[George Pazin]

Joe's another one of those guys I consider a good friend, even though we've never met. On a site full of really good guys, he's one of the gooder ones.

I'll try to dig up some more info, hopefully Joe will do a little mini bio, and your job is to think of some interesting questions.

Have at it...

-----

On Deck: armchair architect enthusiast supreme, Charlie Goerges

5 most recent participants:

Kelly Blake Moran

Scott Warren

Jordan Wall

John Moore

Jason Topp

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Get To Know participants

[Anthony Gray]

  I'll be up all night!!

  Anthony

[Anthony Gray]

  Joe

  What is the name of the course you owned?

  Does JC Jones snore?

  Your dream job?

  How many children?

  Is golf course mantainance a science?

  Just a start.............Anthony

[Joe Hancock]

  Joe

  What is the name of the course you owned?

      Grand Island Golf Course, Belmont, MI    NLE

  Does JC Jones snore?

  Not sure.

  Your dream job?

   El Boqueron. Not only because it's a MacKenzie design, but the people we had lined up to work with on the project would have been phenomenally fun, and all are passionate people about golf/ construction. I can't name names because some of them have jobs.

  How many children?

    3 1/2.

  Is golf course mantainance a science?

    Yes. And an art. The people who do it best are very smart AND very intuitive.

  Just a start.............Anthony

[Carl Nichols]

Joe:
If you could only play one course for the rest of your life, which would you choose, and why?

[George Pazin]

Standard questions:

What brought you to golf?

Architecture?

This site?

[Anthony Gray]

  Joe,

  Have you played Cruden Bay?

  TOC?

  Bandon?

 What is next on your list of must play?

  Where did you grow up?

  Anthony

[Norbert P]

. . .    I'll try to dig up some more info, hopefully Joe will do a little mini bio, and your job is to think of some interesting questions.  . . .

 Where do you hail from?

 Wine or beer?
 Gin n Tonic or Boilermaker?

 Specifically, what onsite job(s) do you gravitate towards?

  What's your favorite piece of heavy machinery?

What's your favorite piece of small machinery?

Do you know Kate Winslet's phone number?

Have you seen the El Boqueron site?

What's in your portfolio of courses?

Who's in your portfolio of courses?

When will college football develop a playoff tournament?

[Joe Hancock]

Carl,

You asked a tough one. On one hand, there's the issue of climate. Playing in an always warm place would make sense. Then there's the quality of the golf course.....it has to hold your attention forever! Then, of course, we have sentimentality. I have had the pleasure of working on some very good golf courses and you develop a relationship with them. So, at the end of the day, my answer is.....I'll get back to you as I sort it out!

George,

I started in golf by going to the course with my Dad when he played. He was a decent player, and as his son, I wanted to do what Dad did. My Dad also took me to hit range balls at Grand Island when I was little. I remember bragging to him when I finally hit one over the ditch on the fly...a whopping 40 yards off the tee! The range has those cool ball dispensers with the arm that fed the ball directly to the rubber tee.

My path to architecture is a continuous one. After I had started working on the maintenance crew at Grand Island, i started to notice where people aimed on certain holes to get an advantage....that's architecture at work! When i lived in NC, I thought The Dunes Club (RTJ) was awesome....and I still like it. I played Crystal Downs, for the first time....and I think I had no idea of what I just experienced (1990-ish). It wasn't until I started spending a lot of time with Mike DeVries, and eventually building with him, that a lot of pieces of the puzzle started coming together. I doubt there is an end to the learning, which is why the path is continuous.

Mike DeVries also is responsible for pointing me to GCA.com. It was after his first Feature interview was posted and he want to get my opinion. Well, I gave him that, but I also decided it was a great place to hang out and learn. It is my pleasure when i also get the rare chance to teach a thing or two here as well.

Anthony,

Unfortunately, I haven't made it to the UK....yet. With most of my career being that of a superintendent, and having a young family, I never had either the time or the money to do the Holy Grail of golf.

I have been to Bandon...once. I played the Trails course in perfect weather and loved it. I also played Pac Dunes but in an awful deluge. It must have rained three inches during the round. I was fighting a bad flare up of plantar facitis (sp?) and was less than focused on how good the course is. I hope to get back soon.

The course I'd like to see, domestically, the most is probably Old MacDonald. The list of courses to see is long.....I would like to see more of Langford and Moreau's work, as well as seeing as much of Dr. Mackenzie's work.

Where did I grow up? Is this a trick question? Ask anyone who knows me...I haven't.

Joe
 

[Anthony Gray]

  Joe,

  Favorite Xmass movie?

  Favorite story in the Bible?

  Favorite desert?

  Favorite bunker style?

  Favorite club in your bag?

  Do you have orange pants?

  Anthony

[Billsteele]

Joe-Could you talk about the DeVries courses in Michigan and what each of them shows about Mike as an architect?

