You Gotta Love...

...Peter Harradine. Invited guest in Dubai telling the developers overpaying player architects that they're idiots.

In the liveliest debate of the first day of GolfEx Dubai 2007, Harradine questioned whether money is becoming the only criteria for course designs.

"The whole world is based on marketing," said Harradine. "Tiger is the best athlete that's ever walked the earth, but as a golf architect? If a top player is involved in a course design, it usually means it will be over budget and over schedule. My signature stands for quality, built on time and on budget."

Harradine didn't reserve criticism for the players so much as developers and owners. "The players aren't daft, if they know they can ask for $1 million or $2 million more they will, and good luck to them - they realise that daft people will pay them."

Oh and this is beautiful:

Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of European Golf Design, defended the use of top players putting their names to projects, saying the increased pulling power invariably leads to higher revenues.

"It may be marketing, but as a mechanism it works. If you put Langer's name on a course you know it will be played by Germans," he said.