My Favorite Golf Architects, Vol. 3
It's time to talk about Tom Doak.
I’ve been looking at who my favorite golf architects are - and no, I don’t think it gets much golf dorkier than this, but I’ll try - and we have arrived at Tom Doak. I first played a Doak course up at Bandon Dunes, where he is responsible for Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald. In fact, it was the name of Old Macdonald (named to honor Charles Blair Macdonald, a great architect of the past) that got me poking around to understand why it was named that, and learned more about the template holes there and how they related to Golf Course Architecture (GCA).
Doak is often a guest on The Fried Egg podcast, and I think this has helped make him both more accessible and also more easily a target. He definitely isn’t bashful about his work, and like most golf architects defends his designs with a bit of a dismissive air to those who don’t like them. Some of this is payback - Doak has published several books listing the best golf courses in different parts of the world, rated 1-10 on his own “Doak Scale” and suffice it to say, some of his opinions aren’t shared by everyone. This quote from a review of one of his Confidential Guides says a lot:
The book also set the mold for Doak’s reputation as the enfant terrible of a genteel profession, an architect-cum-critic who favors candor over convention. After all, no writer who dismissed a Tom Fazio layout as “absolutely vapid” or trashed a waterfall-adorned Jack Nicklaus layout as an example of “classic Nicklaus-client overkill” was playing by golf’s same old velvet-glove rules.
Over the years, among his peers, Doak has inspired a mix of respect and resentment. While his design expertise is unquestioned, some have scratched their heads at the comportment of a man who was once described in print as having “the people skills of an ostrich.”
I mean, maybe. But if it leads to great courses, do I care so much? I do not.
I’ve played the following Doak courses:
Heathland at The Legends (Myrtle Beach, SC) - note, this was apparently only Doak’s second course (his first, Highpointe, is closed permanently.)
Pacific Dunes (Bandon, OR)
Old Macdonald (Bandon, OR)
Streamsong Blue (Bowling Green, FL)
If you look at my shockingly long “wishlist” of courses I want to play, however, there are a lot more, such as:
Memorial Park (Houston, TX)
The Loop at Forest Dunes (Roscommon, MI)
Tara Iti (Mangawhai, New Zealand)
Dismal River - Red (Mullen, NE)
CommonGround (Aurora, CO)
Rock Creek Cattle Company (Deer Lodge, MT)
Ballyneal (Holyoke, CO)
St. Andrews Beach (Victoria, Australia)
Barnbougle Dunes (Bridport, Tasmania)
Cape Kidnappers (Napier, New Zealand)
And that’s not even a comprehensive list. Clearly, I’m in the pocket for Doak. Why?
Some of the pictures above should tell the story - the guy can design a flat out gorgeous course. But they’re also PLAYABLE. Some people critique his greens, saying that they’re too difficult and tricked out. As a fairly mediocre putter, I can’t say I’ve found that to be true.
This is not to say I think every course of his is flawless - while others say it’s a routing genius, the 14th hole at Pacific Dunes can be unplayable in the wrong wind, and it feels completely jammed into the layout as opposed to a thoughtful piece of design.
But in general, I feel like the three courses I’ve played (I remember almost nothing about the Heathland course, sadly, besides liking it) are all similar in having relatively wide fairways, but tricky angles - sure you can blast it right or left, but one of those options is much worse than another. This is not to say they’re easy - I don’t know many who would argue that Pacific Dunes isn’t the hardest course at Bandon - but they’re playable in all but the worst conditions. (Pacific Dunes has a few holes where the wind wreaks complete and total havoc for all but the best golfers, and that’s just … golf.)
What’s more, they are fun to play. To me, the “golf isn’t meant to be fun” ethos by folks like Pete Dye is fine from a challenge perspective. But only IF you’re a very, very talented golfer. But I’m not, and I honestly never will be. After I played Old Macdonald the first time, I came home from Bandon Dunes and it was awhile thereafter that I realized I’d been thinking about that course more than any other, by a large amount. I don’t think one could argue it’s the best course on property - but I know a lot of people who say it’s their favorite, and it’s darn close to that for me too. It’s just so good.
As a golf sicko, I want to play as many courses I can - and Doak seems to make courses that I can get around, enjoy gorgeous scenery that feels native (even if it isn’t) and have a great walk with some friends. That’s what golf is about for me.