Aside from the DeVries courses, what Michigan courses would you recommend to an Ohio boy who strays too far north and why would you make those recommendations?

I know you want to, so why not tell us about that bunker that DeVries let you build?

[Mike Nuzzo]

Who is the best golf course architect?*
*The terms of this ranking are based on amount of beer supplied to you at the job site.

When are you coming back to South Texas?

What are you listening to these days while on the dozer?

Cheers

[Joe Hancock]

Slag,

I grew up near Grand Rapids, Michigan, and after a few other locations9 NC, Northern Michigan), I live within a couple miles of where I grew up.

I do both wine and beer in moderation, and am not a snob per se, but I don't much fancy the typical domestic beers. I like gin and tonics, but again...moderation!

I don't understand the on-site job question......are you asking which features I enjoy building most?

Fav big equipment- Bulldozer

Fav small equipment- shovel

I have no phone numbers of celeb's, female or male. Unless you consider Don Mahaffey a celebrity.

I have seen the El Boq site. I like it a lot, and hope the project gets financed. It feels right.

My portfolio, in (mostly)chronological order:

Grand Island GC (Belmont, MI NLE)
Fox Squirrel CC (now called The Lakes, in Southport NC)
Landfall Club (Wrightsville Beach, NC)
Carolina Pines G&CC (New Bern, NC)
The Rose GC (Cadillac, MI)
Grand Island GC (see above)
The Mines GC (Grand Rapids, MI)
Redlands CC (Redlands, CA)
Kalamazoo CC (Kalamazoo, MI)
Battle Creek CC (Battle Creek, MI)
Gull Lake CC (Richlands, MI)
Sunningdale CC (Scarsdale, NY)
Cascade Hills CC (Grand Rapids, MI)
Wolf Point GC (Port Lavaca, TX)
Huntsman Springs (Driggs, ID)
The Meadow Club (Fairfax, CA)
Egypt Valley CC (Ada, MI)
The Meadows @ GVSU (Allendale, MI)
Blythefield CC (Belmont, MI)
King's Challenge GC (Cedar, MI)
Barton Hills (Ann Arbor, MI)


I don't know if I got everything, but remember that on some course it was from the ground up, and many of the jobs were tees or greens or bunkers....but I've been fortunate to be able to work on so many properties in some capacity or another.

Who's in my portfolio? You mean in a name dropping kind of way?

BCS.....not sure what I can say that hasn't been written already. I think it's a shame that Cincy isn't getting a chance.


Joe

[Joe Hancock]

Anthony,

I've already typed more today than I have in the past month, so keep that in mind....

Fav Christmas Movie: A Wonderful Life

Fav Bible story: "When Lefty let Fatty have it" 

Fav Desert: The Sahara (but, if I understand you at all, my answer changes to a tie between cheesecake and creme brulee)

Fav bunker style: The one that fits the property and soil conditions best, both functionally and aesthetically

Fav club: No such thing. I hate them all equally.

No orange pants, and before you get any funny ideas, please don't send any. 

Joe

[Eric Smith]

Joe,

It was great meeting you in Aiken.  As I suspected from knowing you on here, you are a regular Joe and I mean that as a compliment I assure you.

I've thought about these questions for a while, seeing that you were due up to bat back in the first inning before schedules changed.

Anway here's the first pitch...

When did you know you wanted to shape golf courses, rather than operate one? 

Did you have prior experience operating the heavy equipment?

Was it difficult learning to use the dozer fairly proficiently? Please expound...

Is there opportunity for you to take part in the actual design process as well as the construction?  Any examples?

Please tell the truth, could you, as lead dog, design and build a golf course for a client? 

Please tell the truth, could I?

Seeing your answer regarding visiting the UK put a smile on my face because I'm glad you haven't been there yet because, well I haven't either. But I am planning to go to Buda VIII next September with the merry band of gcaers, many of the same good folks we hung with in Aiken and I think it would be HUGE if you were to go to.  (Think Hugh Wilson's voyage, CBM's, Tom Doak's...).  I think you know what I'm getting at...I actually need you to drive me around there since you're left handed!  I'll pay your deposit to Sean right frigging now so your trip just got $160 cheaper.  St. Alberts needs you on this one... What do you say Joe?

Take a few minutes to mull it over.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Eric

[Joe Hancock]

Bill,

Let me try the search function on here for a bit...years ago I wrote a description of Mike's courses, in an unconventional way. I want to revisit what I said then vs. what I think now.

Courses in Michigan worth a visit? Well, let me throw out a couple that you've likely never heard of, since all the usual suspects have been recommended many times.

Shadow Ridge GC, Ionia, MI- It's a nine hole course designed by Donald Ross, and it has not been touched much. I know of one bunker that was filled in, and a couple bumps added in the rough on one hole. The second hole is a 230 yard par 3, uphill into a punchbowl green. Very fun golf.

