Up. Forward. Fresh. New. Free.

There was only one way to go, right?

2020 was dark. A low. A halting of habits, hobbies, routines, and commerce. This was certainly true for both myself and Hochstein Design, as I did the lowest amount of golf-related work since floundering about in 2008-09 as a new college graduate with nowhere to go in an industry frozen by the Great Recession.

As the longest year of our lives finally came to a close and 2021 appeared, some of those negative feelings and limitations on life undoubtedly still lingered. And that was to be expected. Changing a number on a calendar can’t just automatically cure all ills and change all fortunes. But the underlying trends at that time pointed toward hope and progress. So, improvement was also to be expected.

Slowly, it began to return. A work and golf-related trip to SoCal in February. Prospective client calls. Deposits to reserve future work dates. New and exciting shaping opportunities. Road-tripping with the family to Jackson Hole for a 2 month project. More shaping projects with new people. Playing golf in amazing, distant places. Completing my first little solo project. Getting hired for bigger and more exciting solo projects. Helping work on a local dream restoration opportunity.

To say this is an improvement upon last year’s almost non-existence is an understatement. It’s also a bit unfair though just to highlight these events and opportunities as a contrast to the non-events, or really, to call last year non-existent. Because while there may have been a dearth of jobs and income, that year certainly existed. The mental weight and anxiety of the unknown existed. The stress of increased responsibilities at home outside of my comfort zone existed. The lack of healthy emotional outlets existed. Huge personal loss existed. Declining mental health existed. I know I’m not alone in this, and you—the one reading this—probably have felt at least some of these things as well.

So, 2021 was not just about the return of work but more about all that comes with that—security, excitement, and a general feeling of self worth. Maybe most of all though, that return came with the opportunity to create—to create something beautiful, something fun, something humorous. There is nothing more satisfying and fulfilling to me than the creativity offered by this odd and wonderful career based on this odd and wonderful game we play. Building golf is a healthy mental outlet, one that I have discovered to be highly important to my overall wellbeing and one that I will not ever be taking for granted, not after losing it a year ago.

2020 and the early parts of this year just about broke me. But, as the cliches and platitudes go, it also made me stronger and that much more appreciative of what I have and what I get to do. I can honestly say this year is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time, both on the machine and off. Everything has been better, sweeter, brighter, clearer. From the feeling of once being trapped, I have now found new freedom and fulfillment. Like an eagle, I am eager for the sky.

The Work

This has been my favorite year of work, and in many ways it has also been the most successful. The types of projects I have gotten to work on have been diverse in all good ways—different locations (Wyoming, Florida, Minnesota, local CA), different people (Thad Layton, Ben Warren, Gil Hanse), and different geologies (gritty riverbed, glacial clay, my home East Bay clay, sand(!!!) ). It’s also come with long awaited solo work, including completing a small project out at Wente Vineyards and getting hired by a new and exciting client with some very cool historical ties. Highlights of this year’s work are listed below.

Favorite Features of the Field

1.  Greens shaping, The Loop at Chaska - I love shaping greens and their surrounds more than anything else we do. The mental exercise of considering the myriad types of shots that can come into a green or the putts played upon them is both exciting and rewarding. Envisioning the ways in which the ball will bounce, roll, and change direction is nearly as thrilling as playing those actual shots. So, when Ben Warren asked me if I’d be interested in helping him build greens that would have only short grass and contours around them and be played at a non-lightning speed, bringing about a desire for more contours, it was easy to reply “definitely!” To add on top of that the course being for a great cause—accessible golf for those with disabilities—and this is not only one of the most fun stints where I’ve been involved but also one of the most rewarding.

2. Helping on a dream restoration at Lake Merced - Ever since first seeing the old pictures of Lake Merced, I’ve been daydreaming about the possibility of putting it back together. Thankfully, Gil Hanse has been tasked with this and has come up with a great plan to do so. Thankfully even more, Gil has let me come on to his team to help put it back together. It’s very exciting and rewarding work that we have just been getting started on right now.

3. Practice Green and Bunker, The Golf Course at Wente Vineyards - We worked alone on this design from start to finish—from an initial concept to shaping it with the excavator to finishing it off with a rake and shovel. Obviously, we had great help in doing so from superintendent Cody Price and his staff, but this was a very satisfying process and one we hope increases soon in the future.

4. Mini-mountain bunkers, Teton Pines - Any time I start a new project, whether on my own or with another designer (Thad Layton of Arnold Palmer Design Co. in this case), I always like to identify the course’s primary asset and see if that is something to be enhanced or inspired by. At Teton Pines, that asset was of the latter variety. The Teton Mountain Range, in my opinion the coolest looking set of mountains on this continent, are visually present throughout most of the round and especially the front nine where we were working. Wanting to do something a bit stylistically different from recent projects, we decided to play off that mountain aesthetic, emphasizing sharp backing landforms with a lower but still jagged and broken sand line. Three dimensional detail and strong shadowing were more the emphasis. It was a lot of fun to create, and they might be my favorite set of bunkers built yet.

Above: Fun with forms at Teton Pines. Third picture (grassed) courtesy of Thad Layton.

5. Bunkers bleeding into natives, West Palm Golf Park - It had been awhile since working in sand. Six years, to be exact. So, getting back into it at a place with nothing but it was a thrill. Not only is sand easier to work with and better for fast/firm turf, it offers great creative opportunities and instances of instant gratification in making things look natural and 100 years old. It also makes it really easy to blend sand bunkers right into their sandy surrounds. Gil Hanse and the Cavemen happen to emphasize this sort of thing, and it was a ton of fun getting to play around with those transitions and blending.

Above: images of rough-shaped and growing-in bunkers at West Palm Golf Park

H.M. Tweaks and additions at Orinda CC—reworking parts of the 18th green and adding a new bunker on 16/17

Favorite Features off the Field

1. Getting hired to consult on and lead future projects at the City of Sacramento’s City Courses. I can’t wait to get deeper into this opportunity, especially at Haggin Oaks, the ground upon which originally sat an Alister MacKenzie course with greens arguably wilder than those at Pasatiempo.

2. Being inspired by a round at Ballyneal and the return of The Open Championship and deciding to pen a links-inspired piece about the joy of golf’s puzzles for The Fried Egg.

3. Seeing an old plan-view sketch of mine of the Old Course printed in the first edition of The Links Diary

4. Continuing to set up and add to the new home office

Best Work “Experiences”

1. Seeing grass immediately go down on solo work at Wente It’s always like going from black and white to color, and because I maxed out the finish work time all the way to the last minute, I was able to see this transformation literally as I was raking out the final tie-ins.

2. Raging out to punk rock while carving out some wild greens at The Loop at Chaska Something about the wetlands, oaks, and nearby Initech-like office building brought me back mentally to the early high school summer days in Oakland County, MI and led me to want to nostalgically rock out to the fast-paced riffs of 90s/early 00s punk rock while shoving big piles of clay and sipping coffee.

