Photo: Russell Kirk more than 20 PGA Tour events and four LPGA tournaments, which led to a good bit of recognition. And it is on a near ideal site, plus I had the freedom to route its holes from a larger total area. Perdido Bay hosted ten PGA Tour Pensacola events and the Vineyards CC South had four men’s Senior PGA Tour tournaments. In contrast, Blackstone Golf Course in rural northwest Florida, which got less publicity, had what most course architects would agree is almost ideally contoured land for a course. Plus, I was also given the freedom to use whatever land necessary for routing and constructing the best course that I could.” But if Amick is known for anything, it is probably his long-term advocacy for shorter golf courses, something he has been talking about for many years. To this day, an article he wrote years ago about building par-three courses continues to get traffic, and he says that, retired and in his nineties though he may be, as a result he still gets approached to discuss such projects – which he generally refers to a local ASGCA member, sometimes keeping a watching brief over what transpires. How did he come to advocate for shorter courses in an industry that, for much of his career, has glorified length and difficulty? “I was hired to design a nine-hole course on a small site in the tourist area of Fort Walton Beach in northwest Florida,” he says. “After opening, it almost immediately became very popular with entire families of tourists to that area. Around and around family members would go with enthusiasm on that small course! That certainly indicated and even proved to me that large, long, demanding and costly courses should not be considered as the only type of layouts for golf which are ever desired. “I believe a new game based on golf could be developed on much smaller and all round less expensive courses. This concept was initially envisioned during the Great Depression by Bill Diddel. He told me of his attempt to have the City of Cincinnati develop a couple of such courses in their parks. Those were to have much lower costs than conventional-sized golf courses. He attempted to get several golf ball manufacturers to develop a limiteddistance ball, but none were able to produce one that was satisfactory at that time. “The Pointfive Golf Company now makes such courses and a game possible with a suitable ball it produces and markets. I have no financial interest in, nor do I profit in any way from the company. I simply believe as long ago Mr Diddel did that a smaller game on suitable courses could have benefits to its future players, plus those course owners and operators. Now that can be done, played with the Pointfive ball. “This could create another sport, just as from baseball came the simpler and mostly amateur sport of softball. In my country there also is flag football, a physically safer sport than American tackle football. And more recently there is pickleball, a somewhat less physically demanding sport than tennis but with some generally shared features.” Amick notes the recent shift towards shorter courses. “During its early years, golf was mainly an adult man’s game, and so called ‘full-sized’ courses were most of what there was to play and so were played. I guess that became established as where and how golf should be played. Only in relatively recent times has much interest and 46 BILL AMICK Killearn CC is perhaps Amick’s most famous design, having hosted more than 20 PGA Tour events
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