BOOK REVIEW: ROUTING THE COURSE BY FORREST RICHARDSON

by Doug McAllister

Every golfer, deep down, believes that he or she could and should design golf courses. That being the case, sooner or later you'll want to pick up a book or two on the subject. As you peruse Amazon's selection (and it doesn't have to be Amazon — Amazon just happens to be one of my favorites), you aren't sure which titles will fit the bill. Well, here's one that has its ups and downs. ROUTING THE GOLF COURSE by Forrest Richardson has many good points but, as you will see in my review that follows, for me there was one rather large problem.

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WHERE THE HECK IS THE PIN?!
Routing the Golf Course by Forrest Richardson

Let's say your playing one of the greatest golf courses in the world, a dream round that you have planned for and paid a pretty penny to enjoy. You've just hit a solid 3-iron to the blind 10th green and, given the sweetness of the sound and feel, you're absolutely sure that you'll be in great shape. As you approach the green you can see your ball but there is no flag in sight! You frantically scan the green to see whether a careless foursome ahead of you just forgot to put it back in the hole. Reaching the green, you continue to look all over the place. Where the heck is the pin?! It's at that point that you realize that, not only is the flagstick missing, the hole is missing too!! Needless to say, all of the previous fun, all of the great shots previously hit on all of the front nine, evaporates and the sense of disappointment and emptiness overwhelm your entire round.

This is exactly the feeling that I had with ROUTING THE GOLF COURSE by Forrest Richardson. I had completed a thorough and very enjoyable reading of the first nine chapters -- nine holes, as Richardson calls them -- and most of the 10th, when I hit a snag that was just as frustrating for me as reaching a green and finding no pin or hole. At the bottom of page 293 the reader finds a shadowed box titled "RATING VERSUS SLOPE." Now, this inset just happened to be a question about golf course design to which I have always wanted an answer. I excitedly began to read Richardson's explanation and, completing the first part of the section, with the words "...bunkers, out-of-bounds, water, trees, green sur-", I turned the page and...NOTHING! Absolutely nothing! No completion of the obviously unfinished shadow box on the previous page--like reaching a green without a hole or flagstick!! I frantically searched each of the next few pages. Surely a careless production artist had simply made a mistake and the hyphenated thought, "green sur-...", would follow somewhere. Surely a stressed printer had somehow slipped up.

Not so! Nothing!

Now, you might think me petty for judging this book and its author so harshly based on, what seems, one small slip-up. Knock yourself out. For me, given the exorbitant price of this volume and the positioning thereof as a preeminent book on this subject — not to mention that Richardson is viewed by many as a rising star in golf course architecture and that his emphasis throughout the book regarding the need for precision and detail in routing the golf course is pronounced! — this seemingly small error is nearly unforgivable! Oh yes, I completed "the round," limping through the remaining "nine holes" (Richardson includes the obligatory 19th Hole), but the disappointment of the 10th irreparably tarnished this one for me.

I give it two out of five stars!

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So there you have it. Proceed with caution with this one. Admittedly, there are some interesting things in the book and some terrific insights about golf course design but I just couldn't make it past so blatant and error. Maybe you'll see it differently. It's a rather pricey purchase—even if purchased used and there are, in my opinion, better books available on the subject. But those I leave to a subsequent post.

So, in the meantime, hit 'em long and straight.