[Josh Tarble]

There is something about Harbor Town that I don't think can be duplicated and I can't really put my finger on it.  It's one of my all-time favorite courses and I can't even describe exactly why.  It's tight, but doesn't feel claustrophobic.  It's a lined with houses, but doesn't even feel encroached.  Walking is not exactly promoted, but feels eminently walkable.  There's some sameness to the holes, but each feels completely distinct.  It's a course full of contradictions.

The one thing I keep coming back to, is that more than any other course I've played, I feel like Harbor Town nails the "journey"  Winding your way through the houses and tree lined holes all while knowing the pay off of the 16th, 17th, and 18th is one of the best examples of building anticipation.  It is just such an enjoyable experience that I don't think it can be re-created. 

[Mark Pritchett]

There is something about Harbor Town that I don't think can be duplicated and I can't really put my finger on it.  It's one of my all-time favorite courses and I can't even describe exactly why.  It's tight, but doesn't feel claustrophobic.  It's a lined with houses, but doesn't even feel encroached.  Walking is not exactly promoted, but feels eminently walkable.  There's some sameness to the holes, but each feels completely distinct.  It's a course full of contradictions.

The one thing I keep coming back to, is that more than any other course I've played, I feel like Harbor Town nails the "journey"  Winding your way through the houses and tree lined holes all while knowing the pay off of the 16th, 17th, and 18th is one of the best examples of building anticipation.  It is just such an enjoyable experience that I don't think it can be re-created.

I agree HT is greater than the sum of its parts.  Sometimes that is all that matters. 

[Josh Tarble]

There is something about Harbor Town that I don't think can be duplicated and I can't really put my finger on it.  It's one of my all-time favorite courses and I can't even describe exactly why.  It's tight, but doesn't feel claustrophobic.  It's a lined with houses, but doesn't even feel encroached.  Walking is not exactly promoted, but feels eminently walkable.  There's some sameness to the holes, but each feels completely distinct.  It's a course full of contradictions.

The one thing I keep coming back to, is that more than any other course I've played, I feel like Harbor Town nails the "journey"  Winding your way through the houses and tree lined holes all while knowing the pay off of the 16th, 17th, and 18th is one of the best examples of building anticipation.  It is just such an enjoyable experience that I don't think it can be re-created.

I agree HT is greater than the sum of its parts.  Sometimes that is all that matters.

But the parts are good too!

[Rob Marshall]

There is something about Harbor Town that I don't think can be duplicated and I can't really put my finger on it.  It's one of my all-time favorite courses and I can't even describe exactly why.  It's tight, but doesn't feel claustrophobic.  It's a lined with houses, but doesn't even feel encroached.  Walking is not exactly promoted, but feels eminently walkable.  There's some sameness to the holes, but each feels completely distinct.  It's a course full of contradictions.

The one thing I keep coming back to, is that more than any other course I've played, I feel like Harbor Town nails the "journey"  Winding your way through the houses and tree lined holes all while knowing the pay off of the 16th, 17th, and 18th is one of the best examples of building anticipation.  It is just such an enjoyable experience that I don't think it can be re-created.

I think the houses at Harbor Town blend pretty well into the trees. You know that they are there, but they don't jump out at you. Harbor Town is one of my favorite courses and one of the first I ever played where on almost every hole you can't be happy to just hit the fairway. You need to be on the proper side of the fairway. A true shot makers course. I love the 18th but always felt it was out of place on the course but I can't imagine it without it either. One of the widest easiest fairways to hit I've ever played on a tight golf course.

[Kalen Braley]

Rob,
 
That would certainly seem to be the case.  If you look at its past winners, you don't see hardly any real bomb and gougers on there..
 
Davis Love 3 - 5 wins
Stewart Cink - 2 wins
Jim Furyk - 2 wins
Payne Stewart - 2 wins
Boo Weekley - 2 wins.
 
Other notables:
Snedeker, Price, Loren Roberts, Bob Tway, Matt Kuchar

[BHoover]

Davis Love III was for many years one of the longest hitters on Tour. Yes, he often seemed to scale back on distance, but he certainly was (and maybe still is) a "bomber."  So I'm not sure he proves the point about Harbor Town favoring the shorter, more accurate player.

[Kalen Braley]

Davis Love III was for many years one of the longest hitters on Tour. Yes, he often seemed to scale back on distance, but he certainly was (and maybe still is) a "bomber."  So I'm not sure he proves the point about Harbor Town favoring the shorter, more accurate player.

Brian,
After looking at his career stats, I would have to agree...so it looks like he is a big exception here.
 
However, if you go down that list, all of those guys are/were excellent irons players.

