The Beginning of Golf Course Designコース設計のはじまり

Allan Robertson (1815-1859)

The history of design in the United Kingdom tells of the first remodeling of the course at St. Andrews (the Old Course). The first alteration to the Old Course was made in 1764, and the second alteration to the Old Course was made by Alan Robertson, a professional golfer at St. Andrews at the time, in a few years starting in 1848. The alterations included widening the Old Course and at the same time creating the famous 17th "Road Hole" green by cutting it off from the 1st green. This remodeling is said to have created the current shape of the Old Course, which is why it is said that "the history of golf course design began with Alan Robertson".
Thus, it seems that the course renovation work at that time was the role of golf craftsmen (behind-the-scenes workers). The actual construction work done at that time was not as large scale as we think of it today, but was limited to the cutting of surrounding shrubs and expansion of holes, while reviewing the current course routing. The methods used were oral history based on the experience of the craftsmen (keepers), and there was no concept of course design to guide the course renovation work.
However, in 1894, without warning, the term "course design" appeared in the golf world.
It was Professor Harp Junez of Cambridge University who first proposed the idea that course design should be considered and established as a discipline. He proposed a seminar that would establish "course design" as an academic discipline and conduct research in all directions. The 20 leading amateur golfers of the time, including Thomas Simpson, Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, Charles Hugh Allison, and others, supported this research seminar.
This seminar would be the starting point for course design. They would later establish an unshakeable position as golf course designers and play a role as opinion leaders in golf course construction.

Harry Colt was in many ways a pioneer in the world of course design. For that reason, he is called the "Father of Modern Design. First, he was the first course designer who was not a professional golfer. He bid farewell once and for all to the primitive methods of the Scottish golf craftsman's reliance on experience, and established a new realm as an intellectual designer in England.
Second, he began using drawings in his design. He drew a route plan that would serve as the basis for the course layout after careful study using drawings showing elevation differences. This was revolutionary in those days of field-oriented, empirical design. When Allison designed the Asaka Course, it is said that he spent about a week locked up in a room at the Imperial Hotel, refusing all contact with the outside world, and worked on the course plan face to face with the drawings. The same was true when he created the route plan for Hirono. This was an extension of the Colt method. The third reason was that he had worked on several inland courses and was interested in trees, which were not found on links courses. Although I did not use trees for game strategy, I recognized the need to plant trees to enhance the playing environment."

(From Kazunori Otsuka's The Fifth Pleasure of Golf)