3. Battling the snow at Teton Pines, also while raging out to punk rock. Ridgetop has an open cab dozer, so when I wanted to use it to quickly edit a bunker fill-in during a blustery and flurry-filled Saturday afternoon in May (yes, May), there was no choice but to throw on a hat, jacket, and gloves and crank up the volume. There were many more instances of the snow coming down hard while instead sheltered in the heated comfort of the excavator. For those, I “mellowed” out and reverted to early 90s grunge that was the staple of my childhood winters.

4. Pre/Post storm skies at West Palm Moody gray skies were a welcome change from the relentless California sun. Also the Florida sun, which is only a bit less relentless.

5. Wildlife. Moose, mule deer, bald eagles, and an entire herd of Elk at Teton Pines. A heron stealthily stalking fish right next to me at Chaska. A friendly snake in the dirt at Wente. Coyotes hunting the plentiful giant lime-green iguanas at West Palm Golf Park. Also coyotes at Lake Merced.

The Golf

Safe to say this was also a big rebound from the previous year. While travel was generally limited across all fronts last year, so too were the opportunities to see new golf that comes with travel both for work and otherwise. This year was more than a reversion to the mean, as shaping opportunities in new states afforded the opportunity to see even more golf, including some of those tough-to-get-to locations in the middle of the country. Minnesota had the most to see of all my stints, and the Twin Cities’ offerings impressed me more than I expected. The real highlights though came from some of those remote destinations as my car got as far as seeing the cold waters of Lake Superior, the long plains of Nebraska, and the mountain peaks of Big Sky Montana.

Best New-to-me Golf Courses Seen in 2021

Yearly Disclaimer: Note that this list is just a casual indicator of how good I feel a course is.  It is a combination of how I think it holds up for a range of players as well as how much I personally like it.  

The brackets [ ] indicate a "Doak Scale" rating.  It should be understood that I didn't spend the same amount of time on every place and that they were all first time visits.  These rankings and ratings are somewhat arbitrary and based on what I saw, understood, and felt about each course.  I also get admittedly swayed by firm conditions and links golf in particular; a true links course generally gets boosted by 1 or even 2 "Doak points" whenever I rate it.

Really, this should just be fun and give a general idea of what I like in a golf course.

1. Cypress Point - Pebble Beach, CA; Alister MacKenzie [10] I finally did it. Eleven years after moving to NorCal and figuring, “I will get out there (Cypress) eventually,” and that not happening for different reasons, it was time to force the issue and seek out a walkabout. After all, it felt like required study prep before working at Lake Merced. So, with much gratitude, I was able to make this happen. To be honest, I expected to be a little bit underwhelmed by Cypress. Before you start yelling at your screen, know that this thought was relative. The hype is just so high and the writing about it so voluminous, and I had seen parts of it from distance while ambling along 17 Mile Drive. But having partial glances of the course from the movement of a car or looking at a picture on Instagram is not at the same as being out there, cool air on the face and fresh dew on the shoes. No, that is a completely different experience entirely. The magic is real. No course combines such beautiful and distinct settings like Cypress, with the coastal cliffs over waters with every shade of blue, Cypress forest with the coolest trees known to mankind, and dunes with more color and textural variety than perhaps any other system in the world. Of course, MacKenzie finds a way with the routing to beautifully mingle back and forth between the dunes and forest, all while leaving the clifftop crescendo for the end. And it isn’t just the scenery nor what is surely the best version of all MacKenzie bunkering—the golf is also extremely compelling, strategic, and fun. On the front 9’s par fives, ball placement and trajectory over clever slopes and contours is critical to the player’s success, especially as Jeff Markow has the ryegrass fairways playing much firmer and faster than I had expected. The back-to-back short par fours at 8 and 9 demand careful play with soft touch. A simple appearing, wide-open fairway at 13 can lull you into complacency instead of trying to hug the scrub on the right for the better angle into the green. Narrower holes through Cypress tunnels like 14 and 18 require not just accuracy but distance control to get a shot at the green. Greens contours throughout the round sweep balls madly and caution approaches and recovery shots. And do I need to even say anything about 15, 16, and 17? Cypress Point is one of the best golf courses and most special experiences in the world. Next time, I hope to do it with clubs in hand.

2. Rock Creek Cattle Company - Deer Lodge, MT; Tom Doak [9]  Simply put, this was a spiritual experience. Following a very busy project at Teton Pines and not seeing much over the previous year and a half, I made the trek north from Wyoming to Montana to see a course that Tom Doak seems to talk about as much as any of his but is also perhaps more isolated golf-wise than anything else of its stature. It was an opportunity and reward that could not be passed up. It was also one that did not disappoint.

Delayed by a storm, I teed off late the first evening there, determined to get around to at least the 15th hole near the clubhouse before total darkness kicked in. The reward for doing so was this utterly beautiful and dramatic course in utterly beautiful and dramatic evening light all to myself. The sun came out, and its low angle helped cast shadows and illuminate all the amazing ground contours present, both (very) big and small. I chose to walk as I always do, even if risking getting stranded in the dark, and doing so made me get a better sense for what a brilliant routing this was, especially given the thousands of acres that were available for Doak’s choosing. There is a large amount of elevation change throughout the course, but its effect on the legs is not badly felt. A lot of the gain comes early in the first 6 holes, and because those are mostly uphill in a gradual sort of manner, you don’t really notice the climb as much, especially because so much comes while playing golf (during a hole) as opposed to not playing golf (between holes). Through the first 3 holes, which appear pretty open and flatter, you have gained 100 feet. Hole 4 then gains 100 alone. By the 6th green, you have gained a total of 300. And then, the rollercoaster begins with the 7th and it’s thrilling downhill tee shot to a massively wide fairway in the woods. 8 is a picturesque little par 3 playing over the Rock Creek, and then holes 9-13 play over a series of big plateaus and gullies on open high ground loaded with distant views before diving downhill on 14 and 15 toward a 3 hole finish low along Rock Creek. It’s beautifully sequenced.

To add to that genius routing, the holes themselves are both brilliant and fun. On the obviously visual side, widths are varied and bunkers staggered throughout, constantly asking you where to play shots both in length and angle. On the less obvious side, the contours also play big role in where you want to be and advantages that can be gained or lost from them. Some of these were big and obvious (such as avoiding the left drop-off on the 7th tee shot to keep from having a blind shot over a rocky hill, or staying left off the tee on 11 to avoid having a big uphill second shot), but it felt like there were a lot more out there that not even my trained eye could pick up from a first two go-rounds. That is great for a members course and adds an extra layer of depth to an experience that is no doubt spectacular on the surface and enjoyable even just from a single play.

