The Golf Template is a new softcover 102-page book authored by Brian Curtis. In it, he delves into holes that have been copied widely over the years. C.B. Macdonald is credited with “inventing” the template hole, although inventing is undoubtedly the wrong word. What MacDonald did, after studying golf holes in the U.K., was to come back to America and copy their designs, albeit in most cases in a slightly different form.
Curtis takes the template idea and plays with it, creating a theoretical three loops of nine holes and a shorter par-3 course of six holes. All the well-known templates are included, such as the Redan, Long, Short, Biarritz, Alps, and Road. But also included are lesser-known template holes such as the Volcano (a Donald Ross template hole), the Tiny Tim (an A.W. Tillinghast creation), the Lion's Mouth (a Seth Raynor design), and a Gibraltar (an Alister McKenzie template).
In total, Curtis identifies thirty-three different templates and provides a good definition of the hole type. For each template, he identifies the course that first had such a hole, and then sketches out a hole based on a striking example of how it is used.
The latter half of the book contains the design for a model golf course clubhouse and a “Lido Loop” based on the Mackenzie Theory. (The Mackenzie Theory is a test to see if Mackenzie’s strategies for green designs can be transformed into complete golf holes while still adhering to his 13 principles.)