Where Design Inspiration Comes From – Some Thoughts to Consider

Consider this: Not all music is inspired by other music; not all paintings are inspired from other paintings; not all architecture is inspired by other architecture; not all writing is inspired by other writing; and not all golf architecture should be inspired by other golf architecture.

It was 1994 and I was doing some research during my graduate studies. I contacted a few prominent “Golf Course Architects” to ask some questions in regards to design. What I was interested in at the time was the inspiration or conceptualization of the final forms of the golf holes. I remember one conversation in particular. I asked this architect about “form generation” and where he got his ideas for the forms and features of the golf course. There was dead silence. It was like I was speaking a foreign language. Most well known building architects can articulate where their forms are inspired by. But when it comes to golf design, I am continually struck by the “shallowness” of it. I went on to explain that a Ross bunker doesn’t look like a MacKenzie bunker, and so they obviously had different inspirations for design. What I am asking is, “What is your inspiration? What is leading your forms to become what they are?” I guess maybe he never thought about it, which I found incredible. Yet 16 years later, you rarely hear a “Golf Course Architect” talk about their inspiration. Or when you do, it is always about other golf holes, historical courses, or dead architects. I am so tired of hearing –“This hole was inspired by (fill in some classic golf hole here)” Or, as every architect now claims, “I am inspired by the classic golf courses of the golden age of golf design”, and not those “horribly boring modern designs!” How convenient, how cliché, and how easy it is to try to align oneself with the esteemed architecture of the past. The only problem with this is that they were creating original designs. What do you have to offer? My eyes glaze over every time I hear the “Classic Design” cliché. Enough already, we got that back in 101 Design Theory. There are indeed important foundational principles and characteristics of classical golf design, just as there is in building architecture. But they are to be built upon, not plagiarized. I, for one, am very skeptical of the “template” mentality. I speak as a designer, as one who creates. Not as an architectural critic. As a critic, it is often very useful to describe new holes in comparing them to older designs. This is to describe – it’s not about the genesis of the form. But as a designer - as one who creates - I believe great architecture at its best is original, intuitive, comes from within and can be inspired by a variety of sources – not just the study of other golf holes, or great golf course architects.

As Emerson said,
“Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare.”

Think about it.

Hibernation Design

“They steal upon the sleeping mind while winter steals upon the landscape, sealing the inviting cups beneath sheets of ice, cloaking the contours of the fairway in snow.”

John Updike - opening line to Golf Dreams

The photo shown here is the view from my studio window this morning. As a Golf Course Architect in the Northeast, I am often asked by folks that don’t know the industry, “What do you do in the winter?” I usually tell them that I plow snow – (and in this economy, I might make better money doing it!) But honestly, I prefer the break from the game of golf itself and welcome as much snow as possible between December and February. Come March, I am ready for a couple of months of warmer sunshine, but January and February are wonderful times to walk or cross country ski in the winter landscape and work on next seasons designs. “Hibernation Design” I call it. And it can be one of the most creative times of the year for me. Blowing snow and rounded forms provide inspiration much in the same way that blowing sand and beach forms do. The process of nature is visible and the palette is clean in new fallen snow. Rough forms are softened. There is also purity in the light that illuminates relief in the simplest of undulations. Well, it's time to let the dogs out and shovel again.

 By the way, for those of you that have never read Golf Dreams by John Updike, it’s the perfect time to do so. Golf Dreams is one of my favorite all time golf books.