It was back up on the 10th tee that first evening that I had my moment. I knew that to be the famous one that garnered Josh Smith’s oil painting for Volume 3 of The Confidential Guide, and I wisely ran up to it to the tee prematurely to be able to capture it in two different settings of the rapidly changing light. It really is an incredible spot up there, and to have that moment, in that context, in that space, was something I won’t ever forget. Those moments are what make golf truly special among all other games and what make several hundred mile detours worth it. I’d highly recommend making the effort.

3. Oakland Hills (South) - Bloomfield Twp., MI; Donald Ross, recently restored by Gil Hanse [9] I’ve said it before, but it was a long time dream of mine to someday restore Oakland Hills to the Donald Ross version. With that, I had always expected it would take the amount of time for me to make it big enough to do so for it to ever happen. With the success of many restorations though across the country and those done by Gil Hanse in particular, we didn’t have to wait that long, and it has become a dream I’m more than happy not to live myself, for just seeing it come to life the right way sooner is better. The work done is awesome. The brilliant glacial landscape has been fully revealed, and the appropriately large-scale Rossian “scooped out pit” bunkering has returned. Ross writes about them in Golf Has Never Failed Me, but I do not know of any other sites where he actually employed them, which made doing it at Oakland Hills that much more important. They are now back, along with new additions in that style, and it makes for not only a strong and distinguished look but also for more interesting golf for the regular playing members. Whereas the Jones version monotonously punished drives of a longer length, the Ross/Hanse bunkering is more varied and staggered, challenging different players at different times, including those who cannot reach greens in “regulation.” The course is now much more interesting, strategic, beautiful, and classic, and there can be no more debate once again about who is king in Southeast Michigan.

4. Seminole - Juno Beach, FL; Donald Ross, with revisions by Dick Wilson and others [8] I really didn’t get to see Seminole at its best since it was a dreary day at the tail of their offseason, which makes it hard to get a true feel for its regular aesthetic and, more importantly, how fearsome it regularly plays. Still though, it is obvious to see the brilliant routing by Ross that maximized the few natural features available, namely the two dune ridges at the west and coastal east boundaries of the property, the former of which is experienced on both the front and the back nines. The greens are obviously scary too even if not seeing them at full speeds. Their history and reputation is well earned, but I also found myself wondering they might have been like in Ross’s time just after the course was first built. The current set seems to be very difficult indeed, but the way to approach them defensively didn't seem obvious or at times possible. I’d have to spend some more time looking at them, especially at full speed, to make more proper judgment, which in itself is often a mark of a good set of greens.

5 (t). Dismal River (Red) - Mullen, NE; Tom Doak [8] I hadn’t seen the course since we sprayed the last bits of hydroseed in the fall of 2012. Nearly ten years after first breaking ground and my first days working for Tom Doak, I had some emotions both going into this and during it. There was excitement and warm nostalgia, but there was also a bit of trepidation based on things I had heard about the course and its care in recent years. Those worries did have a bit of truth to them, as the shaggy, soft presentation made for a playing experience far from the fast and firm one that was intended. What I found though while quietly traversing those hills alone in the twilight of day was a course even better than the one I had remembered helping build. That setting on the back nine down below the bluffs and near the Dismal River is unlike any other golf in the Sand Hills, having this sense of intimacy in one of the most vast stretches of land in this country. It was special to work here, but it is also special to play here.

5 (t). CapRock Ranch - Valentine, NE; Gil Hanse [8] In my drive back from Minnesota to California, I had to not only take advantage of the opportunity to get back to places like Dismal River but also see some new ones like CapRock. Valentine was one direction I had not ventured while working at Dismal, so it was a new experience to see a landscape that blended a bit more with those of the Dakotas to the north. And that is largely what CapRock is: a Sand Hills course with a craggier, pine-laden side to it. A majority of the course plays through more typical dunes land, but over a third of it plays up to, along, and over a rocky bluff overlooking the rocky, piney Snake River canyon. Gil Hanse’s routing beautifully manages to encounter this distinctive feature on both nines, including the dramatic 4-hole stretch to finish. What also stands out about the course are the greens, which have more contour than any others in the Nebraska Sand Hills (note I have not seen Prairie Club) but never seem to cross that line into feeling forced or gimmicky. They, along with the tightly mowed approaches, are still very young and firm too, which makes for a lot of fun approach shots and pitches.

7. White Bear Yacht Club - Dellwood, MN; William Watson, Donald Ross [8] An up and down thrill ride of a course through some of the choppiest glacial terrain that is so common in the upper Midwest and so great for interesting golf. With regards to its features the course isn’t really like any Ross or Watson course I have seen, and there is nothing wrong with that. Rather, it’s more just its own thing with elements of funk more common to the 1910s era in which it was built. Geometric bunkers, blind shots, and wildly pitched greens are charming and scattered all throughout the round. The first hole is a great example of things to come, with a big knob in the middle of the fairway that you try to drive to for a good look at the green, a comically deep (35 feet?) grass faced greenside bunker, and a green tucked behind a short grass knob. Game on!

8. Minikahda - Minneapolis, MN; Robert Foulis, redesigned by Donald Ross, with recent restoration work by Kyle Franz [7] Great land, great Ross restoration work by Kyle Franz, and a cool club location on a lake looking across to the Minneapolis skyline all swayed my opinions of this place. That, and Jeff Johnson’s perfectly manicured fast and firm bentgrass turf. On the front nine, the land and tight greenside bunkering are the stars of the show. Once you get to the back though, the greens start to take over, particularly the 11th and 13th with little internal wrinkles that break 3 ways within 10 feet. Crossing the street to play the 15th-17th isn’t as big an issue to me as that triangle of holes has a cool feel and have gotten really good with Franz’s working of them. Finishing 18 next to the old ornate clubhouse with views of the lake and skyline is very unusual and cool. I can’t think of anything else quite like it.

9. Ballyneal (Mulligan) - Holyoke, CO; Tom Doak [7] This is the trouble with rating and ranking par 3 courses, especially those attached to other courses, and especially when those other courses are outstanding. If I had to base it straight on how much fun I had and the types of shots I was able to try out, it would probably be top 5. The greens on the Mulligan are, both appropriately and surprisingly, bolder and wilder than those on the main course. It should come as no surprise then that they are a blast to hit shots into, but they might be even more fun when your tee shot doesn’t quite find your target and you have to find a way to negotiate something like a 15 foot tall tier in the middle of the green. The theme of “solving the puzzle” undoubtedly continues out on the Mulligan.

