Off the Grid for 5 Days

 

 

What happens when we have time....

 

I took my wife and kids north on Wednesday afternoon. I had packed all my research and my blackberry so that I could still work. We were going to get away early and I was going to get some writing done with my feet in the lake. While I’m pretty good at family time, five days away is a tough thing to do in the middle of a busy period. Let’s just say this worked well for everyone, or at least I thought it did.....

 

Just as I left Toronto I got a message on my blackberry saying that I needed to update a password to receive emails. You see I don’t browse on mine, but no problem, I packed the laptop. I’ll get that done quickly at some point when we stop by finding available internet, and yes I actually know my username and password. I checked the trunk in Lindsay and discovered that I had everything I needed with the exception of the laptop. In a modern world I had no email, no laptop, no work…although I had cords, a mouse and my memory stick.....

 

We did come home today a little earlier than planned today and I did eventually solve, at least to my own satisfaction, the riddle of who designed Knollwood – that I’ll share with you tomorrow.

 

July 4^th, 2010  

 

 

 

First Half of 2010

 

The year has been much like the later half of last year once the panic subsided. Renovation work has become almost exclusively planning work and new course construction has stopped while we wait for the economy to pick back up. It is clear that the downturn is not going to be short and quick. Now the question is how long it will be before things pick up.

 

 

Knollwood's 18th - a new client this year

 

The Good

 

I continue to attract more and more new clients with almost all of them being outside of Ontario. I continue to be much more aggressive outside of Ontario because I see more opportunity than I do at home. While I have not been building very much, I have been doing a lot of planning work over the last twelve months. Some of this has been for existing clients looking to update long term plans while the majority of my work has been with a number of new clients that I have added recently. My year has been steady right from the outset. When I consider the climate for the golf design business I consider myself very fortunate to have had many things fall my way.

 

 

Predator Ridge - dependent upon real estate

 

The Bad

 

Mike and I continue to struggle to come up with a completely new design. While we still expect Laval-sur-le-lac (Blue) to be under construction for 2011, there is nothing else confirmed beyond that. Some clients have been clear from the outset that they require a turn in the economy to get back on track others are stymied by the difficulty in securing funds. Waiting is tough, but I’m used to it, so it does not bother me. I’m wondering if waiting is much tougher for Mike.

 

 

When will we see new construction?

 

The Ugly

 

This cycle is going to take time to break since new golf development is having a very tough time getting funding. Banks are reluctant to lend to golf projects unless they meet the minimum capitol requirements, which are now set very high. If the project involves real estate, the lending institutions are even more reluctant unless the project is well capitalized by a well respected development company. It’s not an easy time for entrepreneurs since capitol is so hard to access and most new golf projects are from this more aggressive group. I don’t expect much in the way of golf construction in Canada for a couple of years.

 

I’ve been pretty consistent for the last couple of years, pointing to what I saw in the early 1990’s and have repeatedly suggested that this looks and feels the same. I don’t expect much to happen for anyone next year and in all likelihood the year after may be nearly as quiet. I do think that we will see signs of life in 2013 out West, but I expect Ontario to remain the laggard this time. This will all end, but it will take some time and patience to see it through to the next cycle.

 

June 28th, 2010

 

 

One Tough Night

 

 

 

Green recapturing in progress

 

I’ve done more than 100 presentations to clubs and I would say that I enjoy almost all of them. It’s been a long time since I’ve found myself frustrated but Thursday night was one of those instances. I’ve always been comfortable in front of a membership. I believe in what I’m proposing and often I start the night by opening up by explaining the history of the course and my personal philosophy on why changes have been proposed. On Thursday I provided an update of the long term plans for a private club that I’ve worked with for quite a long time.

 

The work done over the last dozen years has been very well received, but in recent times the senior members of the club have become frustrated by the yearly tree removal done for sunlight, playability and long term health of the tree lines. We had a meeting to explain the philosophy behind the program and help them understand the long term benefits to what we are doing. It was a fairly contentious meeting since many seniors couldn’t care less about the future and wanted the course left alone, particularly the trees. For a few, the frustration then spilled over to include any changes to the course, because they didn’t think we should change anything.

 

The meeting became tough because one very vocal individual questioned every recommended change that had been done and every change that was proposed by saying that this was not restorative. He felt that any new tee was a violation of the original design, he questioned the green recapturing program because we did not have original drawings that could be scaled, he questioned the moving of a fairway 20 yards to the left despite the fact is was done for safety. I patiently explained that we were trying to maintain the golf course but we had to add tees to deal with technology, the green recapturing is based around known stylistic traits of the architect and that were making the best interpretations we could using the information we had. The fairway relocations were for safety and to save a stand of large Oak and that each was going back out to where it was and the fairways were actually much wider before the trees. That was not good enough and he went on the attack over the use of the work restoration expert in the introduction.

 

I answered as many questions as I could, but eventually I became frustrated. After he had a confrontation with another member I finally had enough and decided it was time to ask him some questions. “Why don’t you define restoration for me, should everyone play off the same tee, should we cut down all the trees that have been planted by committees, should we raise the cutting heights on the greens, tees and fairway, should we eliminate every change ever made or is evolution of a course a natural process to deal with the advances in technology, changes in the property and improvements in maintenance?�

 

“Let’s look at what I’ve done in the last twelve years. I’ve shifted two fairways, one for safety because of your range and the other to save a key cluster of Oak. I’ve expanded the edges of most of your greens to recapture some lost pin areas. I’ve added longer and shorter tees to deal with technology and the assist weaker players in enjoying the game. I’ve recommended cutting down a series of trees that the club has planted in the last thirty years for playability and to restore the views. I haven’t changed hardly anything on the course.�

 

At this point one of the former board members who hired Doug and I in 1994 pointed out that we were not hired to restore the course. He then went on to say that when a Master Plan was commissioned in 2004 I had encouraged the committee to take on a series of restorative work. The meeting settled down at this point and I simply talked about each ole and answered questions.

 

There is nothing more frustrating that being questioned purely on semantics. The word restoration is a dangerous one because it can be interpreted so many different ways by the people doing the work and by people judging the work. I think this work is true to what was there, but like all restoration work there is a point where I simply don’t have the information and must make the best judgment that I can. For some, I guess that’s not good enough.

 

June 28th, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Mike’s Game…. is back

 

 

Mike on Day 1 (courtesy of TSN)

 

Mike’s back, not because he won the skins today, but because of the progress he has made with Mike Wilson.

 

I had a rare treat this week. I watched Mike play each day. I saw him work for an hour with Mike Wilson on Monday evening. I got to walk most of the back nine with Mike Wilson today and talked to him about what they were working on and how close Mike was. What made Mike happy was how solid his play was for the entire back nine. He hit the ball where he wanted to and had excellent control over all of his game.

 

The key in practice was a shaft in the ground that was there to prevent Mike from pulling the club inside on the takeaway and a glove tucked under his arm to help him keep his arms tight to the body. There was more to it than that but they were trying to refine the plane that Mike was coming to impact on. At the end of the practice session he was hitting everything inside an area the size of a blanket. He seemed very tired but quite pleased.

 

Mike was kind enough to bring me into the player’s lounge today for lunch. There were perhaps twenty people in the room including all five players and most were watching the World Cup. Most of the talk was about soccer including Mike. They were very friendly and quite funny talking with each other throughout. I sort of took everything in and talked to Mike a little about Weir Golf Design before excusing myself and heading out to watch the back nine.

 

After watching all of his shots on the back nine, I’m confident that all the work with Mike Wilson is about to really pay off. Look for something dramatic this summer