Golf Course Design

I just read an article in a magazine about the return of good golf course design. The article said that in the early 20th century, Donald Ross, Alistair McKenzie, etc designed great golf courses. But later on, Robert Trent Jones, Pete Dye, etc designed unplayable golf courses - I couldn't agree more. In fact, read my column on course design - TwinCitiesgolf.com has all of my columns on their web site.

Good golf design allows for different routes to the hole. Different routes allow for strategy and shot making - poor designs only offer one route to the hole ... not very conducive to strategy or shot making.

The ugly courses started popping up around the same time that ugly baseball and football stadiums started appearing. The country lost its taste in architecture (and about everything else) during those years. Bigger was better ... and massive was great ... talk about an immature culture ... it was really pathetic. I'm so glad that golf and baseball and football architecture is reviving the classical styles.

But ... the games themselves have put too much emphasis on "big". The long drive, the home run, the slam dunk, etc. Sports are about using physical talents to perform in a strategical way - not just be an ESPN highlight film. But too many "fans" just want to see the obvious, so the owners manipulate the rules so that the sports lose their strategy and skill players ... so they have a bunch of big steroided-out goofballs performing highlight film tricks instead of playing the game.

Common Sense

You've probably heard the saying "Common sense isn't so common anymore". I think it's true and I think I know why. To have common sense, you have to see things clearly. If you see things clearly, it's pretty obvious what has to be done. But, if you don't see things clearly ... you're apt to miss the obvious.

Well, people have always tried to manipulate other people. But in the modern world, there are many more manipulators, and the good ones are very good. And, they have technology on their side: television, movies, ads, radio, song lyrics, etc. Evil-clever people try to enslave and use people - brutes and thugs do it with force, clever ones use lies, psychology, and promises to control people.

Signs to watch out for: "I'm doing this for your own good", "There is no I in team", etc.

Without free will, life would be pointless. Decisions give life meaning. Mankind has always fought for freedom and liberty - the power to decide one's life. Otherwise - we're just robots.

People often get mad at God because life isn't perfect. Ok, let's think about it. Imagine that when you played golf, every shot went in the hole - every shot was a hole-in-one ... would that be fun? Would you enjoy playing golf? Would you enjoy living? Life HAS to have uncertain consequenses, and there has to be a bad side - otherwise our decisions are pointless and our lives are meaningless.

God is that voice in your head - God is your conscience. You can listen to your conscience ... or ignore it ... the choice is yours. Evil people try to shut off that voice in your head - they want to play God ... (they know what is "good" for you).

Liberty doesn't just mean license - it comes with responsibility. Golf is the real test of responsibilty ... you hit it there, now you have to play ... it's your decision.

Common sense has been lost because people are making fewer decisions and are confused by all of the mumbo-jumbo being thrown at them.