GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture
Thank you for a great first 20 years!
Mike Sweeney:
The "147 Custodians" was a great addition to the site. Moving forward maybe there could be a similar "147 Old School/Niche Playing Grounds" along the lines of the conversation from the "Shrink the Game" thread:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,66699.0.html
"I love the intimate strategies of golf on 110 acres. The fun around the practice area. Playing 54 holes and more in one day. Golf does not need to be big. We need 6 hole golf courses, 9 hole courses, 12 hole courses, 5,500 yard courses. But they must be clever, interesting, engaging and FUN."
First nomination for Skyway Golf Course: https://www.skywaygolfcourse.com
Tommy Williamsen:
Ran, thanks for the opportunity to grow in my understanding of what makes a good golf course. I have changed my mind on many things. Among them is “width is a good thing” and “tree-lined holes don’t necessarily make for good golf.” I have been a GOLF DIGEST panelist for 26 years and this site has made be better at rating courses.
It was fun to do a “My Home Course” as “In My Opinion” used to be called. My photo essay on Ballyhack continues to be one of the most viewed threads on the site, with 344 Replies 29010 Views.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,59848.0.html
My profile says that I have spent 51 days, 8 hours, and 46 minutes on the site! I have made friends and have discovered courses I never would have played because of this site. Above all, this has been fun. I do miss some of the posters who left. While they could get animated periodically, our site is poorer because they left.
I find myself going back to the interviews and “Courses by Country” occasionally. They are a bonus and I always learn something.
I know the next twenty years will be even better than the first twenty.
Morgan Clawson:
Ran,
Thank you for hosting our far flung group of golf architecture students. It's a great community to belong to!
John Mayhugh:
Ran,
I haven’t been around for the whole twenty years, but have certainly benefited immensely from Golf Club Atlas. It has been a delight to read your course profiles and those of forum contributors like Arble & Rowlinson. As a result, I’ve seen courses I might never have even heard of otherwise. My knowledge and playing experiences have increased over the years, thanks largely to the generosity of people on this site. I don’t know that my own tastes have changed all that much, but I know far better what I like, why I like it, and most importantly – where to find courses that interest me.
Sometimes I wonder what my golf life would have been like had I not stumbled across this site looking for photos of Yale. I had played Yale for the first time in 1990, and it made an indelible impression on me. But between then and 2003 or so, I had played very few courses that resonated with me. Then I discovered Golf Club Atlas and the repository of information and the network of people with overlapping interests. This includes current posters, those that are registered and rarely post, those that read and have never posted, those that left GCA, and those that have left us. I have friends in every one of those categories.
Looking at the Contributions page, there are five people listed that have passed away: George Bahto, Tiger Bernhardt, Bob Huntley, Bill McBride, & Scott Wood. I had the pleasure of spending time with each of them, especially Bob, Bill, & Scott. I am grateful that this site allowed us to meet and become friends, and running across their old posts sometimes makes me smile. The discussion group allows them to stay with us in some small way. I’m all for pruning away junk threads if it improves the chances of running across wisdom from past discussions. But hopefully we won’t lose what they contributed just because no one has commented on that thread for some time.
What needs to change for the future? On the discussion group, I can think of two things to make it better. More searchability options for the discussion group would be great. Some of those old threads could come to life but they aren’t necessarily easy to find. Also local photo hosting would be fantastic. I realize that there are reasons for not doing this, but how nice it would be for a photo tour links to be stable, and not subject to photobucket or its ilk changing policies.
An instagram page is a good idea. I think people like Andy Johnson are reaching a broader audience through photos. Maybe some just look at the photos and move on, but there’s a level of interest and enthusiasm for golf architecture out there. And you definitely have the photos to do this. Imagine posting a couple of your photos of Huntercombe’s greens along with a link to the course profile. I cannot see how anyone could resist going to GCA to see and learn more.
Podcasts are great, but don’t move too far away from the written stuff. You’re too good at it.
Thanks for the time that you, Ben, Joe, & Chris devote to this. I can promise you it’s not wasted.
Ira Fishman:
I am still a relative Rookie on GCA.com so my views should be taken with a grain of salt. At a personal level, the GCA ecosystem has been transformative. Woking, Golspie, Brora. No way I would ever otherwise experienced those courses. Next year Kilspindie and Elie. Looking at and appreciating old favorites Mid Pines and Pine Needles through new and improved lenses.
I truly appreciate the patience and generosity of the people here who explain issues and offer suggestions to me as a novice. That is particularly true of the Professional Architects, Superintendents, and Shapers on topics ranging from routing to drainage to grass varieties. But it also is true of fellow golfers who I probably will never meet who give detailed recommendations on courses to play and perhaps OT
issues like restaurants, equipment, and work outs.
And the diverse perspectives from all over the world plus the analogies to other sports, arts, and music are mentally stimulating and educational.
Going forward, I agree that improving the search function would be a major practical improvement.
At a more macro level, I would hope that we can find more ways to encourage and enable more women to post regularly. It is a voice(s) of enormous importance as GCA.com pursues its mission over the next 20 years.
Thanks again for including me.
Ira
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