Kapalua's greens are gigantic, and they swerve and roll and undulate much the same as do the greens at the Old Course in St. Andrews and Augusta National. The transitions aren't sharp on these greens; they're not composed of ledges, but the changes come gradually. Neither Coore nor Crenshaw like what they call "independent" contours. Still, they reflect what Crenshaw learned from reading what the Scotsman John Low once said. Low was a captain of the R&A, and he knew the game.

Photo: © Ben Crenshaw.Com Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw while inspecting We-Ko-Pa last year.

That observation came up at We-Ko-Pa on one of its many fairways that swing. Crenshaw stopped while walking down the fairway, he was pushing his clubs along in a cart and mentioned what Low had to say. He pointed out the relationship between Boomer's and Low's observations.

"Movement, that's what they're talking about," Crenshaw said. Then he let loose with his free and easy swing, and his ball sailed across a dry wash toward the green.

It was hardly a surprise that Crenshaw could quote Low, and that he knew Boomer's writing. I thought of the time I visited Crenshaw at his home in Austin. His library was comprehensive, and included most of the classic works on course architecture. Crenshaw wasn't only a collector. He was and remains a reader, a golfing scholar.

So, for that matter, was, and is, Coore. Coore majored in Classical Greek literature at Wake Forest University, and was on his way to further work at Duke University and, ultimately, to life as a college professor. But during the late 1960s, he was working as a general laborer with Pete Dye. Coore started reading the architecture books that Dye had in his library. "I loved golf and golf courses," Coore says. "I also loved academics, and felt they weren't mutually exclusive."

Photo: © Talking Stick Talking Stick's North Course.

Coore's a champion of close detail work. He likes music, art and reading. He and Crenshaw can talk for hours, and in depth, about the pleasures of the simple virtues of golf, of walking with friends across a pleasing landscape, shaping shots to a target, using the ground, enjoying what the British call "air and exercise."

There's great pleasure in just talking with Crenshaw and Coore, aside from playing their courses. Here's Crenshaw on his and Coore's thinking behind Talking Stick's North course. His comments strike hard at the notion that the way to make a course difficult is to tighten the fairways and add rough or increase its height.

"The principles of this golf course stem from St. Andrews, which is fairly flat but with endless undulation and unique placement of bunkers," Crenshaw says. "There are infinite ways to play that golf course. You have to provide room for people to pick and choose their options. You cannot do that on a narrow golf course; there are only certain ways to play it."

Photo: © J.D. Cuban /Allsport The widest fairways on the PGA Tour can be found at Kapalua.

Classic architecture has endured because it reflects wide, not narrow, thinking. Coore's and Crenshaw's work will endure as well. They don't just pay lip service to the idea that strategy and shot options are its essential features; they make sure to build holes incorporating these ideas. The par-4, 354-yard 10th hole at the Plantation course has a fairway that's so wide it really can't be missed. The hole invites the golfer to hit a right to left shot, thereby using the ground contours. The ball will shoot off the undulations toward the massive green.

Coore and Crenshaw would be the first to say they couldn't do their exceptional work without the fellows who work with them. Jeff Mingay, a fine writer on course architecture whose work sometimes appears on this site, and a fellow who is working on the Sagebrush course in Merritt, British Columbia now, once sent me a note to this effect.

"The impressive results of [Coore's and Crenshaw's] efforts are due to the ultra-talented crew of guys they've put together," Mingay said. He reminded me that their firm is one of only a few firms who prepare their shaping work in-house. "Guys like Dave Axland, Jimbo Wright, an Jeff Bradley (who is responsible for the amazing bunker work, are invaluable to Coore's and Crenshaw's cause." Mingay also pointed out that Rod Whitman, the lead architect at Sagebrush, has done excellent work for Coore and Crenshaw at courses such as Talking Stick and Friar's Head. They've spoken frequently of their respect for Whitman.

Consider the Mercedes Championships at the Plantation course this week as an opportunity to study the creative work of two architects whose courses will stand the test of time. It would be an excellent idea to tape the coverage of the tournament, and then to look at Coore's and Crenshaw's work at your leisure. You'll be rewarded every time you examine it, and will want to play their courses whenever possible.

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