Broderick fought California Supreme Court justice David Terry. A (fairly) local reader, Merrill Hiserman of the Alister MacKenzie-designed Meadow Club, the other side of the Golden Gate bridge, was the first correct answer drawn, and wins the prized golf shirt. Another very highly rated venue for Sandy this month, a course created rather more recently than some of its famous neighbours. Reckon you know where he is? Send your entry to gopher@golfcoursearchitecture.net. GOPHER WATCH
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