10. Northland - Duluth, MN; Donald Ross [7] This place has always had my curiosity ever since Zach Varty first mentioned it while we were raking grass roots in the heat at Dismal River. Donald Ross on bluffs overlooking Lake Superior? Yes, please! And that is much what you get. The routing snakes its way up the hill and through the woods in a big sort of S-shaped out-and-back. Kyle Franz has slowly started to restore bunkering, and where he has, the effect is very strong and feels old. Combined with the leaner, firmer, scruffy presentation that is an absolute blast to play, the overall feeling is that of a throwback, which is perfect in my book. Our host and liaison for the Chaska project, Tim Anderson, is a good player with a low ball flight, and it was a joy to watch him judge the ground game on long approach shots. My only knock on the course is that the greens were a bit simple in nature, even if tilting in scary ways (also need to keep going with the bunker work). With all else going on, though, perhaps you don’t need much more than that.

11. Soule Park - Ojai, CA;  with recent renovation work by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner [7] I had seen the pictures of the cosmetic improvements at Soule Park, namely the bunkers in the style of George Thomas and Billy Bell, but I didn’t realize just how much Wagner and Hanse had done here with regards to the strategy and interest of the course. Soule Park has a really interesting set of greens, and they are on a bigger scale than you might expect, especially for a local muni. This place and Rustic Canyon really make for quite the public duo at the northern bounds of the SoCal region.

12. Midland Hills - St. Paul, MN; Seth Raynor, with recent restoration work by Jim Urbina [6] Joe Hancock kept insisting that I get over to see Midland Hills and meet its history-minded superintendent Mike Manthey. I did get over to play a final, farewell-to-Minnesota round, but unfortunately didn’t get to meet Mike. Joe was right that the course was worth the trip, as the work that he and Jim Urbina did over there turned out really great. The property is pretty good too, and what I’m sure was a pretty heavy amount of tree clearing helped reveal it and give it an appropriate, classic pastoral feel. Highlights to me were the sweeping 2nd, the reveal over the hill on 3, the teasing 8th tee shot, the tumbling 10th and its angled green, and the unsuspecting Punchbowl 14th. I didn’t think the Redan hole quite worked as it should, but overall the course is very solid, well looked after and presented.

13. Victoria - Riverside, CA; Max Behr [6] While not at the top end of the list, this is on the top end of courses seen this year that I find myself most thinking about. There was a brilliant article posted earlier this year on The Fried Egg about “Big Golf” vs. “Small Golf” in which “Big Golf” is more grandly scaled, more highly constructed, more “thought-out” strategically, and more refined compared to “Small Golf,” which is smaller-scaled, more randomly strategic, and less refined. Most Scottish links courses fall into the “Small Golf” category; so too does Victoria. With few visual frills (outside of odd trees, man-made ponds, and landscape additions over the years) and an odd but largely simple piece of land, Victoria is super fun with sporty golf shots and strategic decisions—both obvious and subtle—throughout. It showed to me how, with careful routing moves and shrewd use of features (bunkers, barrancas, green shapes and tilts), a maximum effect can be had on the interest of the golf with minimal physical efforts in the design. Couple that with super fast dormant bermuda turf, and it feels just like battling against a quirky links back across the pond. It’s brilliant. A low-key, Behr-emphasized restoration would be perfect here.

14. Interlachen - Minneapolis, MN (back nine only); Donald Ross [6, but a 7 and ranking next to Minikahda if front 9 is as good as the back. I am admittedly unfairly judging the front from a long distance view.] Interlachen sits on some great glacial ground that reminds me of some of the great courses back in Detroit, including Ross’s outstanding Oakland Hills and Franklin Hills. I only got to see the back nine on this day, but what I did see was very good, including the opening and finishing holes. The 10th reminded me a lot of a slightly longer version of the awesome Volcano 13th at Franklin Hills but with a larger and more varied green. The 18th is a very cool funneling green that is sadly not as functional at modern green speeds. A newer version that is still fearsome could probably be had if very carefully done. I would only ever approach that task with an excavator, and I wouldn’t even think about touching the 10th in an attempt to lengthen it. In between these holes are a series of strong holes that play up, down, and through more good natural land. I’d love to get back and revisit this course at a slower pace to take more of it in.

15. Town & Country Club- St. Paul, MN;  [6]  If you want to take a trip back in time to see what golf was like even before the Golden Age, head out to Town & Country in the Twin Cities. Situated on a bluff over the Mississippi, the land is a series of high plateaus divided by deep, broad, ancient tributary troughs to the river—much different from the typical glacial land found over the rest of the region. The holes play through and along them with no major earthworks to alleviate the blindness or severity that is sometimes encountered. The greens have that very old sort of charm to them—squared and utilitarian but often contained a lot of tilt and some interesting random subtle interior contours. The bunkering is just starting to be restored to that same simple aesthetic by Jeff Mingay and will be great to see when complete. He has currently already done the 3rd with it’s horseshoe bunker ringing the green and the 9th, which is a funky little thing with the higher part of its landform on the approaching side instead of the back, done as a means to divert water around it from the cascading slope above. Town & Country also has my new favorite teeing grounds—a flat spot on short grass right in between the 6th and 12th greens—that is also a great example of very old golf.

H.M. Royal Golf Club - Lake Elmo, MN Arnold Palmer Design Co. and Annika Sorenstam [6]; Tributary (Formerly Huntsman Springs) - Driggs, ID David Kidd [6 (back nine only)] Chaska Town Course - Chaska, MN Arthur Hills [6 (front nine only)]; Old Works - Anaconda, MT Jack Nicklaus [5]; Hazeltine National - Chaska, MN Robert Trent Jones, with revisions by Rees Jones [5]; Braemar - Edina, MN Richard Mandell [5] Teton Pines - Wilson, WY Arnold Palmer [5]; Richmond CC - Richmond, CA Pat Markovich [4]; Cinnabar Hills - San Jose, CA John Harbottle [4]; Palm Beach Par 3 - Palm Beach, FL Ray Floyd [4]

Best Playing/Walking Experiences

Really, too many to list this year, but I listed them anyway. A perfect round of 20 it is…

1. Rock Creek sundown. See above “spiritual experience.”

2. Seeing Dismal again, sundown. A setting for golf even more special than I remembered, and seeing all the little things and micro contours I helped make with a sand pro all those years ago was very cool.

3. Cypress Point crack of dawn walk with Riley Johns. Perfect light and temperature with some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. The golf course itself was even more magical than that.

4. Ballyneal with turf interns Matt Rouches and Jax Hoefling. What is so fun about Ballyneal are not the shots taken during your actual round but trying those other ones out after and trying to figure out which big contour is the right one to play off of. There was no one behind myself and the two interns I played with, so we took our time trying out all sorts of crazy routes to get to the hole, some of which surprised us. What a joy.

