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Though
a relative newcomer to the golf writing profession, Paul Daley
is well placed to offer his insights to Golf Travel Information
readers. A thoughtful and refreshingly original golf writer,
historian and publisher, Daley joined his current profession in
a decidedly different fashion. After eighteen years in the
pharmaceutical industry, interrupted by intermittent attempts to raise
a once two-handicap game to competitive levels, Daley realized his
passion for the non-playing aspects of the game required his
full attention. He shelved idle thoughts towards preparing for the
Senior Tour, opting to pursue a writing career primarily
on course design and golf history. He admits, "I have
always been too smitten by golf in the strictest ‘amateur’ sense
to ever fully bear down, and was never blessed with an ability to
grind it out. So I decided to full-fill my golfing potential
elsewhere."
After years
of delivering lectures on golf history, which may yet result in
a book profiling the games greats, Daley has chosen to focus on
course design and architecture. Though not a designer himself, he
has “long been fascinated by the nuances of golf architecture. I
adopt the mind of an architect; asking myself, why place a bunker on
the outside of the dogleg, and not the inside? Does the fairway need
to be so gun-barrel tight? How can holes be made more interesting,
challenging, yet remain playable for all? Such internal dialogue
does little for your score!” Highlighting the symbiotic
relationship between design and writing, he points out
"some course designers are gifted writer’s, guys like Donald
Steel, Tom Doak, Jeff Mingay, Michael Clayton, who also share a common
trait; collecting and devouring golf literature."
Paul
Daley's first book, Links Golf: The Inside Story (2000),
was a natural choice, given his predilection for golf history and a
feel for, as Daley says, "the cerebral challenge, the
chessboard mentality of course design." More recently,
along with renowned golf course photographer David Scaletti, Paul
produced a terrific book on the unique history and design
characteristics of a geographic jewel, writing and publishing The
Sandbelt: Melbourne's Golfing Heaven
(2001). Daley's excitement further builds as
he discusses his forthcoming project, a collection of 42 essays and
analyses of course design by many of the most notable names in the
field, titled Golf
Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective - vol one (2002). Being released this November, Daley
revels in the “heated passions and cool thoughts by the
contributors, coming as they do, from fifteen countries. Pleasingly,
there is no shortage of esoteric, spicy, or controversial material
which may even shake-up your own course design philosophy.” There
are many highlights within the book, but Daley proudly touts the
inclusion of an analysis of the all but forgotten Reverse Old
Course at St. Andrews.
Given
his obvious devotion to golf course design and deep respect
for traditional golfing values, what does Paul Daley make
of modern architecture and its contemporary practitioners? He
immediately questions the trend towards lengthy courses, a
tool used reflexively by designers "to combat technology
and the physical and mental development of professionals. The
reluctance, or inability, of designers to conceive layouts that
are suitable for all players, which is perhaps a result of
successful bullying by the equipment lobby", is a concern to
Daley. He adds, "I detest monster par threes.
Just when does shotmaking end and bludgeoning begin? 215, 220,
230 yards?" His comments are prescient, given the
scorn heaped by a number of observers upon the changes made to 'Tiger-proof'
Augusta. While Daley readily admits that as a golf enthusiast
he would love to play Augusta he feels, "as an analyst
there are vulgar characteristics that seem light years removed from
the game’s origins, especially the emphasis on course
presentation." Daley also harbours reservations about the
course changes. He ponders: “will the gambling on approach shots;
back nine charges; and the drama—elements that set the US Masters
apart—become a thing of the past?”
He
is quick to offer his appraisal of traditional masters and
talented contemporary designers. Citing Mackenzie, who Daley
nominates as surely the best of all time, plus Ross, Colt,
Tillinghast, and Simpson as the foremost practitioners of
course design, Daley eagerly opines that, "great
courses such as Royal Melbourne West, Shinnecock Hills, Cypress
Point, and Royal Portrush stand out for their seamless design, where
the configuration of holes rarely appears forced or contrived. The
sequence of holes flow in a manner that may prompt the uninitiated
to assume that little thought has taken place; yet in reality, the
exact opposite has occurred."
