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Ran Morrissett

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GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« on: January 04, 2011, 08:42:42 PM »
How people count decades is a bit of a mystery to me but by one method, GolfClubAtlas.com is now four days into its third decade. How did we get here? More importantly, where do we go? Essentially, what do you make of GolfClubAtlas.com?

Does it continue to grow? Yes, both in terms of meaningful content and viewership base.  True, Google remains slightly  ;) in front in regards to market cap but the bright news is that our systems are so tight that we have - as of yet - had no troubles with WikiLeaks. 8)

Sean Arble's piece on Burnham & Berrow was a headliner in 2010 and we enjoyed a greater range in Feature Interviewees than ever before. Various GolfClubAtlas gatherings including Oregon, North Carolina and England all met with rousing success. Listening to Tom Doak during dinner at Bandon before Old Macdonald opened was a highlight for some of us.

Yet, how people communicate and network and look to gain knowledge is ever evolving. I have been told that Facebook and Twitter could render a web site like GolfClubAtlas.com meaningless within a few years. How disappointing  :'( though personally, I don't agree or see how. The voluminous amount of free content found within this site is hard to match. Be it on a tree program or restoring classical features to a course, a web site like GolfClubAtlas.com provides information to those that make decisions re: golf courses. Green committees can be as well informed as they elect to be. There is no topic relating to golf course architecture too small for us to delve into with relish and we should each feel proud of the role that we play in making pertinent information available on line that can be used freely around the world.

For better and a few times for worse, GolfClubAtlas is best known for its Discussion Group which underwent some significant changes this past year. Gone is a number limit on who can post. Previously, we had it at 1,500 but the Discussion Group isn't about volume/numbers, it's about quality discourse. Maybe the Discussion Group should be a smaller, tighter group of ~ 500 or maybe it should be ~ 2,000 - who knows?  ??? Time will show us how to achieve the best alchemy but if you wish to add well thought-out view points on golf course architecture, there will always be a seat reserved with your name at the table. Of course, boorish behavior might alter that. Some people were heavy-handed in their approach to networking through the site and some of those very people no longer have access to the Discussion Group. Some people posted and posted ... and posted without ever saying much on golf course architecture  ::) and they are no longer posting. Ben and I continue to strive for the same thing: will a first time visitor to the Discussion Group find it a place to share and exchange ideas?

Sure, we all know a few threads will go haywire here and there (and we know pretty much who will be involved in such threads and Ben and I aren't going to act as giant African pouched rats sniffing for land mines throughout the threads) but the overall tenor should be one of meaningful discourse where people aren't hesitant to get involved.

We all enjoy different takes on things and interactive exchange has its own rewards. For instance, Renaissance Golf Design's Christmas card was lying on my kitchen table, showing an heroic par three akin to the scale of the epic 9th at Yale. Dad glanced at it, and said, "How do you get there?' I explained that the photo was taken from the tee and you hit over the water to the distant monster green. Dad responded, 'No, I mean how do you physically get from the tee to the green? I thought you said this was a Doak course? Since when did he start building cart ball courses?' I was stunned! I had been admiring the photo on and off for a week since receiving it and the thought never crossed my mind.  :-\I told Dad that I was sure the walk path must just be cropped off one side or the other but he was unimpressed, saying, 'Why not include it? Otherwise, it sends the wrong message.'

One moral of the story is don't ever try to separate a Morrissett from his trolley but another is simply that two reasonable people can look at the same information and have significantly different takes. THIS IS GREAT AND IT IS AS IT SHOULD BE. People are free to disagree but for the love of God, be decent about it. JFK once noted, ' Civility isn't a sign of weakness' - and he was right. A regular poster sent me a very kind email recently and in part, he wrote, 'In a world where bad behavior is taken for granted it would be great for GCA to continue to set an example for public discourse and elucidation of perceptions. That would make the site transcend the niche genre and have a wider influence, which would be a real achievement and indeed, an incredible one.' Lofty goals but who here isn't up for that?

Bottom line: Ben and I will keep trying to foster the kind of environment where opinions/thoughts can be exchanged within the Discussion Group in a sprightly manner.

