Golfadelphia

Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre. 

– Andy Serkis

With age comes a growing sense of getting things done. Things that you’ve been meaning to do for years and years, you start to realize you need to actually do them. Before it’s too late. Before you have to start making choices on what you can get to and what you can’t. For the young, that carpe diem motivation is about making sure they start with their lives. For the old, it becomes about doing it while you can. Like every year, this one will be about adventure and getting to new places but is also about filling in blanks and correcting misdeeds so to speak. While I still can. That comes in many forms. So it was when I found myself a few days into the new year at Rancho Park in Los Angeles. One of the tougher tee times to get in Southern California, not because of any exclusivity issues but rather because of demand. And time. But with the rain the last couple days and a prohibition on golf carts, it felt that day was better than any other to finally once and for all play the course. Sitting near the driving range waiting to check back with the pro shop who told me to come back in fifteen minutes, I enjoyed my trail mix in the sun as I watched the golfers have their go at the driving range. Monday around lunch time and the place was teeming. Those who did not have a stall patiently waited. Those in the stalls had their enormous buckets, some of them with cameras set up to record their swings, some with friends to give them pointers. As I finished the round a few hours later in the dark, that range was even more crowded, the flood lights showing the range balls flying every direction imaginable, like some mini invasion from the skies. Demand in this game is teeming. I started to wonder. What exactly is the game of golf doing with all this demand. The demand is passion, all of it teeming and teeming, at some point it had to spill over, doesn’t it? I just kept thinking. What a time for the game. What a time to do something with all this teeming. To get things done. Before it’s too late.

As mentioned in my 2025 review, I’m revisiting old video games that I never got around to beating. Ghosts n’ Goblins and Castlevania are considered a couple of the toughest Nintendo games ever and while I’m decades removed from my video game days, I feel a growing obligation to beat these games. An odd correction of misdeeds I suppose. Growing up in the dawn of video games, however, they were indeed a large part of childhood/teenagehood. The more I thought about it, the course design industry could take a page or two from them.

It started with Intellivision when I was younger. Lock N’ Chase, Night Stalker, Baseball; those are the ones that immediately come to mind. Nothing more than stick figures in different color schemes with varying objects of the game, that Intellivision was hours on end of entertainment. Then I was in the Sixth grade when that Nintendo was under the Christmas tree and that started everything in much more earnest. My collection grew, which were categorized from my favorite to least favorite. I also found out you could rent games, so I would go with my Mom to the Sam Goody/Hollywood Video/Wherehouse on Friday when we grabbed a few movies for the weekend and I would get a game. I made it my mission to beat that game before we had to return everything Sunday. If that meant playing through the night, well then that needed to happen. Sure I had soccer games and friends and all that so if I really needed to, I’d rent it again but if the weekend was clear, game on. Now that I have a son around the same age I was back then and he plays video games just as much as I did, I realize the games are a lot different. Way back when, the games were fairly linear. There was a start point and the game would essentially get progressively harder as you the player got progressively stronger. You would progress in this fashion until you confronted the end of the game, where you needed to beat the hardest adversary of all. There would then be some relatively weak ending compared to the hours you invested in playing the game and you’d move on to the next. The challenge was essentially a combination of memorizing prompts, reflexes, dexterity with the controller and some times figuring out puzzles and riddles.

Video games taught me persistence. Even those times a game or even some part of the game seemed impossible, there was a way to get through. I just needed more time playing and I’d learn soon enough how to beat it. You just couldn’t give up, essentially. Yeah it could get frustrating and seem like you’re destined to fail but keep at it and at some point, you’ll do it. There was this one game called Ninja Gaiden. It’s now known as the one of the toughest Nintendo games ever but back then I didn’t know that, I just thought I wasn’t playing well enough. I actually stopped playing it altogether. A few weeks later, I heard that song by Jimmy Cliff (RIP – 2025), “You Can Get it if You Really Want.” “If you try, try and try, try and try – you’ll succeed at last.” Fitting inspiration and I went back to it and with dogged determination, and finally beat it. That was video games back then. Tough as shit, took a ton of time and dedication, all for some POS ending. But then you had bragging rights and that counted for something.