[Benjamin Litman]

To me at least, an important caveat in Ran's initial post is that the mold-breaking course be a tournament course that actually hosts professional tournaments. That caveat--"Harbour Town was a game changer in part because it demonstrated that a tournament course could be a tournament course without looking like a 'championship' course"--disqualifies, at least for now, a lot of the courses being mentioned here. Although I wasn't alive when Harbour Town was built, my understanding is that it acquired its mold-breaking status--and corresponding fame and infamy, depending on the reviewer--precisely because it was in the public eye on a regular basis. We might hate courses built for the professionals (or at least with hosting them on occasion in mind), but we can't dispute their disproportionate influence in shaping the public's view of the game. That is why the USGA's "experiment" with the "brown is beautiful" aesthetic of the last two U.S. Open sites caused so much debate--not because the debate wasn't already happening in inner golf circles (it was), but because the debate wasn't happening in the larger, mostly American, public. But both Pinehurst and Chambers Bay were mold-breaking only with respect to conditioning, not architecture. For the latter, Merion is probably the closest we've come to Harbour Town in the last decade--although Merion, of course, was "new" only because it was really old and, at least to the public, largely forgotten. 


So what I think Ran is really getting at is whether any actually new, mold-breaking golf courses might come into the popular consciousness--not just the GCA consciousness--by virtue of hosting one or more professional tournaments. Are any of those already listed in this thread--for example, Tom's reversible design at Forest Dunes, Jim's 18-on-a-9-hole-footprint design--realistic candidates? If not, what would a realistic candidate look like (i.e., what attributes would be necessary to make it truly mold-breaking in the way Harbour Town was)? The discussion has so far focused largely on length, but that seems too narrow to me.

[David_Tepper]

Castle Stuart certainly fits the mold of being fun/enjoyable for the average golfer yet capable of successfully hosting a big-time championship event.  While its design might not be as radical as Harbor Town's was at the time, CS certainly breaks the mold of needing narrow fairways and deep, thick rough to test the best golfers in the world.

A course that both my wife and Phil Mickelson enjoy playing has got to be doing something right.    

[Carl Rogers]

After 2 trips around Sweeten's Cove at the Dixie Cup, does the all over the place design, over the top undulation, indescribable green complexes, multiple playing options course represent another approach to the game?

[Jason Topp]

Many architects have made their mark by offering a different approach than prevailed at the time. 
I often think about what I would do if I were trying to make my mark in a manner that differs from Coore/Crenshaw & Doak.  Here are a few ideas:
1.  Relatively simple greens that rely on tilt and spines rather than internal countour.  I find such greens (1) make sense to the player because it is usually obvious which way a putt breaks; (2) they pose interesting decisions on the approach because you definitely want to be below the hole but will be tempted to hit it close; and (3) the spines provide enough variety to spice it up a bit. 
The downside of such greens is that the appropriate speed matters a lot.  If they are too slow interest declines dramatically and if they are too fast it turns into clown's mouth golf. 
2.  Not quite sure how to do it but I like the idea of fewer tee markers but par varying by which tees you are playing.  A set of tees at 6500 would be a par 74 for people that play from 6000 yards, par 72 for people that normally play from 6500 and par 70 or 68 for people that play from 7000 yards or more.  I would then space the effective yardages of holes out so that the gaps from 200-300 and 450-525 are filled with holes covering those gaps.  Theoretically at least all players would play all types of holes in terms of length.  One player's long par four might be a medium/short par 4 for a low handicapper.  A mediup par 5 for the high handicapper might be a long par 4 for the long hitter. 
3.  I would have one or two tight holes.  I think playing a hole where you must put it in play is one of the fundamental challenges of the game and think it should be included on a good course.
4.  I would love to have a course that can be mowed by gang mowers like those at Wolf Point.
5.  I might get rid of tee boxes and just have the fairway run to the teeing area.  If you are using a gang mower to mow the fairway I see no downside in just mowing it back to the tee.
6.  My bunkers would be modeled on Crystal Downs' bunkers - scabs with low lips but tilted with the surrounding ground.  I think fairway bunker shots from downhill and sidehill lies might give the player more fits than bunker shots from flat lies over high lips.  Even if such shots do not prove more difficult, I think they would be more interesting for all levels of player.
7.   No native areas on my course.  I am sick of looking for balls in the weeds.  I am going to have unirrigated rough that is short but provides more variety than the fairway.
8.  I am going to have a tree or two about 100 yards off the tee that reward someone who can curve the ball one way or the other.  I find such trees interesting even when they are on the wrong side for me.
 
I am not sure that this formula would be so different that it would be perceived as a new kind of course but I think many people would enjoy playing it.

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