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Peter Dawson Defends Old Course Changes…Again

by Jeff Skinner

As the work at St. Andrews continues so does the debate about the work and the way the whole thing was handled.  Unrelenting in his disdain for the changes and the powers that initiated them is Geoff Shackelford.   His blog, Geoff Shackelford.com is ground zero for all things St. Andrews and the recent changes going on there.

He posted a scathing blog about Peter Dawson’s recent defense of why the announcement came as late as it did.  It seems the R&A was distracted by the anchoring ban.  “We were perhaps a little distracted by the announcement of the ban on anchoring.”  Shackleford’s talent as a course aficionado is only surpassed by his sarcasm towards Dawson, “Whoa, whoa, whoa…this renovation was in the works for seven months! It involves the most historic course on the planet and the R&A Chief was distracted by the anchoring ban?

On a serious note, if you are too distracted to publicly share the master plan, the Photoshopped images simulating the proposed changes and from sharing a basic notice to the golfers in town of planned changes as you did in 2009 with the Jubilee Course, are you maybe a little too distracted to be implementing architectural changes to the oldest and most cherished venue in the world of sport?”

His quotes comes from an article by Adam Lawrence in Golf Architecture and it is certainly worth a read.  And the real treat is the link to “Living as a Links Golfer” (that’s music to my ears) and Graylyn Loomis’ photos of the construction at the Old Course.  Check it out here.

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