5. Round with my dad and brother at UofM. It doesn’t get much better than playing with your family, especially on an old Alister MacKenzie/Perry Maxwell design. The greens were better and more interesting than I remembered and got me even more excited for the course’s potential. As always when there, our thoughts, eyes, and conversation would occasionally drift to that big old stadium across the street, and we all agreed we (nor anyone) knew anything about what the upcoming football season would be like. Little did we know, indeed…

6. Streamsong weekend with the Caveman crew. Nothing like a weekend break to play some inspiring golf. Still can’t believe Josh McFadden and I let our match slip away to 2-handicap Neil Cameron and Mid-Am champ Lukas Michel on the 18th hole of the Blue. But really, I can since it seems at this point an impossibility to keep myself from blocking the tee shot to the right on that hole. The tie would have left some bit of satisfaction, but of course Streamsong has a bye hole that Lukas managed to stick a 3 footer and close us out after I missed yet another 7 footer.

7. Pasatiempo with Riley Johns and Jim Urbina. Always fun to see Riley again, and cool to go around with someone who knows the course and its restoration so well in Jim Urbina.

8. Starting off Minnesota right with Ben Warren and Tim Anderson at Northland. Unusually warm temps for Duluth in the 90s added something extra to the experience of blufftop Lake Superior-view Donald Ross golf.

9. A “Pink Moment” at Soule Park with Micah Peuschel and Parker Anderson. I had never heard of this phrase for the period just after sundown in the Ojai Valley, but yeah, it applies. Those mountains turn pink. Great group to play with too on one of America’s great munis.

10. CapRock with superintendent Mike McCauley and assistant Brady Pike. Fun golf with a fun couple of young superintendents set to do great work there.

11. Slowly taking in the Oakland Hills restoration on an empty maintenance Monday. Always wonderful and more educational to take in all the improvements at a measured pace.

12. White Bear Yacht Club with Tom Helgeson. Cool enough playing the course as it is, but cooler yet playing it with someone who knows it and its history well.

13. A linksy and sporty knock-about Victoria with David Ober. David is not only a skilled golfer, he is also one who does it with a lower ball flight and shorter distance. That made it a real joy to see him hit it around Victoria, which was playing almost like a summer UK links on this dry SoCal winter day.

14. Browned out Meadow Club. It’s incredibly difficult what Sean Tully has had to deal with for the drought and irrigation at Meadow Club, and they face some seriously tough questions going forward. That said though, the course was really fun to play in that state, the ball rolling forever and making for some memorably long tee shots but also bringing much more trouble into play. Maybe there is some sort of silver lining where the club can embrace a future with a more drought-tolerant turf regime and the course eventually plays something a bit more like this (which is a direction they have been moving anyway with topdressing and other firm-friendly practices).

15. Wrap up round in Minnesota at Midland Hills with Ben Warren, Jonathan Reisetter, and member/Raynor fan Ross Walkowiak. The dreary weather couldn't dim our spirits, and maybe it even lifted them a bit as we got the course to ourselves on a late Saturday afternoon.

16. Sundown walks at Minikahda, Town & Country, and Hazeltine. Pretty special to get to walk over these great pieces of ground in solitude at the most beautiful time of day.

17. Late night 9 at Teton Pines after the Valley had re-awakened from Spring. Complete with moose encounter. I had not been on the back nine before, but it was a nice change of pace from the open, pond-laden front. The trees and marshy vegetation made for a nice setting, and the golf was more interesting and solid than I had expected. And then there was a moose in the woods, which I had also not expected.

18. After work twilight on the Palm Beach Par 3. The golf could certainly be better, but its still pretty nice to wind down at a spot with the sun setting over the inter-coastal on one side and the Atlantic Ocean crashing at the other.

19. Seeing the evening sun hit the Tetons from the opposite angle at Tributary. Extra satisfying knowing I had finished up at Teton Pines earlier that day.

20. Striking some Miura blades at Carl’s Golfland in Michigan with my old friend Don Ambrose. “Uncle Donny Slams” is my old high school English teacher who is a big fan of course design, which is a part of the reason we’ve stayed in touch all these years later. This was probably the first time I’d been to Carl’s since high school too. Trying out his Miura blades though was a revelatory experience that I did not expect. I have not paid much attention to equipment design over the years, but I’ve started to, gravitating toward craftsmanship just as I do architecture. I’ve never been as giddy hitting range balls as I was his set of “samurai swords.” Just need to finally get around to getting fitted for a set now.

Best Conditions (AKA Champions of Firm and Fast)

This list isn’t about uniformity, color, or a common notion of perfection. It’s just about how the ball reacts and rolls (namely, bouncy and fast). SoCal gets a boost this year from the combination of drought and dormant winter Bermuda. Superintendent, if known, listed in italics.

1. Ballyneal (Mulligan and main course) Jared Kalina

2. Old Works

3. Victoria

4. Soule Park

5. Northland

H.M. Minikahda Jeff Johnson, Town & Country Bill Larsen, Midland Hills Mike Manthey, Chaska Town Course, Braemar, Oakland Hills Phil Cafare, CapRock (will be in the top 5 after a year or two of tightening the young fairways) Mike McCauley, Cypress Point Jeff Markow

The Everything Else

As I said before, this was also one of the most fun years I’ve had off the machine. Between long, peaceful drives across this great land, visits with family, watching my daughter grow up way too fast, the return of exploration, exciting family news, and the most fun college football season since 1997, it’s been a wonderful time.

Favorite Cities

1. Jackson, WY

2. San Francisco/Daly City, CA

3. Twin Cities, MN

4. Lake Worth, FL

5. Home!

Best Commutes

I really only add this section this year to make note of…

1. Jackson Hole, WY …The most spectacular daily commute I’ve yet to have. Rounding the corner of West Gros Ventre Butte and seeing Grand Teton glowing in the early morning light over a broad field of horses and the occasional elk is a drive one can’t tire of, no matter what the thermometer says.

2. Lake Worth, FL Having just a ten minute drive to work is a real luxury, especially when you can take a not too busy road loaded with charming old Florida houses and palm trees glowing in the first light of day.

3. Bay Area, CA (“low” traffic version) It may not be the shortest time wise, but getting to go from your house to working on Alister MacKenzie features among sandy hills and Cypress trees (then getting to go back to your house and family after) is a pretty cool thing. Seeing the Bay in the first light of day along with the San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge are things that I do not take for granted, either.

4. Twin City suburbs, MN Much of the drive and Chaska itself made me nostalgic for where I grew up in Metro Detroit, where suburbia slowly bled out into pastoral fields, woods, and wetlands.

[large gap]

5. Bay Area, CA (“high” traffic version) Still, taking almost 2 hours to go somewhere that can be 30 minutes isn’t much fun, especially after a long day. I’ve somehow found a way to be more zen-like during these drives though, which has helped both energy and morale.