Marquette Trails GC, Baldwin, MI- A family built and owned golf course, it has some of the most fun, adventurous greens I've seen without having a famous name attached. I asked the owner, Joe Baloulis about the greens, and his response was "just a couple guys with dozers and beer". There's more depth of thought into them than that, though. They do a pretty good job at the right maintenance too....as long as you're not too much of a pimped-out kinda guy.

The first bunker Mike "let" me build is on the 12th @ The Mines. After some pushing, I asked "what next?" He said "nothing, that's it!" Except with Mike, what he meant was "nothing right now, but later we will hand finish, with shovels and rakes, each and every bunker we build...ourselves!"

Joe

[Tom Yost]

Joe;

I would be interested to know which course you have found to have the best smelling divots.

[Anthony Gray]

  Joe,

  What is good for finger cramps?

  Warren Spahn, Phil Mickelson or Ehud?

  What is your waste size?

  What goes better with bright orange? Bright orange or bright orange?

  Bar-B-Que.....Dry rub or Wet sauce?

  Ever had a hole in one?

  Anthony

 

[Joe Hancock]

Mike,

The best architect is the one who calls me up with a job......

I am actually in discussions with a certain unnamed South Texan, in hopes of revisiting and seeing a finished product...perhaps in January or February.

My favorites on the iPod/ amplifier/ Ultimate Ears dozing rig are:

Medeski, Martin and Wood (new kids album- Let's Go Everywhere)

Organissmo

Herbie Hancock (of course!)

Miles Davis

Little Feat (Waiting for Columbus, particularly)

Hope to see you soon,

Joe

[Joe Hancock]

Joe;

I would be interested to know which course you have found to have the best smelling divots.

 

Kingsley...almost to the point of me wanting to market a mens cologne based on that delicious earthy smell. I need to talk to Mike Young about that...he has way more business acumen than I......

The secret is in the irrigation regime.....seriously......

Joe

[JC Jones]

Joe,

If I can get Eric Smith to come up north for a long weekend this summer, will you either a) join us or b) give us the nickel tour at the Mines?

Will you commit to 1 round of golf with me in 2010 since we are at 0 for 2009?

When are you coming to Florida?

Did you make Lou listen to all that obscure jazz crap you have on your ipod, or is that just for special people like me?

How was your thanksgiving?

[Ian Andrew]

A feature you have seen on your travels that should be incorporated more - but isn't?

Hardest Old Dead Architect to re-create?

Best "on site" story you can tell here.

[Eric Smith]

Thanks a lot Anthony for making me wait it out on Joe's response.  What does work for finger cramps?

JC - I'm there bud, anytime, thanks.

[Joe Hancock]

Eric,

Likewise, i enjoyed meeting you very much. I have yet to meet anyone from GCA.com that I found to be as objectionable in person as they are in their online personna.....

I discovered my passion for shaping at The Mines....under Mike D's tutelage. I did that job while I still owned Grand Island, and I subsequently traveled w/ Mike in several other jobs while still owning GI. I had some great guys at GI that took care of things just fine while I was away.

I had some experience on heavy equipment, but I found that it was a very basic skill set...I could "operate" the machines......shaping is a whole other skill and mentality. It was, and still is, a wonderful learning curve...I love discovering new ways to shape...new shapes....and I focus a lot on how the shapes work for the game of golf. It's one thing to build something cool looking, but it has to function well for golf. I think a good shaper is like a good musician; they know where they want to end up but don't need to work or think about how to get there...it's intuitive, and that takes lots of hours (practice). If you watch a good musician, they make it look effortless...watching a good shaper is much the same.

I think by default, the shaper is involved with the design process. For me, I like to ask why we're doing something, or why not....some architects are good teachers and it can and should be a mutually enjoyable process. I understand from stories, that many times ego's get in the way.....

Hmmm...could I design a course? Sure. Do I have all the technical skills to plan ahead, make sure everything is done in the appropriate sequence, etc.? Maybe. Can I draw(draftsman) well enough to do what's necessary for permitting, bidding, etc.? No....You'd have to ask yourself the same questions to determine your ability to pull it off.....

Buda....hmmmm...tempting!

Joe

[Joe Hancock]

JC,

Buddy, I was hoping you'd obey the rules and wait until tomorrow.....

At the current rate of employment, yes, I'll spend a great deal of time with you, Eric and any one of the treehouse gang that wants to come to Michigan to play golf!

I am trying to make a FL trip sometime this winter. I need to visit dad in Winter Haven, especially.

I spared Lou with the music...I didn't want to scare him off......

Thanksgiving was great, thank you. Both birds were terrific, thanks to the brining, but the charcoal'd bird won the Best Of category....

Joe

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