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Hard to pull a quote or two from that article…
The entire article is spot on. Modern architects should be required to memorize that entire article word for word,
and if they fail to remember even one sentence, then it should be branded onto their body with a red hot iron.
This whole idea of the homogenized golf course that has been going on is simply a very bad idea.
I wonder if Player’s view is still the same after all these years. I would hope so.
That was very eloquently written… thanks for posting.
I’m new to ABS and just now reading this. Great post, this is one of the best articles on course design I have ever read. I really appreciate you taking the time to share it.
His talk about par 5’s just shows how different the game is. He says there should be a par 5 that NOBODY can reach and that to reach a par 5 in two you should have to flirt with trouble.
There are no par 5’s now a days that nobody can reach and players are often hitting 4 irons or lower into them even if they’re 580+ yards long.
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I think in the last 5 years of watching The Masters, I’ve seen more than one guy hitting 8 iron into 13 and even 15. Those holes don’t make sense anymore from an architectural standpoint. Green depth and estimated trajectory are the key factors now being overlooked.
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Rory McIlroy hit 31 fairways in regulation at the 2026 Masters, which is the fewest by a Masters champion in recorded history.
He finished the tournament at 31 of 56 fairways overall, about 55.4%.
I think this is why I don’t watch the event anymore. I have no interest in this… or how someone hitting just over 50% of their fairways could possibly be invited into Butler Cabin. I did see the highlight clip where the two players in the final group on the 18th were in two different zip codes. One in the first fairway and the other in the 10th. If this is the best the game can offer… I’ll pass…
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