Architects’ Report Card Is Great Input
September 2, 2010 by Kevin Thistle
We recently had representatives of Tom Fazio out to Coppinwood, so they could take a look at how the course has matured since it was completed.
We wanted to see how we’re doing, what we’re doing well, what we can do a little better and what they think of how the golf course is maturing.
The golf course opened in June of 2006. Four years later, I’d like to know and our board of directors and members would like to know what they think. We want a fabulous golf course, so a report card from the people who built it is welcomed input.
There are always things that they would like to do. Any designer would love to add a tee here or there, or say `we’d like to do this,’ but realistically, maybe we put a three or five-year plan together to get those things done.
It’s good to get their vision. The nice thing is that the Fazio team is very, very involved with every golf course its builds.
I haven’t gotten the final report card yet, but they were very complimentary – I think the course has matured the way they wanted to see it mature.
I know they enjoy the golf course because we do get a lot of calls from owners of other Fazio courses. They’ll say, `In conversation with Mr. Fazio, he mentioned your course.’
It’s nice to see that in conversation with other owners and other club managers, he does mention our course and reference our course. It’s a compliment.
My predecessors here at Coppinwood had a very good relationship with the Fazio team and we’re continuing it. If we really wanted to do some special projects, that’s when you get their input – there’s no way I’m deciding what to do with a bunker.
I learned a long time ago that I may be an operator, but I’m not an architect. Designers and architects are amazing people and they see things that I don’t, so you leave such things to the experts.
Kevin Thistle is the general manager of Coppinwood in Uxbridge, Ontario and an oft-quoted media source for the game, including his regular thoughts through his GNN blog.
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A great point… we visited a course recently where the design of the upgrades and especially bunkering was being done by staff rather than bringing in a Golf Course Architect. Unfortunately you could see it is going to cause them playability issues for some time in the future. It is well worth the investment to have a golf course architect direct your design work.
You finished your blog with the perfect closing sentence. Too often, members and managers think they know how to design a course. They don’t and if a guy with your experience can state he would leave it to the experts, we would all be well advised to listen. Great advice!