A great piece, thank you Brett.When thinking about the other end of the diverse spectrum, I am reminded of an article I saw recently on Cosmos Links Country Club in South Korea; a completely treeless course built on 4 adjacent strips of fairway with 360 pot bunkers, 20 per hole. I don’t think it can get much less diverse than that. I think it’s intriguing enough as a concept to play once, but I struggle to see a desire to play it more than that. While the ownership might be going for more of a novel, hope a million people play it once, rather than a devout group of frequent players, it will be interesting to see if this model works.

Which of the upcoming U.S. Open/PGA/Open Championship venues are the most and least architecturally interesting and why?

Golf courses that host pro events are always making holes longer. Is there a hole we see the pros play that would be better if we shortened it? Let’s say they also reduced the par to hopefully make it harder for scoring. Like a par 5or long 4 that would be really fun short/driveable 4, or any hole that has a green complex that would be fun as a par 3.

I don't usually enjoy sports media coverage, with the exception of the Fried Egg Golf team of course, as I believe it's moving more towards the style of Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith. In the few negative cases of athlete-press interaction I've seen, I could see why the athletes are disappointed. I prefer more of the NBA on TNT media coverage and their interactions with players.

I watched the press room spat between Colin and Adam, I think it was appropriate for Colin to call him out. The media has/can move in a direction of writing things to simply get clicks or views, and there needs to be less of that and more of quality reporting/writing/journalism. For a media member to ask a question out loud on the first tee to a player? Seriously? The media member was just trying to make a scene and draw attention to himself. Bryson got so tired of the way the media spinning things about him that he started his own youtube channel so he can control the narrative. There is a line, but I think having the PGA tour players able to opt out of post-game press meetings and able to call out media members, allows for a proper back and forth that could lead to better writing.

Great article - thank you! Nice to see an example of a course - Tain - that is not referenced often. It would be interesting to also highlight courses that have the opportunity to create change, but choose not to do so - i.e. are a monotonous trudge despite having the opportunity to create change / drama. Maybe too many to mention, but comparing and contrasting would be interesting.

I did get the chance to walk the back nine at Harbour Town a couple days ago. The scope of the work is limited to tees and greens and surrounds it appeared, with slight, and I mean slight fairway expansions. I never saw the course before, but having watched it on TV, it seemed to be small changes. The most visual changes were the conversion of some of the small bunkers to Astro turf sod wall revetted bunkers in a few places. The narrowness of the course will remain, the trees focus your eye, and I found it to be a unique way to navigate an 100 yard corridor.

Love the swing tier system. What exactly does the label "Blue Blood Swing" and "59 Swing" mean?

Love the quote from Doak. Land and hazards together are more important than mere strategy, which should come in moderation. The same type of risk-for-a-better-angle situation on every hole gets boring after a while.4-5-8 are really world-class holes (5 was my favorite), but I found 6 awkward. That proposed 7th hole could be awesome! Would also decrease the current similarities with 9.

Not sure if this has been discussed, but I just saw that Mike Devries purchased Dunham Hills in Fenton, Mi and intends to build a course that “brings the best of the UK golf model” to metro Detroit.Curious as to what this means and if it is truly possible to copy across the US.