At some point girls, sports and my beloved 1970 Mustang (“The Beast”) took most of my attention and yet I always made sure a video game set was laying around even if I didn’t have the time to approach it with as much gusto as when I was younger. Apparently it started to become known as “gaming” and the industry grew in all kinds of different directions. I paid attention sporadically. Shadow of the Colossus seemed interesting so I gave that a go. My wife gave me a retro Nintendo system a few years ago I mess around with every now and then. Around the time my daughter was born, I heard about the Tiger Woods game where you could play Augusta, so had to get a new system in order to do that. I think that’s the one I still have, me and my son playing until we reached Augusta, trying to figure out how to putt those greens. And it was my son who has now taken the reigns of most video gaming in the house. Most of any involvement with video games for me nowadays is buying games for my son and/or watching him play.

The differences in video games from one generation to the next is indeed enlightening. My college years saw the transition into the Playstation and Nintendo 64 era that saw the advent of 3D and first person games that became franchises, such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Metal Gear Solid. Online gaming then came on to the scene with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (this is my most recent console). The systems were powerful enough to roll out more complex games and elevated the player experience as a result. Yet at some point, the online context started to lean towards monetization (this is where my kids started with the whole video game thing). The challenge I mentioned all those years before more or less evaporated and instead, the landscapes were infinite and grew. So long as you were willing to pay. Cooler weapons, access to more worlds, whatever. It seemed rather mindless but at least my kids weren’t torturing themselves with games like 1943 and Zelda II.  My daughter eventually lost interest but my son kept on with it. At some point we gave him the Playstation 5. I started realizing the complexity of the games he was playing, even the sports games. He started playing others that showed challenge, interest and beauty. For the first time, I became envious. These games were leaps and bounds better than the ones I played. Examples include Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong and even something like Death’s Door that reminds me a lot of the first Legend of Zelda. Moreover, games are much more distinctly categorized and then even sub-categorized as needed. Thriving in their own identity and some times hybridizing among them with several independent developers able to utilize innovation without the constraints placed on them by the bigger conglomerates, some argue that the video game industry is in a second Golden Age (or its first, depending on who you speak with). Technology and art on the rise while creativity is allowed to explore unfettered, the result has been these electronic works of art that become as refined as possible, all while focusing on the player experience. What a time to be alive.

The player experience. That evolves, doesn’t it? As a kid I was content with moving some vaguely shaped object about the screen with the occasional button press for hours upon hours, which then progressed to the button mashing challenge of games like Ninja Gaiden, making kids summon the yen of reggae music for the resolve to get through them. The games and their structure kept advancing in complexity and strategy. Even sports games nowadays consist of developing the players and making intricate trades with salary cap considerations. All of this advancement . . . advanced the player as well. The ability and expectations of the player have advanced. The sophistication of the player has advanced. Hence, my son would play a game like Ninja Gaiden and be bored out of his mind. The single dimension of memory-based and hand-eye coordination challenge would not be enough to meet his expectations and ability as a video game player. He needs and expects the complexity, the depth of challenge and thought provoking play, as well as the mesmerizing reward that comes with advancing within the game. The uber progression of the video game industry includes that of the player. The games get better and better, which makes the player better and better, who then expects more better and better from the games they play. Mutualism. Mutualism that has led to astronomical progression so that the industry now finds themselves in a Golden Age. In short, the video game IQ of the player is much higher now which means the product must evoke a higher IQ as well.

“The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences.”

– Shigeru Miyamoto

Video games have demonstrated an incredible ability to respond to the player experience. That experience evolves the player, who then wants more from their games, which the developers have been able to constantly adjust to provide. It’s a constant state of innovation. A constant state of innovation largely dictated by the player.

