Donald Ross

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“Do not let certain standards become an obsession.  Quality, not length; interest, not the number of holes; distinction, not the size in the greens - these are things worth striving for.”

Robert Hunter

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“Great strategic holes primarily challenge thought.  Knowledge of what to do is not immediate.  It must be sought.  The line of skill is not obvious but is concealed in the line of thought.”

Max Behr

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“The merit of  any golf hole is not judged by its length but rather by its interest and its variety as elective play is apperant.  It isn’t how far, but how good!”

AW Tillinghast

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“The true hazard should draw the player towards it, should invite the golfer to come as near as he dare to the fire without burning his fingers.  The man who can afford to take risks is the man who should gain the advantage.”

John Low

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“The risk of going into a bunker is self-imposed, so there is no reason why a player should condemn a bunker as unfair.”

CB MacDonald

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“Don’t worry about par.  The practice of printing par figures is literally a mental hazard.”

Bobby Jones

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“The object of golf architecture is to give an intelligent purpose to the striking of a golf ball”

Max Behr

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“A man may be a very good golfer and yet know little about golf architects and golf architecture.”

Charles Banks

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“The golf architect is not at all concerned with chastising bad play.  On the contrary, it is his business to arrange the field of play as to stimulate interest, and hence, the province of hazards is to chasten the too ambitious.”

Max Behr

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“Immediately when we attempt to standardize sizes, shapes, and distances we lose more than half the pleasure of the game.”

H.S.Colt

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“The best golfing grasses vary in color.  They may be red, brown, blue, dark green, light green, yellow and at times even white and gray.  A golf course that is consisted entirely of one shade of green would be merely ugly.  There is great charm and beauty in the varying shades of color on a golf course.”

Alister Mackenzie

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“The great value of a hazard is not that it catches a shot that has been missed but that it forces a miss upon the timid player; its psychological worth is greater than it penal value.”

Bobby Jones

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Thanks to Geoff Shackelford - “Lines of Charm”

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Martin Design Partnership, Ltd. has been selected by the Wilmette Park District to complete a Master Improvement Plan for Wilmette Golf Club. This golf course is nearing 100 years old and has seen numerous changes in that time.  The Master Plan will attempt to take advantage of the unique setting of this facility while addressing infrastructure and feature design issues.

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Martin Design is working with LINKS ACROSS AMERICA and THE FIRST TEE at Brown County Golf Course in Green Bay, Wisconsin to develop an integrated practice and learning facility with a three hole golf course and new forward tees on the existing course.  These improvements will create a fantastic learning, practice and playing facility for all ages and abilities.  This great parkland golf course is considered one of the best in Wisconsin and will now be a true cradle-to-grave public facility for the residents of Brown County.

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Martin Design has completed a a Master Improvement Plan for Fox Run Golf Links in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.  Work is underway for a fall 2010 or spring 2011 construction start.

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Martin Design will be working with LINKS ACROSS AMERICA to make improvements to LaCroix Links in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Improvements include better drainage, irrigation and new tee surfaces.

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Biltmore Country Club is reviewing options for systematic renovation of that beautiful golf course using a Master Plan prepared by Martin Design in 2005.

Par is less important than shot values

Golf is a pedestrian event…even if you are in a cart

The site dictates everything…. the routing and feature placement and landscape treatments

Golf Course Architecture is not art  [static], it is theater [dynamic]

Fun is more important than length

Creativity and shot-making should be rewarded

Golf should be emotionally engaging and mentally stimulating

What the golfer feels is more important than what the golfer sees

Less is often better

Excellent Golf can coexist with economic viability and environmental sustainability

Golf can benefit the entire community

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Martin Design offers solutions to the issues facing Golf Course Architecture.  We present the following articles about golf course architecture and its role in the golf industry.

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Discretionary Dollars  [On Course, 1995]
An Interview With A Golf Course [On Course, 2001]
Challenging the Best & Playable for All [California Fairways, 1999]
Length, Strategy and the Need to Protect Par [Golf Chicago, 2006]
The Golf Paradox [On Course/Golf Chicago Magazine, 2005]
Decision-Making in Golf Course Design [Indian Gaming, 2009]
Challenging and Playable Golf Course Design [Indian Gaming, 2008]
Designing the future of our game

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For more information see:     www.smgi-gca.com