When
asked to name the current designers he admires, Daley suggested
“There are many, but added, part of the reality check is to
decipher between the hype and the truth. Some in the business
‘talk a fine game’ but does this always translate to a solid
course design? Often not! Also, I do not subscribe to the theory
that an exhaustive work output is indicative of quality!” Indeed,
he is struck by the fact that “architects who focus upon building
1-3 course per year enjoy a natural advantage by making each project
count, and create an impressive portfolio in the process. It also
points to the architect being interested in spending more time in
the field, where it really counts. Names that instantly come to mind
in this regard are Tom Doak, Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, Gil Hanse,
and Mark Parsinen. One name to earmark is Michael Clayton, an
ex-European and Australian tour player, who continues to build an
impressive portfolio of renovation work around his home state of
Victoria. His team was commissioned to bring Victoria Golf Club up
to scratch for the upcoming 2002 Australian Open, and the firm
succeeded due to its tasteful restorative bunker work, allied to
minor empathetic course changes. Clayton has recently completed his
first solo project at Ranfurlie Links.” Daley enthused, “the
industry may well be in the midst of a new Golden Age of course
design, where architects are incorporating proven Golden Age
principles, but also learning from, and repudiating the costly
lessons of the past. Golf architecture is still evolving, and one
only has to examine the audaciously creative work of Mike Strantz to
appreciate that!”
When
pressed to nominate his favourite contemporary architect, Daley
cited Tom Doak, saying “career wise, Doak has covered all
bases: a study tour of the great British links; training at Cornell;
an apprenticeship with Pete Dye; and experience playing most of the
world’s leading courses. Along with developer Mike Keiser,
Doak’s achievement of having Pacific Dunes debut at No. 26 on the
world rankings was stunning. No doubt, Doak also took to heart the
old dictum: publish or perish, for he has been prolific in this
regard!”
 The anointing
of Alister Mackenzie and Tom Doak as, respectively, the
greatest course designer ever and his favourite of the current
era, is not without irony. Mackenzie is widely credited as
the literal and intellectual developer of a litany of superb courses
in Daley's native Australia, while Doak is currently involved in a
number of Australian projects which can only further enhance
what Daley calls, "A nation where its top courses showcase
the ideal playing conditions – firm, fast-running, and
wind-affected.” The impact of Mackenzie upon Australian golf
cannot be understated. During his 1926 visit to Australia, Mackenzie
designed or advised upon nineteen courses, gifting the former penal
colony with a legacy he would leave on no other continent. Says
Daley “much credit should be accorded to The Royal Melbourne Golf
Club, as Mackenzie’s host club, for having the foresight to
sub-contract his services to other Australian clubs. This planning
alone, virtually underwrote his expenses. Notwithstanding,
Mackenzie’s greatest gift to the game in Australia was the
relationship he forged with Royal Melbourne’s superintendent, Mick
Morcom. It was Morcom who Mackenzie felt best interpreted his plans,
and who had the skill and dexterity to build the most magnificent
bunkers imaginable. Incorrectly, Mackenzie is credited with the
creation of these landforms, when clearly he never had the time to
see them come to fruition. Upon retirement at RMGC, Morcom passed
the baton to Claude Crockford, and between them, they held
stewardship of the grounds at Royal Melbourne for seventy years.
Mackenzie’s whirlwind tour of Australia, his association with
Morcom, and Morcom’s training of Crockford are fortuitously and
inexorable linked to Australia’s position in world golf.”
It
is upon this foundation that Doak will add three courses,
two in the Melbourne environs and one a parcel of land near
Bridport, Tasmania that particularly excites Daley. Of the
latter, Daley feels “once all the red tape has been cleared, the
links development could materialize to be of world significance,
given the quality of the terrain, frequency of sea-aspect, and
preliminary design plans.” But for the meantime it is Melbourne,
as it long has been, which, in Daley's view drives Australia as a
golfing Mecca. "It has everything: high quality courses, of
which several are capable of hosting National Opens; cheap
membership opportunities; affordable public access courses; all year
round accessibility; with many courses built upon sandy subsoil.”
Daley feels his beloved sand belt is unprecedented in world
golf. "As a golfing destination, the Melbourne sand belt
can easily be placed alongside Long Island, New York, Fife, the
London-Surrey-Berkshire heathland belt, the brilliant links in
north-west England, the stretch east of Edinburgh, and the best the
Carolina’s has to offer. There is a good number of world
top-100 courses within two or three hours of London or New York, but
the fact that the sand belt courses are contained within one city
makes Melbourne the supreme golfing destination.”
Purchasing
Information
Links Golf: The Inside Story (2000)
Published by Pelican Publishing, Gretna, Louisiana, USA
Contact: sales@pelicanpub.com
First published by Full Swing Golf Publishing
Note: For the leather-bound limited edition (100 copies only - 40 left)
Contact: Paul Daley fswing@bigpond.net.au
The Sandbelt: Melbourne's Golfing Heaven (2001)
Published by Plus Four Publishing, Melbourne, Australia
Contact Paul Daley fswing@bigpond.net.au
Note: Regular and leather-bound limited edition copies available: The Mackenzie edition (100 copies - 35 left)
Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective - vol one (2002)
Published by Pelican Publishing, Gretna, Louisiana, USA
Contact: sales@pelicanpub.com
Also published by Full Swing Golf Publishing
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