The Renaissance or Second Golden Age many believe we are currently in for course design should be examined in a different context. It is not so much the architecture or work that should relate to such references but instead, the golfer himself should be viewed in that context. Yes, the golfer is the Renaissance! In no other time has there been so many so educated on course architecture. Even more important, so many that are so interested in it. Perhaps even more important than that, so many that are so interested in being educated. The golfer has become much more sophisticated and complex in what he is looking for in a golf course. It is no longer sufficient for most that the course hosted such and such tournament or has a 185 slope or the longest par 5 in the universe or moved 80 trillion acres of dirt or cost $80 billion. The golfer is now paying attention to who the architect is, what the terrain does and how the course plays. Now more than ever, the golfer is discerning. Arguably, Bandon Dunes was the main cause of the groundswell, which beget more and more resorts in remote destinations based on the ideal terrain for golf. Then there were the restorations, which spread across the land of mostly private courses. Networking has become much easier, which has led to a lot more travel and golfers see a lot more than they used to. Some of these are on green committees and the like which translates into much more knowledgeable clients interacting with the course architect. It has all led to changes across the board and a bevy of new courses all focused on historical integrity when applicable, naturalism in some form and striving for the best course possible. Those are now the primary goals. Yet what’s worthy of consideration is whether the growing sameness that’s becoming more and more apparent is falling behind the needs and wants of a golfer with a much higher IQ than ever before. These higher IQ golfers, as mentioned before, are teeming with demand. How will that demand be met.

By no means is the work we are seeing nowadays falling short. It is indeed, quite the contrary. It is not a matter of quality. It is more a matter of complacency and the risk of seeing too many of the same type of high quality product, which runs the risk of staling all of them. It’s really a question of over saturation. One can only take so much before the golfer finally has had enough. The two causes for any dramatic changes taking place in the course design industry are either economic downturns or over saturation. Over saturation is the result of lack of innovation. Projects start chasing models with past success in the hopes of seeing the same. Why innovate when you can ride the wave. This has been the cycle of course architecture for the last seven decades in the U.S. While there was a general recognition that the sins of the early modern era should not be repeated, they have began to rear up yet again. Real estate ploys have become a lot more sophisticated and yes, more centered on the golf experience, while resorts continue popping up primarily with the Keisers expanding their successful model to other regions of the country. Remote destination clubs continue to multiply, promising idyllic golf along with top shelf food and lodging. Existing courses are restoring, renovating and otherwise changing, aiming for a better version of themselves. Marketing, tag lines and social medial influencer mantras are all melding together as a result. It’s a business, after all. For the last 20 – 25 years, this era has progressed as such. The architecture during this time has been extraordinary, which has of course created the crossroads we will find ourselves in shortly. Paths branching in different directions from the dominant trend will become more and more vital as time wears on, accelerated by the modern day discerning golfer. The key to this is innovation. Innovation is the reason everyone is able to chase in the first place. Because of the IQ of the golfer nowadays, innovation is vital.

Make no mistake, innovation is indeed out there. The Lido, Ohoopee, Congaree, Tree Farm and many others are innovative in their own ways. The goal, however, is for innovation to outpace, or at the very least stay abreast of, the same old same old. Zig when everyone else is zagging. The golf course is for a much different golfer than even twenty years ago. Every project should consider this change, this evolution, of the golfer. And in this lens, strive to innovate. Greatness doesn’t necessarily need to be innovative and there are a number of courses old and new that are great/will be great without doing anything innovative. But innovation is definitely needed for course architecture to progress and keep up with the golfer of today. Let the course and golfer elevate each other in a continual state of enlightenment. The expectations and dynamics of today’s golfer are a unique component to course architecture seen for the first time. Let this dynamic serve to break the inevitable cyclical staleness that usually awaits the transition of one era to the other. More of a reliance on originality and innovation instead of replication will prolong our current era while seamlessly flowing to the next.