Favorite food by Place

Jackson: Elk Burger - Jackson Drug. HM to grilling elk steaks, bison ribeyes, and 21 day dry-aged local beef

Minnesota: Crusted Walleye - Hazeltine Clubhouse

Florida: Cuban crocquetas

MUSIC

Music was interesting this year. With the return of so many good things and new experiences, I thought there would be more strong standouts that I would latch onto as the mental playlist for 2021. Perhaps it’s the Spotify phenomenon, where it’s easy to let it curate a series of inter-related songs instead of forced repeat listens to whole albums, but I found myself listening to a lot of different stuff and enjoying it but not having it stick in ways it used to, especially when it came to albums. As such, a lot of the albums in the list weren’t as far apart to me in quality as they usually were, and none were an obvious number 1. It was more like one big “solid” group where 9 is almost as good as 1. Some certain songs tended to stand out though in more meaningful ways for different reasons.

Best Albums

1. Long Lost - Lord Huron

2. Today We’re The Greatest - Middle Kids

3. The Ghosts That Haunt Me - Crash Test Dummies

4. Saint Cloud +3 - Waxahatchee

5. Making a Door Less Open - Car Seat Headrest

6. Glowing in the Dark (Deluxe Edition) - Django Django

7. Absolute Loser - Fruit Bats

8. Loaded - The Velvet Underground

9. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA’s Desert Origins - Pavement

10. Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon

11. Shore - Fleet Foxes

12. Holy Smokes Future Jokes - Blitzen Trapper

13. V. - Wooden Shjips

14. Diamonds and Pearls* - Prince and the New Power Generation

15. Sun and Shade - Woods

H.M. Feel Flows - The Beach Boys; Pythons (Deluxe Edition)- Surfer Blood; Get a Grip* - Aerosmith; It’s a Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads; Revisiting every Punk-o-Rama Vol. 7 and earlier

Best Songs

1. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” - Waxahatchee (Dolly Parton Cover) See opening remarks at top of article.

2. "Hug of Thunder" - Broken Social Scene. Almost skipped this song while driving south through the Central Valley but had this sense it was building toward something. Good sense, as it became one of my favorite songs of the last couple years.

3. “Desperadoes Under the Eaves” - Warren Zevon. The lyrics of despair in the first half compared to the sounds of hope in the second half were really on theme. Also just a damn good song.

4. “Long Lost” - Lord Huron

5. "Cellophane" - Middle Kids

6. “The Ghosts That Haunt Me” - Crash Test Dummies

7. "Requiem" - Blitzen Trapper

8. “Can’t Cool Me Down” - Car Seat Headrest

9. “Feel Flows—Track and Backing Vocals” (full track also, but this stripped down version really caught my attention in a haunting way) - The Beach Boys

10. The first 3 songs of Django Django’s album. I couldn't pick just one, especially when the first, “Spirals,” starts with an auditory version of a Fibonacci Sequence.

11. "Thunder" - Prince and the New Power Generation.* This rediscovery took me back to the backseat of my mom’s car driving to my Grandpa’s bowling center in western Wayne County.

12. “Can I Believe You” - Fleet Foxes

13. “The Obvious Child” - Paul Simon. Those drums…

14. “Good for You” - Porridge Radio and Lala Lala. Lala Lala seriously needs to make a new album.

15. “American Dream” - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. A cheesy but delightful late-version of CSNY

16. “Trouble Me” - 10,000 Maniacs

17. “This Whole World” - The Beach Boys

18. “Shane” - Fruit Bats

19. “Confetti to the Hurricane” - The Deer

20. “Pump It Up” - Endor. Don’t you know? Pump it up. You’ve got to pump it up.

H.M. “‘74-’75” - The Connells; “Winter Song” - Crash Test Dummies; “My Drug Buddy” - The Lemonheads; “Pass It On” - Billy Bragg; “On Fire” - Bigott; “Heavy Days” - Still Corners; “Money” - D/R Period (I finally started watching Breaking Bad while in Florida); “Anything Could Happen” - The Clean; “1880 or So” - Television; “We Are The Youth” - Jack River; “I Feel Alive” - TOPS; “From a Soon To Be Ghost Town” - Fruit Bats; “Superman’s Song” - Crash Test Dummies

*Song/album not new to me, but it meant a lot to the fabric of this year in revisiting it.

Non-Golf Experiences of the Year

1.  42-27.  Sports fandom, when stripped down, is a silly thing. Why allow the efforts and results of a separate group of people competing in a separate event of competition affect your own emotions? It’s a bit ridiculous. If there is another thing learned from COVID and 2020 though, it’s the reason why we love sports—community and togetherness. Without fans, the games were just not the same. Nowhere was that more true than in college football, where the crowds are the biggest, traditions run deepest, and gameday rituals and gatherings last from dawn until dusk. Programs also tend to reflect the character of their university and regional culture more than with any other sport, creating a stronger bond not just between athlete and fan but also with your fellow supporters. As Michigan fans, we are united in many ways, one of which leading into this season was a bit of an existential malaise of negativity that this Harbaugh thing would not work, and therefore, nothing might ever work. What saddened me more was that perhaps the “right” way of doing things—highlighted in John U. Bacon’s 2019 book Overtime as building character, being responsible for your actions, actually going to class, and generally being good citizens (actions which were also demonstrated on this years team with Blake Corum and JJ McCarthy recently giving back some of their NIL earnings in that form of athlete payment’s first year of existence)—was no longer tenable in 2021 if you also wanted to win games.

I did not attend the University of Michigan, but my love for it and its teams was passed down to me at a young age from my father, who did. More critically, it became a positive component of many childhood memories, watching games with my brother, friends, and dad on the big projector screen at our family’s bowling lanes bar immediately following our Saturday morning leagues. Keith Jackson would often be on the call, and the weight of the game and its moments always seemed palpable, both because of his majestic ability to convey its importance and the waxing and waning amount of casual bowlers who would pop in and out to see what was going on, especially in the 4th quarter. Ohio State games always felt big, and I remember moments such as running up and down the concourse when Marcus Ray’s interception sealed the upset in 1996, going nuts for Woodson’s big plays in 97, or not realizing I had the first 8 strikes in my last game of league en route to an almost-perfect 299 because I was too busy nervously running back into the bar to see if the Wolverines could get themselves out of their early 9-0 deficit in the 2000 version of The Game (they eventually did). As big as all that felt though and the fond memories fostered, I neither realized at the time how unusual it was for Michigan to win that much nor just how big the rivalry and how intense the opposing fanbase was. This was before the internet, before I started living out of state, and before Jim Tressel somehow made good on his ridiculous promise in 2001. There was very little in the way of interaction with the fans in the state to the south. As soon I started to get a grasp on what Ohio State fans really thought of Michigan and really being able to feel what the rivalry meant, it was too late to get to savor a win that would somehow be even bigger and more satisfying with that added layer of schadenfreude. As the years went on and the losses piled up—one win since 2003—that longed-for win became simultaneously more monumental, more desirable, and more distant. Certainly, in 2021, it would be waiting for at least another year and likely several beyond.

