Reverse Old Course, St Andrews

golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opin … ld-course/
golf course architecture unfied theory…omega

This concept is absolutely incredible. I’ve never even considered this even though I got to play it once. People spend lifetimes studying this piece of land and can’t even come close to ultimate knowledge of the unquestionably best used parcel of land in the history of the game. Every golf course architect worth his salt in the world has made the pilgrimage to the Old Course for over 150 yrs, how come none of them ever have built courses that offer multiple routes? Old Tom figured this out in the 1870s, how on earth did the genius die with him? Just the idea of attacking the Road Hole green from the first tee, parallel to the wall is complete & total game changer in every sense imaginable. It’s a completely different entity. With a single lawnmower you can change one of the top 5 courses in the world into a completely different course that on its own would be top 25 in the world worthy of a major championship. In fact I would love to see the next Open staged there play the Friday round on the reverse route. Even with modern equipment I’d fly over from California to watch that & pay through the nose gladly.

Half the municipal & daily fee courses in America should have & use multiple routing, one route M W F Sat another Tu Th Sun. Stop wasting land & make what’s already there useful, interesting & challenging. Every single putting green in America doesn’t have to be on a 4% slope back to front, make them accessible AND simultaneously challenging from 360° & stop making stifling meandering courses where you have to hit the same shots from the same places day after day guarding against a single miss for every pin position. Stop building hills at Olympic and embrace the uniqueness that’s been there for a century.

Ideas like multiple routing are what made the game of golf explode and popular. It’s stagnant now, uninteresting to a large degree. The First Tee program is nice for growing the game but small in scope. Invest money in real growth of the core of the game rather than earth movers & pretentious elitist clubhouses. That will interest young people more than the karat of a potential scholarship 5-10 yrs down the line. It’s time to strip it down to new visions & relearn from the very beginning. Very exciting.

There are people who believe this but it will be hard to unite them. Where is the social media group I can link to my facebook? Where is the twitter feed that I can subscibe to? If I have $500 to donate how do I do this and what will it be spent on? This can happen starting grassroots and Lag and TwoMasters and Geoff Shackelford and several others are great leaders but I think it needs to come together with a unified voice or it will be brushed aside by the masses. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are consciously or subconsciously disturbed by the state of the game but they have no idea what to do about it. Traditional golf needs a billionaire benefactor.

Number one this isn’t even close to traditional, this concept is totally avant-garde, hyperconservationist & revolutionary. What about changing the very nature of worldwide golf design & play is traditional? Building courses with the means available on the land that was available with multiple routes may have been common sense to Old Tom Morris but in 2011 it’s cutting edge & creates a whole new game. Its a Renaissance idea.

Also I would sure rather have an Ansel Adams & a John Muir on my side than a T Boone Pickens. Money is easy, art is hard.