Railroad ties FTW

[JDerion]

As impressive as his resume is the careers he helped spawn. Aside from family members, guys like Tom Doak got their start working for Pete Dye. Even Nicklaus got his feet wet in course design when he worked with Dye on Harbour Town.

In his book Tom Doak praises Dye highly.  I struggled with that a bit.  Doak is the consummate minimalist.  Dye pushes a lot of dirt around.  They seem to have very different design styles.  I think I understand Doak's philosophy and it seems quite different from what I perceive Dye's to be.  However, having not read much on/by Pete Dye and having never played one of his tracks I'm sure I'm missing his vision. 

I agree with your point about contrasting styles, and it's a good one. However, having spent a lot of time on golfclubatlas, where Doak does a fair amount of posting, I think it's not so much the design style that Doak took from Dye, but the opportunity. Doak is one in a long list of guys who Pete Dye brought on board and freely showed them the ropes of golf course design. I think more than anything, Doak is grateful for Dye's willingness to bring a kid on his crew and let him learn, grow, and move on. Dye was a mentor to a lot of architects.

[Uisce Beatha]

Damn you JD!!!   

I stayed up for two hours last night lurking about 50 threads on that site.   

[Spanky]

Damn you JD!!!  

I stayed up for two hours last night lurking about 50 threads on that site.  

LMAO

I almost did that. I have been avoiding it.

[JDerion]

Damn you JD!!!   

I stayed up for two hours last night lurking about 50 threads on that site.   

I'm surprised you had never been there before! No doubt, it's up your alley in terms of content, although some of the personalities are a bit tough to take.

[Walfredo]

I was able to play the Men's Club at Oak Tree in a scramble which is a classic dye course.  I'm not sure I could handle playing there everyday as a member.  Hitting out of 10-12 feet deep greenside bunkers isn't fun.  But some of the holes were really cool.  I was hitting the ball very well, but would have struggled to break 100 I'm sure. 

[Spartan]

I was able to play the Men's Club at Oak Tree in a scramble which is a classic dye course.  I'm not sure I could handle playing there everyday as a member.  Hitting out of 10-12 feet deep greenside bunkers isn't fun.  But some of the holes were really cool.  I was hitting the ball very well, but would have struggled to break 100 I'm sure. 

I've learned to stay out of the bunkers.  The lakes are another matter....