34 The call came out of the blue. “Hello, I’m Margaret Cummins with John Wiley and Sons Publishers. We heard from one of our authors that you might be willing to write a book on golf course routing.” Dead silence. I took it for a prank call, or some sort of self-publishing book scheme. Turns out it was bona fide. Golf architect Bill Amick, a longtime friend and mentor of sorts, had recommended me for the assignment. The year was 2001. The temptation was to hang up. At the time, my career was still in its early stages, following years of work alongside Jack Snyder. I really didn’t think it was real. But I went on to write Routing the Golf Course – The Art & Science That Forms the Golf Journey, a book now out of print, despite having one of the highest print runs of any golf architecture title. As part of that project, I decided to dedicate an entire chapter to the routing of Cypress Point Club, a course I had never played, but had studied from a distance throughout the years. Knowing that the routing was special in many aspects, I began reading through books to rekindle my knowledge of Cypress. Then came another important telephone conversation. Jim Langley, the head pro at Cypress since 1971, was gracious to accept my call and listen to the simple request I had in mind. The request was straightforward: permission to walk the course and ‘take it all in’ – with the intent of rendering a hand-drawn plan to accompany the chapter on Cypress. Langley was happy to oblige. The request was run up the flagpole at Cypress. Within a few months, I made the trek, spending two days walking, taking notes and marking up a dog-eared aerial photo I had procured through a California archive of agricultural aerials. Langley had probably heard every angle imaginable to gain access to play Cypress. But playing wasn’t at the forefront for me – I had a book to finish! The outcome was a three-by-fivefoot, hand-inked plan of Cypress Point. Countless hours went into hand rendering the dunes and native areas, with every detail carefully inked. My painstaking stippling highlighted the contour indications of dunes and forested land that forms Cypress Point. A labour of love The story of how an unexpected phone call led to the development of a golf art business. FORREST RICHARDSON INSIGHT
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