As this season approached, I didn’t know what to expect. No one did, as the team exposed nothing from spring and fall practices, 6 assistant coaches were swapped out for younger and less experienced guys, and the previous year’s disastrous 2-4 team provided little data as well as little hope. They could be anywhere from 4-8 to 10-2 by seasons end, more likely toward the bottom. I was just happy though that real football with actual fans would be back, and as I sat in my car to watch the season’s opening drive on my phone while awaiting a 12:50 tee time at Streamsong Black, I can admit to being a bit emotional as the camera first panned across a full stadium and the crowd boisterously chanted along to that famous Jack White guitar riff as the ball kicked off. A quick 7-0 score over the Western Michigan Broncos and hearing the noisy stadium was a pleasant start but also a sign of things to come. A much bigger sign. They’d win that game 47-14 after only being favored by 17, and they would win again the next week against Washington in an even wilder Maize-out environment, and they would keep on winning, seemingly gaining momentum and confidence all along the way. Eventually, this success started to become real, as did some faint—very faint—hopes of beating Ohio State. After so many years of heartbreak though, I would only believe it when I saw it.

And then, on that late November day, I saw it. All three and a half glorious hours of maximum effort and execution, being played out in the way that as an underdog fan you only dream or fantasize about, with snow flurries and possibly the most raucous Michigan Stadium crowd in history compounding the wonder. It was surreal, and I hung onto every play and every yard, like it was the biggest game of my life, because really, it sort of was, at least from a third-party perspective. I am familiar with recency bias, but I can confidently say that this win and moment was the biggest and most special in all my sports fandom. Bigger than any previous Michigan win—the 1998 national championship winning Rose Bowl included—or Red Wings Stanley Cup. It goes beyond those. This not only meant more because of the specific pain and suffering of this rivalry but also because of how it related to me personally. I saw this team grow stronger and stronger after simultaneously rebooting itself and re-establishing its core beliefs. They confidently danced to “Jump Around” in Madison en route to their first win there in 20 years. They came back late against on the road at night in Nebraska after blowing a late lead—the kind of win not found in the Harbaugh era. They did the same thing again at Penn State. All this new-found confidence, all this momentum, all this success—it felt a lot like what I had gone through myself over the previous year. I was nearly broken at the start of the year, but I changed routines, habits, and—more importantly—the beliefs in myself and what I could be. It was powerful and self perpetuating, just as it seemed to be with this Michigan team’s late-season crescendo.

Lingering beyond those thoughts though were some more that I just couldn’t stop going back to, both in the lead-up to the game and especially the day of. The contrast between this particular post-Thanksgiving Saturday with the previous year’s could not have been much more different. That previous year, I sat in the hospital room with my dad and brother on what would be my mom’s last day on this earth. Michigan was playing a meaningless game at that same time with a depleted roster in an empty Michigan Stadium against winless Penn State. My brother and I watched a series of plays on his phone before we got COVID clearance to go back up into the hospital room (there was a real possibility that we couldn’t all be together in there at once). I didn’t pay attention to it the rest of the way; maybe my dad and I would watch the recording later that night, if we were even to go home that night. That room was where I needed to be, mentally and physically. Outside the window of it, the sun shone brightly on a rare cloudless day in late November. It was a bit ironic, this sunshine on what would be such a dark day, but she did love her sunshine. She also loved snow though, or at least looking at it out the window. One year later, on that same post-Thanksgiving Saturday in Southeast Michigan, we would have that snow. Lots of snow. All I could think of as it fell throughout the game and hardest in the post game euphoria was that she must have had something to do with it—that her presence was there adding to the scene and the team’s good fortunes. It was only after in my post game phone call to my dad and brother, who were in the Stadium that day, that I found out my dad had brought her ashes with him. It would be the second time that day I let my guard down emotionally.

Sports fandom is silly, but I am grateful for it. Grateful for its thrills, anxiety, agony, euphoria. Grateful for its anticipation and lead-up to big games. Grateful for the memories it creates or attaches itself to and reinforces. Grateful for the bonds it creates with longtime friends, family, and online strangers. Grateful for moments where all of that melds together as one like it did on November 27th, 2021.

2. Blue Balloons. While out working on the 16th hole at the West Palm Golf Park, I received a FaceTime call. On the other end was a crying child who for some reason decided to have a meltdown just as the phone was ringing. Above her though were a whole bunch of light blue balloons, and at that moment I realized that we would be having a boy that following winter. It was a very special moment (if made a bit humorous by his big sister) and one that made for a lot of appreciation and reflection for the rest of the day. It also guarantees what the number 1 spot will be in this category next year.

3. Standing on the bluffs at Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, silent and solitary on a calm summer evening  I had never even heard about this national park until scanning over the map of my upcoming drive the night before in Montana. As it was, it looked interesting enough and worth a stop along my day and a half journey to reach Duluth for a Sunday afternoon tee time. I had hoped to get there a bit earlier than I did, but it worked out as nothing quite beats late day light on the prairie, especially when the wind is down. I had also hoped to be a bit quicker, but I couldn’t help but linger and drive to some of the more remote spots in the park. This place was so peaceful with its soft pinks, grays, and greens and the warm air summer air gently sitting still. The golden light filtered softly through steely clouds, and all that could be heard were crickets and birds as buffalo grazed the surrounding hills. All this was well worth a longer stay and later eventual bedtime, for this was the kind of liberating peace and freedom I could only dream about a year prior. I undoubtedly missed the family, sending them pictures and video of buffalo crossing the road and loading up on fun stuff in the gift shop, but this was selfishly a very nice moment.

4. Family visit to Michigan For the first time in over a year, the whole family was able to visit my dad’s house in Michigan for some summer time fun. My daughter was re-united with her older cousin as well as getting to meet her new baby one, the days filled with plenty of swimming, boat rides on the lake, and farm fresh sweet corn. It was a really great time as she also got to meet a lot of our large extended family as we posthumously celebrated my mom’s life in a nice event at the bowling center. She still remembers a lot from that trip, talking about “pool,” “Papa’s house,” “boat ride,” “Kevbo” (my brother’s nickname), “Aunt Danielle,” and “bowling pins.” These little minds are never cease to amaze and entertain.

5. “Papa” in Jackson While working in Jackson Hole, my dad mentioned coming out to visit. It would be a great opportunity for him to see our daughter for the first time in over a year, a year in which a lot of basic developments occurred (walking, talking, growing hair, etc.) that he happened to miss. It would thus be great for him to spend time with this rapidly growing and changing little thing. He is also an avid outdoorsman and would love the scenery and keeping an eye out for big game. I am happy to know that he got to see everything he wanted except for a moose, and it was a very cool memory to veer off onto a dirt road and get right up next to huge herd of bison, his granddaughter standing at the end of the half open car window pointing out all the wild beasts among us, including those only a few feet away.

