COLLABORATION 40 should. But I’m secure enough in what I do not to worry much about that. “I figure it takes at least four or five good people to build something really great, and all of my associates understand that the lead associate may or may not do a lot of the creative work on a project, depending on how busy we are and the strengths of the others involved. The lead associate’s main job is to keep the project moving forward and preserve the input I’ve provided. The more experienced they are at it, the more they are able to do some of the shaping themselves, at the same time. But, just for example: Brian Slawnik was the lead associate for High Pointe and Wild Springs Dunes. At High Pointe, he and I did nearly all of the shaping, because everyone else was elsewhere. But at Wild Springs, Eric, Brian Schneider and Blake Conant were all available to shape, so Slawnik did a lot less shaping, and I did almost none. “You can either be a total control freak about your projects, and do one at a time, or you can enlist good people to help you,” he goes on. “If you’re going to do the latter, then you should recognise their talents and use them wisely. The key to my success has been my ability to identify the right people and keep them on board – I would say that’s the one thing I learned from Alister MacKenzie’s career. Talented people are much more likely to stay on board if you use a fair amount of their ideas, and explain why when you don’t. The fact that it’s an open decision and everyone is allowed to make suggestions is a big part of the atmosphere and success.” Pretty much the only time Doak has ceded any responsibility for the routing of a project was at Streamsong in Florida, where he and his long-time “ Debate and discussion should be a part of any design process” European Golf Design’s Matt Sturt, Gary Johnston, Ross McMurray, Tom Kelly, Jeremy Slessor, Dave Sampson, Gareth Weeks and Robin Hiseman. EGD projects are usually managed by a single lead designer, but sharing of ideas is common Photo: European Golf Design
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