What does 2011 hold? We are exploring the idea of streaming video for one thing, both for individual hole analysis and for doing Feature Interviews for instance. We also kick off 2011 with two great In My Opinion pieces re: Cherokee CC in Tennessee by Mike Threlkeld & Ken Creed and on Palouse Ridge Golf Club by Todd Lupkes, CGCS. January's Feature Interview is from England and then we shift our attention eastward to the Isle of Slyt for February's Feature Interview with Rolf-Stephan Hansen. A profile on Royal Hague (which gets my vote as continental Europe's best course) will go live in one week or so. People like Christoph Meister, Paul Turner, Tom MacWood, and Tom Paul made the course profiles that were added to the Courses by Country section less bad in 2010 than in years gone past and I am very appreciative of the time that these people graciously spent.

As always Ben and I are keen to receive feedback and hear your thoughts on how we can make the site better. After all, there are no road maps for this  kind of thing. What is acceptable to post and what should be off limits on a site devoted to golf course architecture? Personally, it is awkward for me to see a club pumped on the Discussion Group knowing that the club has gummy
financials or one where an owner has run afoul of the law. Still, it is a site for golf course architecture and not the National Enquirer so I suppose mum is the word.

Overall, wasn't 2010 a net positive for golf course architecture? Far fewer bad courses opened and many fine old ones continued with welcome refinements. What's not to like about that?! Some outstanding work has been quietly done at places like Oyster Harbour, Quaker Ridge and Whippoorwill while other work has been done amongst great fan fare such as at LA North  and Pinehurst No. 2 (the work on Pinehurst No. 2 is the subject matter for the March 2011 Feature Interview fyi).

Golf as a sport though suffered another down year, low lighted by the over commercialized Ryder Cup and the total disregard shown to women's golf by the de minimis coverage granted to their premier (albeit rain delayed) event. Though television failed to stir interest, remember: TV wasn't around in the 1920s and that was a Golden Age for the sport. We are all here more vested in the health of the sport itself rather than the coverage of the sport. So what that the roots of golf don't necessarily lend themselves to selling magazines or driving ad traffic for web sites? FORTUNATELY, thanks to the generosity of those people listed in the Contribution Section, GolfClubAtlas is in the ideal position to focus on the joys of core golf. Profiteering or other masked commercial interests in no way drive the running of this web site. If we so choose, we can dwell on the pleasures of a bag slung over one's shoulder, walking along with the family clumber spaniel on Chobham Common while battling a friend in match play. Such moments capture the heart of the game, which I think beats as strong as ever. Yes, layers of folderol get dumped on it from time to time but it is up to us to articulate those things that are enduring vs. whose that aren't.

Hopefully, all of us here will continue to add to golf course architecture (and therefore the sport) in 2011 as opposed to merely taking golf for granted. Criticism of the past helps shine the light forward and that is the role that we can each aspire to when we post information on this site. With that in mind, we look forward to another robust year on GolfClubAtlas.com and thank each and every one of you for electing to spending time here and making GolfClubAtlas.com the best it can be.

Cheers,

Ran & Ben
« Last Edit: January 06, 2011, 06:35:53 AM by Ran Morrissett »

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2011, 09:01:05 PM »
congrats Ran and Ben, and thanks for letting me be a part of the GCA family...playing a good golf course is my second favorite thing in life (spending time with my family is number 1), and GCA has enhanced that experience, taught me much about that passion, and also introduced me to many fine people

here's to a great 2011!
197 played, only 3 to go!!

Peter Pallotta

Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2011, 09:07:41 PM »
Thanks, Ran, for everything (including these occasional posts and your reviews -- which go a long way in setting the tone and tenor of the place).

The site reminds me of a great spaghetti western, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."  Yes, some of us are the 'extras', i.e. the southern Italians playing American Civil War soldiers, our untrained voices badly dubbed into halting English.  But luckily there are still enough Blondies around finding the treasure buried long ago in un-marked graves to make up both for us and for the tough mercenaries like Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach (who, it needs to be said, are nevertheless pretty good with the gun).

Long live Clint Eastwood!! Streaming video - for me not so much.

Best
Peter      

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +1/-1
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2011, 09:41:38 PM »
Hi Ran,

Re:  our Xmas card:  Tell your dad there will be a walk bridge going across the pond down low; then you'll walk back across the bridge and up to the next tee.  No cart access to that side ... you get the mowers in from the back [actually, from the 18th hole on Bill's course]. 

We just haven't pumped the lake down to build the bridge yet; we are still trying to sort out how to keep the alligators from attacking people at the crossing!

P.S.  Happy New Year!  Come see us if you're down that way.

Willie_Dow

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2011, 10:41:44 PM »
Thanks Ran for a good year !

But think ahead.  An interview with Jack Whitaker and Tom Doak, with the backdrop Shell's Wonderful World of Golf is still on my mind.