This year will focus to some extent on innovation, past and present, as well as the opposite force of saturation. How these concepts apply to course architecture as a means of moving and stalling design evolution. The need for more and more innovation swells by the year. We’re pushing that car stuck in the mud forwards and backwards; motion is the only way to make sure it doesn’t get stuck in a rut.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

– Alan Kay

This is one of those years. Ideas are out there, concepts of trips coming out of the ether. But really aside from the recent Southern California visit, nothing is set in stone. At the same time, I cede to the points of this Preview. Get things done, especially if you’re old, and innovate. Golfadelphia might be innovating a bit; ideas have been discussed. There are plenty of mediums out there and some might be a good fit. As far as golf to be played, ideas have also certainly been discussed.

• First and foremost, more international. London has not been planned yet but most certainly definite and even France is in sight. France would be the first foray beyond the U.S. and U.K. yet is one of the European countries with a fascinating portfolio. What has become an annual tradition, this is where I say I’m visiting Canada. I really feel like this could be the year. This could be the most international year yet for Golfadelphia.
• Speaking of getting things done, I have had an article in the works for years now but need to visit a few courses before it can be rolled out. This will be the year, I tell you. It has to do with an early modern architect and the creative, formative process of course design. It then covers a couple Golden Age architects and moves from there.
• Maybe unrelated, maybe not, but with how close it is and how much I took a liking to the courses, another visit to Ohio is in order.
• More of the mighty Midwest is vastly unexplored as far as Golfadelphia goes. If we’re getting things done, then it’s time to head out to the likes of Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
• A new article concept is brewing that gets more in depth on the careers of particular course architects. This coincides with one of the courses very high up on finally visiting. These dominoes will hopefully fall this year.
• I’ll just throw this in the middle. While it’s good to have plans, I actually enjoy not having them some times. More freedom for spontaneity and flexibility. The truth of the matter is most of my rounds in a given year are largely organic and happen spur of the moment for the most part. I may be reading a book that mentions the routing of one course or another and I’ll seek that course out and so on. So while I have good intentions in doing all of this stuff, some times; a lot of the time, there are side tracks. Life is full of them and I enjoy seeing where they lead often enough.
• From the Return of the New series, there are certainly an arsenal of new projects. Sooner is likely better than later in starting to visit them, especially to check out what I’ll now christen the “innovation character” (TM) and dibbs of these new projects.
• From last year, I’ve been rather vocal that course length does not automatically equal interest, engagement or even challenge. In fact, some of my favorite courses are able to capture a riveting round with shorter lengths altogether. One of the supreme examples of this will be visited, at last, this year (hopefully). Such a powerful yet constantly underrated and ignored design concept at present for the most part.
• As for local publics, Bensalem and the Manor were finally visited last year but that still leaves a few remaining on the existing list, such as Green Pond, Bethlehem Municipal and Hershey East.
• Content wise, the year will start with what new courses are on deck to open in 2026.
• Then we’ll be getting things done and answering the question posed in last year’s preview: There are golf courses that define the legacy of an architect. Their masterpiece if you will and it’s not always limited to one course. On some of these, the architect had free rein to do as they saw fit, so there is no hiding from the design by pointing to client demands or environmental restrictions or clubhouse location. The course is their best iteration of course architecture personified. So looking beyond the name, its stature or ranking, what do these masterpieces signify for their respective architects? And how interesting are those design concepts?
• Then a series of public courses will be reviewed. There will be a lot of them.
• After that, as they say, the road opens up.

Another year upon us and I wish you all the best in this 2026. The game we all love is in constant motion whether we know it or not and at some point, we will look back at it all and it will be called history. You and I are much different golfers than those even at the turn of the century and this year I invite you to take stock of your very significant role in our game. I’ll see you out there at some point, as I try to innovate myself a bearable swing, sometimes with a smile and sometimes with a furrow. Until I can make it now and the pain is gone. And all of the bad feelings have disappeared. Here is that rainbow I’ve been praying for and then, I know. It’s gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshiny day.