In Ontario, golf course architects take respite from their regional work when the snow begins to dust the fairways. Mind you, they don’t go into hibernation. Some travel to warmer climates, where they work on projects with other designers.

Ian Andrew might be caught doing such a thing, but he is just as likely to lace up his skates and have a game with his countrymen, even if they are decades younger. When the state of world health took a hairpin turn for the worse this winter, Andrew took on the task of finishing a book that had seeded and watered but never tended to fruition.

Stanley Thompson was, before Rod Whitman and the humble Andrew, the single and great Canadian golf course architect. James Barclay published a tome on “The Toronto Terror,” as some referenced Thompson, in 2000. Two decades later, we are fortunate to have “In Every Genius There’s A Little Madness,” Ian Andrew’s assessment of Stanley Thompson’s five greatest commissions. They are, in order: Jasper Park, Banff Springs, Royal York/St. George’s, Capilano, and Highlands Links.

The words

Ian Andrew undertook exhaustive research (more on that later) on the way to publishing his hardcover volume. The research allowed him to cull the most appropriate quotes from Thompson’s career, along with supporting text from other sources. As a practicing architect and builder of courses, Ian Andrew knows his way around a topographical map and a variety of bulldozers. If Ben Hogan’s secret was in the dirt, the essence of In Every Genius is Ian Andrew’s familiarity with that very same dirt. Andrew’s writing is as much conversational as it is literary and historical. As one turns each page, the sense that that the author is along for the journey is evident. Andrew was the restoration architect at one of the five greatest commissions (we won’t tell you which one) and he also collaborated with Tom Doak on the restoration of another of the five (nope, you have to read the book!)

The images

Some of the images used for “In Every Genius…” come from a collection of photographs Ian Andrew and Robert Thompson purchased in 2008. Another bulk comes from the Olmsted Archives. The remainder were sourced from governmental archives, out-of-print magazines, and the golf clubs and courses themselves. Research that spans from the Atlantic maritime islands to British Columbia does not equate with one-stop shopping. Just as the author traces the development of  Thompson’s architectural style, so too, is the reader allowed to plot the steps required to aggregate this collection of imagery. It is in the balance of things that we find contentment, and Ian Andrew provides such calm, with text and visuals at equal weight, on both sides of the scale.

The research

As referenced above, Ian Andrew’s knowledge of the five courses is hermetic. In addition to the two tours of duty as a restorer, he has journeyed to the other three sites, and performed exhausting investigation on all five. A quick scan of the resources listed on pages 160 and 161 reveals a scholarly search for any and all references to Thompson and his work. As a practicing architect, Andrew was able to utilize connections across the industry to gather every necessary form of documentation to complete the book.

Summary

The book was borne of a desire to right a perceived wrong. Ian Andrew had read an interview with James Hansen, biographer of Robert Trent Jones, Sr. In the interview, Hansen claimed that Trent claimed that he, and not Thompson, had created the routing for one of the five greatest commissions. Always the historian, Andrew hoped to uncover the veracity or mendacity of the claim. He did but, once again, you should read the book to determine what he learned.

Ian Andrew took the unusual route of self-publishing his book on Blurb. This kept costs lower than those of a traditional publishing outfit. Each copy is published when ordered by the company. If you’re interested in the finer points of golf course architecture, especially those related to Canada’s five greatest, pre-2000 courses, this book will appeal to you and occupy a place of honor on your golf shelf. If you want to read more of his writing, visit his golf blog.