How can you and Ben put this together ?

Expense ? vs Return = how

Steve Lang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2011, 07:03:24 AM »
 8) Ran,

Many thanks to you and Ben for continuing to sustain golfclubatlas.com,  and best wishes to you'all and the families for 2011.. 

Now, I sure hope that you're not the one touting 3 decades of GCA since 1999.. ??? ::) ::)   .. some postuers might then claim 11..

Looking Forward to the next time we cross paths,
Bright Moments, Bright Moments Man !  (RRK)
Inverness (Toledo, OH) cathedral clock inscription: "God measures men by what they are. Not what they in wealth possess.  That vibrant message chimes afar.
The voice of Inverness"


PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2011, 09:23:40 AM »
Ran & Ben:

Thank you for everything you both do to keep GolfClubAtlas running and as strong as ever. Here's to another 3 decades! :)

Dan:

I love those links! Very neat. However, I was disappointed to see that it's not possible to click on any of the discussion board threads to read what was posted!
H.P.S.

Kris Shreiner

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2011, 10:44:03 AM »
Ran and Ben,

Thank you both for hosting what, for me, and I believe many others, is the most stimulating portal for golf architecture discourse on the planet. I think there is very little to fear in the demise of GCA by other outlets. The contributors on this site are too insightful and diverse to be usurped. That said, as you touched on, we should strive to evolve and keep the bar high.

"Vested in the health of the game"... that is the most important responsibility facing all of us who love golf. Price-points and presentation may vary, but at whatever level or model, we must strive to give it our best effort.  To the degree we share and learn from each other, taking the time and effort to illuminate others when prudent or practical, will determine what the future holds. As individuals, it is easy to dismiss what one can do. We can simply shrug or do nothing, taking comfort in the excuse that these things are beyond our control or influence. Nonsense! We all can make an effort to add something.

Of all the wonderful things that GCA contributed to this group and golf in 2010, what Richard Mandell and his cohorts organized this year was most significant to me. The discussion of "affordable golf'"...with all its varients, in the approach presented at Pinehurst, was a first.

Some on this site poo-poo'd it. Those that were there and understand what's at stake came away which a much different view. I encourage ALL of you to try and make an effort to attend the next Symposium, Nov.7-8, 2011 at Pinehurst. It's that important.

Ran and Ben, my New Year's resolution is to try and master the technology(bit of a cyberdummy, I'm afraid), so that I can post some course architecture pictoral posts this year. Sincere thanks to all the GCA gang for to adding to my love for the game this past year. Share and play well in 2011!

Cheers,
Kris Shreiner  8)

"I said in a talk at the Dunhill Tournament in St. Andrews a few years back that I thought any of the caddies I'd had that week would probably make a good golf course architect. We all want to ask golfers of all abilities to get more out of their games -caddies do that for a living." T.Doak

Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2011, 11:46:08 AM »
Ran and Ben,

I count the same way you do, so congratulations on entering your third year of giving real architects and frustrated armchair golf course architects like me a venue to discuss the many topics that make it into the discussion group on a daily basis.  I've been privileged to meet both of you on several occasions, much to my delight.  You're both fun, interesting, knowledgeable and passionate.  Thanks for everything you do and good luck on Cabot Links.  I'll be sure to make it up there sometime soon after it opens.

Cheers!
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2011, 04:39:31 PM »
Ran and Ben, thanks for the update and review of your website.  I just realized my annual contribution had negligently lapsed to about an annual and a half one...  :-[  But, I just corrected that as the least I can do to compensate for the bandwidth that I take up around here...  ::)

I do think that if you get something up and running regarding making video clips of interesting hole corridors or features of particular golf design easy to post, then talk about in discussion will significantly move the ball forward.  Of course it might come with a little advanced prerequisite training on how to do that, and serious admonishment to keep it to golf design vignettes and not some guy at a GCA official or unofficial 19th hole, doing something funny but not related to GCArchitecture.  That might be a fine line you'll have to edit...  ::) hopefully not.  Also, for us technically challenged, it might require a side 'how to' section.  I don't know what extra cost that might entail as far as operation this website.   I reckon if it is too much, then maybe not possible.  But, if it can be done efficiently, I do really think it has great enhancement for the discussion of GCA.  It seems to me that one properly videographed hole corridor from tee to green, with zoom and proper angle could really bring more recognition of the interesting aspects of the design that may not come through on snapshots.  These excellent hole by hole 'discussions in progress' that have been trending here in the last few years would be all that much more spectacular with video, IMO. 

