Why "Scratching the Surface"?

“NO ASPECT OF THE PAST, HOWEVER GRAND IT MAY APPEAR, IS TO BE REGARDED AS SUPERIOR TO THE PRESENT MOMENT”

 emerson

A few have asked about the title of my blog, "Scratching the Surface". Scratching the surface is what we do when we create a golf course. In one way or another, we scratch at the surface of the earth. Sometimes we need to scratch more than others. The second meaning has more to do with the purpose of this blog. The art of golf course architecture is in its infancy. And in my opinion, lagging behind other allied arts (including other niches within Landscape Architecture) in the development of ideas and contemporary theory. There are many reasons for this. Many involved in design are not qualified or formally trained. And the majority of today's golf architects are focused on (or hiding behind) the past and "classical design". They offer nothing new. Ideas are inbred and stale. Honestly, when was the last time you heard an architect say anything interesting about their work? Templates and berms are two words for "I have nothing new to offer". Fresh ideas are hard to find and discussions about design are overly simplistic. The profession is starved for new ideas and plagiarism is rampant. To be certain, the history of golf design is important and foundational to developing an understanding of the profession. And I love the old classic courses and confess to being a Ross-head myself. But it is all Golf Course History 101. It's freshman year of design at college. It's time to move beyond and offer true and original interpretations of what a golf course can be. And that doesn't mean abandoning all of the wonderful characteristics of great historical design anymore than one would in building architecture (or as my nephew Ryan says, "real architecture"). Scale, proportion, balance, juxtaposition, etc. are all important. But great architecture is not just about recreating the past. It also involves being here now. And in that way, we are just beginning to "Scratch the Surface".