49 and professionally strengthens cooperation and collaboration to a point where everyone feels comfortable making suggestions, putting forward ideas and expressing concerns. Again, this makes the design and construction process much better.” Riley Johns and Keith Rhebb both also came to the industry via the C&C family, before striking out on their own. As a two-man firm, it is perhaps unsurprising that, again, their approach is inherently collaborative. “Collaboration is essential to strengthening our design ideas and concepts, particularly when it comes to their implementation on the ground,” says Johns. “It is a necessary step in our process that evolves as we refine our way toward a final product – much like a writer’s journey of drafting and editing. This collaborative editing approach is how Bill and Ben work together, and it is a method that Keith and I now apply to our designs as well. “For instance, when one of us is stuck on a specific feature or a hole concept, the other can step in to help overcome that proverbial ‘writer’s block’. Collaboration also encourages debates, which we find especially beneficial, as it compels us to articulate and defend the rationale behind our design choices. This process ensures we maximise the potential of each piece of land and each golf hole we work on.” While there are clear benefits to teamwork, architects need to go into those projects being conscious of the challenges that may arise. At Sebonack, the collaboration between Doak and Nicklaus – which was essentially imposed on the two architects by client Pascucci – produced some difficulties, though Doak says they did not happen at a ‘headline’ level. “When our client at Sebonack offered to break the ties, Jack Nicklaus looked me right in the eye and said, ‘And that’s why you and I need to work things out, because we don’t want him making any of the decisions’,” he explains. “The hard part at Sebonack wasn’t working with Jack – we had a process we’d agreed to. But by agreeing to collaborate we had pushed our own people further down the chain of command, without thinking about that, and none of them liked it. “I don’t think you can have a successful collaboration if there is no clear authority on decision-making. Mike Clayton at Barnbougle, Jay Sigel at Stonewall, and Brooks Koepka at Memorial Park all understood that we welcomed their input, but I had to decide whether their ideas fit the course we were building. I chose only to do the routing for Tree Farm because I thought Zac Blair wanted to make his own decisions about the course, and I didn’t want to wrestle over them.” COLLABORATION Photo: Atlas Turf International Sharing a dream Soma Bay’s first course was designed by Gary Player’s practice, but Lobb + Partners was commissioned several years ago to design a second, more familyfriendly course. And then the client threw in a curveball. “We had been designing a new course at Soma Bay for some time when the client started to talk about upgrading the academy,” Lobb explains. “As soon as that was mentioned, I thought of James Edwards, who has done some remarkable work on golf academies, so I asked him to collaborate with us immediately. The collaboration was so inspiring, and we produced something remarkable.” Edwards produced a 5,000-squaremetre short-game area design which, along with the first nine holes of Lobb’s course, will have a soft opening in December 2025. “I wanted to collaborate with James at Soma Bay because of his innovative thinking for academy and golf entertainment design,” says Lobb. “I knew he could add a unique dimension to what we were trying to achieve for the overall golf offering, and he did.” Tim Lobb says that collaborating with other architects allows designers to bring someone else’s unique skills and approach to bear on a project, and that his work at the Soma Bay development in Egypt is a fine example. “ I don’t think you can have a successful collaboration if there is no clear authority on decision-making”
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