Again, thanks for your efforts and congrats on those GCA  in 3 decades!  ;D ;)
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Brett_Morrissy

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2011, 06:51:48 PM »
Thanks Ran and Ben,
GolfClubAtlas.com means a great deal after an early brief start and then lurking for the mid section, this third phase of my GCA experience continues to give me great experience(s) and knowledge. It has in fact bought about life changing views and attitudes in my approach to golf course architecture and design, my playing of the game and meeting many like-minded souls!
Thank you.

The future may 'have to' include Facebook and Twitter, but those products will only serve to enhance and grow GCA, providing easier access to forums and 'guest' posters on those platforms. Both those, and their future competitors will make great servants of GolfClubAtlas, delivering variety to the members of GCA in how they interact and participate in both the forums and the other great information and knowledge sharing areas of the website. In the past four days alone - on the 6 or 7 threads I have posted on - I have received maybe 150 emails notifying me of new posts to threads ( my choice to select this option notification), this in itself, provides an opportunity enhancing this process for greater user interactivity and ease of use.

Cheers and enjoyable golf to you both

Brett Morrissy
« Last Edit: January 06, 2011, 04:44:40 AM by Brett Morrissy »
@theflatsticker

Jim Nugent

Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2011, 12:59:06 AM »
I join the others in thanking Ran and Ben for this great site.

Can anyone tell me how Facebook or Twitter might make GCA.com meaningless? 

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2011, 10:41:25 AM »
Can anyone tell me how Facebook or Twitter might make GCA.com meaningless? 

Some folks are easily distracted... :)

Thanks as always, Ran and Ben. You've touched a lot of lives.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2011, 11:45:35 AM »
I join the others in thanking Ran and Ben for this great site.

Can anyone tell me how Facebook or Twitter might make GCA.com meaningless? 

maybe some of the contentions threads should have 140 character post limits!
197 played, only 3 to go!!

Scott Stearns

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2011, 12:20:32 PM »
Who was Hamilton B Hearst?

Dan Herrmann

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #16 on: January 07, 2011, 07:05:24 AM »
Scott,
That remains one of golf's greatest mysteries :)


Honestly, I think GCA has had a very positive effect on the industry.  When you start hearing "firm and fast" on national TV....


« Last Edit: January 07, 2011, 07:08:00 AM by Dan Herrmann »

Gene Greco

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #17 on: January 07, 2011, 10:28:11 AM »
Scott,
That remains one of golf's greatest mysteries :)

Honestly, I think GCA has had a very positive effect on the industry. 

Overall, absolutely!

It had a significant influence in having our membership approve the restoration project!

Thank you Ran, John and Ben!
"...I don't believe it is impossible to build a modern course as good as Pine Valley.  To me, Sand Hills is just as good as Pine Valley..."    TOM DOAK  November 6th, 2010

Pete_Pittock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #18 on: January 07, 2011, 07:51:32 PM »
When I read an artcle in a golf magazine it will occasionally nudge a memory recalling an earlier thread on GCA.
Thanks Ran, and Ben for keeping the forum going. It digresses and stresses because it's still a pre-teen. 

Mike Cirba

Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #19 on: January 08, 2011, 10:11:21 AM »
Who was Hamilton B Hearst?

Scott,

I know, but if I told you I'd surely be killed, slowly and painfully at that.

There are some secrets best left at that.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2011, 11:05:12 AM by MCirba »

George_Bahto

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #20 on: January 08, 2011, 11:02:39 AM »
Hammy Hearst is a live and well - he's been counting his $$  and lately he's been learning how to pilot his new Citation X. The drive from NY City to the Hamptons is just a bore
If a player insists on playing his maximum power on his tee-shot, it is not the architect's intention to allow him an overly wide target to hit to but rather should be allowed this privilege of maximum power except under conditions of exceptional skill.
   Wethered & Simpson

Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #21 on: January 08, 2011, 12:33:03 PM »
Ran and Ben-
Thanks for creating and keeping this great site up and running.  With the possible exception of a couple of work-related blogs, this is easily the website I visit most. 

Tiger_Bernhardt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: GolfClubAtlas.com 1999-2010
« Reply #22 on: January 09, 2011, 11:21:34 PM »
Ran, You and Ben have brought a vehicle for so much joy to come into so many lives. And more than pure pleasure is the amount of knowledge brought to us about a part of this game which is imho not covered in a comprehensive way. May GCA continue to grow and reach more and more golfers around the world.

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