"It's a crying shame that we are destroying a course designed by one of our great heroes for the sake of a small footbridge."

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Frank Urquhart reports on the battle to save an Old Tom Morris, gulp, "signature hole" at North Inch in Perth. After looking at an aerial I couldn't figure out which hole it was. Anyone played it? I'm sure it's better than whatever bridge footing they want to place on it, but would love to hear more about the place.
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"Why are we changing thousands of courses - or at least dozens - for the sake of the golf ball? Why not just change the ball?"

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One last item from John Huggan's profile of Bill Coore. On the distance chase:

"Why are we changing thousands of courses - or at least dozens - for the sake of the golf ball? Why not just change the ball? There is no doubt it has had a negative effect on architecture generally. Guys just hit past stuff so much these days. To which people say we can move tees back - but sometimes you can't - or move bunkers - but sometimes that isn't practical or advisable. I hate to see bunkers that have been there for decades suddenly moved. For one thing, rebuilding a bunker exactly as it was isn't that easy.

"Having said that, the ball has less influence on our work than for some other designers. We don't do courses for tournament play. Mostly, our courses are for membership play. Yes, they have been used for events - the PGA Seniors was at Colorado Golf Club this year and the PGA Tour's season-opener has been at Kapalua for a while now. But we didn't do those courses with events in mind, they arrived later.

"We tend to work from the greens backward to a certain point. Beyond that, distance is not a priority. Our biggest interest is in making a hole fun to play."