6. Paisley Park and Excelsior, MN I’ve long been a Prince fan and have maintained that he is the most talented musician who ever lived. The man could play any instrument and create any type of music, and he could do it all well. The person who was a bigger Prince fan than any I knew though was my mom. Working in Minnesota, specifically Chaska, which is not far from Paisley Park, meant I had to take advantage of the opportunity and visit. So I did one Saturday late afternoon after work. It was really cool taking a tour of Prince’s recording studio that he created and customized for himself and many who followed, but it was also a bit emotional and bittersweet, as I knew she really would have loved it.

Afterward, I headed up to (figuratively) purify myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka and see what Excelsior was all about. I was amazed to find such a cool, historic, charming town right on this scenic lake bustling with good summer vibes. I must admit to being a bit envious, as none of our lakes like this in Southeast Michigan have such a town on them. Unfortunately I was shut out of an outdoor spot at the hugely popular Maynard’s, but I was able to catch the sunset in town and ended up picking up a Detroit-style pizza from Jet’s on the way home, a comforting sort of consolation for my mild jealousy.

7. Sundays with the Family in Grand Teton Just about every Sunday off day we had in Jackson Hole, we would go for a drive around Grand Teton National Park, which was a treat that wouldn’t get old. Grand Teton was probably my favorite spot on my drive West when moving to California, so it was very cool to be back and explore it even further. It was also special to share it with my little girl who at only a year and a half old had already shown a strong affinity for nature and animals. I think if we let her she would’ve walked the entire 150 yards through the sage brush to get up close to the moose that were standing out in one of the fields.

8. Exploring South Beach Art Deco architecture is cool, and Miami’s version of it is extra cool. Bright and colorful, it embodies the vibes of the culture and the flora of the natural South Florida environment. There are also some interesting narrow, cafe-lined streets nearby like the Española Way, and the alley with the giant Betsy Orb that connects two different buildings and architectural styles. South Beach is a lot more than what you see on the beach.

9. The Open Road Getting on the open road was liberating. I was probably more excited to see the nothingness of central Nevada than just about anyone else would, both from that feeling of liberation as well as a genuine sense of curiosity. With instagram and the internet, there are very few places that have yet to be documented and pop up on your feed. Our family road trip to Wyoming was a memorable one, with stops in historic Winnemucca in Nevada and Park City in Utah. This was my first time in Utah, and the vast salt flats were as glorious as I could’ve hoped. After Jackson Hole though, I flew the family back and was then on my own to make it to Minnesota and back to California. As such, I did the aforementioned trip to Montana to see Rock Creek and then cut across North Dakota to cross off another state, leaving me with 7 still to see. There were many highlights also mentioned in the rest of this piece, but chasing a massive storm head in Montana as the sun went down was a different one, as was watching midnight light linger to the north in central North Dakota, walking the bleachers at the University of Wyoming’s football stadium (Welcome to Elevation 7220 Feet), and stopping to see Babe the Blue Ox in Brainerd for some cheesy, Coen Brothers-inspired Americana. The great open middle of this country just feels like home to me.

Above: America and Americana. Listed in order of appearance.

10 (t). Old Montana While driving around Montana, I became interested in the old, tired civilizations still present there. Deer Lodge was a small town lost in time but clearly had some money in it at one distant point. Old Works was fascinating in itself playing up against the old abandoned mining operation (the reason for the course’s existence is to provide a green barrier from the pollutants below). Seeing Butte on my first drive by encouraged me to make a detour to check it out on my way back, its hillside downtown of brick buildings and unique angled mineshafts luring my curiosity. Lastly, a bizarre, space-futuristic abandoned radio station caught my attention to the point where I literally doubled back to go pull over and take a picture of it. Montana is famous for its natural beauty, but its human past and architectural evidence are pretty interesting too.

10 (t). Exploring the poor interior of Florida and Lake Okeechobee as well as the uber-wealthy, Mediterranean Revival Worth Avenue in Palm Beach in the same day. Since being a little kid who loved looking at maps, I had always wondered about Lake Okeechobee. I assumed it to be populated, beautiful, and pleasant. Really though, it is a lost portion of Florida, much like the rest of the surrounding interior of the state. Following on the theme of forgotten Central Nevada though, this made it that much more attractive to me to go explore. Furthermore, the town nearest to the Palm Beach side was Pahokee, a small, hard-nosed community I had been familiar with for the number of Michigan football players it had produced, including Vincent Smith, who later returned to Pahokee help create citizen-grown gardens to help feed the community.

I found the whole area to be extremely quiet, especially in contrast to the busy Gold Coast, but possessing a haunting beauty unto its own. It is really unfortunate that the town and everything surrounding the Lake is physically isolated from it, due to a 20 foot berm surrounding it built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a large-scale flood control measure. Once you get up to the top of it though, what appears a glimmering body of water that stretches as far as the eye can see. It’s nickname of “Florida’s Inland Sea” is appropriate, for that is what it looks like.

Turning back to the coast, I still had time to explore some more, so I headed up to Palm Beach and head for its oldest and most elegant section along the water. Worth Avenue is a street world renown for its opulent shopping and art galleries, but that is hardly what attracted me to it. What I wanted to see was its collection of Mediterranean-Revival architecture, narrow alleyways reminiscent of old European towns, and lush tropical courtyards. I was not disappointed. Visually, it really did feel like a melding of Europe and Florida with human-scale density, fine texture, and exotic plants all over.

It was an interesting juxtaposition seeing such opposite ends of our American wealth-spectrum in the same afternoon, but perhaps what was most interesting was that I found both equally fascinating and enjoyable.

H.M. Finally catching a “green flash” on Newport Beach; Black Crowes concert in West Palm; First time fly fishing with excellent guide Thad Layton

A final note, and a look forward to 2022...

Are you still here? Congratulations ;) , and thank you if so.

This piece tends to close with some thanks and thoughts of continuing momentum and optimism into the following year. Well, this year is certainly no different, and it’s probably more meaningful than ever given the context and how it all shook out. I’m first thankful to both my immediate and extended family for their much needed support to work in this career and do all these things I love. I couldn’t have started this without them, and I couldn’t have continued on without them, especially after a year that was so bad in many ways.

I’m thankful for all the talented people I’ve gotten to work for and with—other designers, shapers, clients, contractors, superintendents, and maintenance staffs. Everyone plays an important role to the success of a project, and their help and expertise is much appreciated.

I’m also thankful for all the superintendents, members, and otherwise who had me out to see their golf courses this year. I am appreciative both of their hospitality as well as the opportunity it provides to learn something new. You cannot understand just how important that is for us in our development and application of ideas in future projects.

This was truly a year of great opportunity and momentum, and I can’t wait to keep it moving forward.

Thanks again for reading, best wishes to all of you, and Happy New Year!

-Brett