Golf Architecture for Normal People: Sharpening Your Course Design Eye to Make Golf (Slightly) Less Maddening

by Geoff Shackelford

From every conceivable perspective, golf is preposterous. The routines and rituals. The enormous scale of meticulously maintained landscapes for players to whap a ball with tungsten-infused tools. Plus the clothes. The yips. The swing. Arguments over nothing. Above all, the absurdity of “playing” something “fun” that’s capable of crushing your dignity within minutes of your greatest feat. Why does golf even exist when every other ball-and-stick game that inspired the Scots expired long ago? The golf courses.