LYNGBYGAARD GOLF CENTER

Aarhus, Denmark -March 2007

After four years in the planning, Lyngbygaard Golf Center received a visit from the founding members to review the routing of the golf course and our intentions for the design. Thomas Bjorn, Denmark's most famous golfer, is a founding member and is also acting in the capacity as design consultant for the project. This was Thomas' first opportunity to visit the site and see the routing of the golf course. It was also my first opportunity to meet Thomas.

The visit was well attended and offered some opportunity for discussion of the design. Mostly, we exchanged conceptual design ideas and made plans for future visits, when there would be more work activity and likely fewer spectators.

This is not our first design collaboration with a professional golfer, but it is not a common practice for us. There is always the questions and concern about compatibility, when mixing designers and design ideas.

Admittedly, design collaborations have the potential to problematic. However, our experience, which is consistent with the day spent with Thomas is; there exists an opportunity to learn and the possibility for synergy to improve the end product.

In its best form, collaboration provides the platform to more thoroughly examine your beliefs about golf course design, strategy and design principles. The diverse perspectives and philosophies provide talking points. You are required to express your thoughts and ideas and justify your opinion about design, in very precise terms. Customary approaches to issues, problems and opportunities cannot be taken for granted.

In this regard, the day was a success. However, I always question the comprehension level at these events. It is during these times, when I am trying to convey design ideas that I remember a lesson learned years ago. I was watching a TV broadcast of a golf tournament on PGA West and Pete Dye (the designer of course) was sitting with the commentators to add pearls of wisdom.

One of the commentators asked Pete to explain his design philosophy for the golf course and why it was so difficult. Pete said something astonishingly unremarkable, like; these guys (the professionals) are such great players they can play any course. I was flabbergasted by what I perceived to be a lost opportunity. I thought: Pete was just invited to given the ultimate opportunity for a "Dye Design Infomercial" and he laid an egg.

It wasn't until later, suffering through several presentations that went over the audiences head, that I came to understand Pete really could not conveyed any meaningful message in the 30 seconds he was provided. We see it all the time after sports events, when athletes are asked to make a meaningful statement about the event or the venue. The result is rarely a meaningful statement but rather a "sound bite". A quick and canned comment about how great "it" is. There's usually comment like, "I'm grateful to....." Perhaps, after seeing a few interviewers eyes glaze over, sound bites become a learned talent.

Hopefully, we provided more substantive insight to our board of directors.