Episode 101: Ben Cowan-Dewar

And I think, um, i- in many ways, that was, you know, that was Mike.

Um, and, uh, and I think I've learned so much in those processes to take away to, you know, what I hope is another 47 years of doing this.

Yeah, you're talking about your involvement and, and kind of your thoughts and process and, a- and you're more of an editor.

You know, like w- Pete Dye would often say, you know, w- for a green, just go out, push some stuff around, you know? He needed something to look at, and once he had some forms on the ground, he could start to visualize what he wanted to do with the green, but somebody had to kind of mess it up first.

So in that regard, he was a bit of an editor.

Sounds like that's, that's kind of your approach.

If, if you see a routing or you see something, then now you can react to it.

You know, Mike Keiser was k- [laughs] kind of famous for walking around and judging holes one through 10, uh, for his courses.

Did you do anything like that?

I, I was with him, I was with him for many of that.

Yeah.

Is that [laughs] ...

Yeah, how does that a- a process appeal to you? And do, and do-

I would like-

... do the architects like that or not? [laughs]

I, I didn't meet any of them who liked it other than the ones who he gave 10s to.

[laughs]

But, um, that was Mike's process, you know? And, and you touched on Pete's process.

I think, you know, everybody wants you to be a visionary or they wanna find visionaries, and I think what's interesting about what you said about Pete and about Mike, and I would say I think of myself as an editor, somebody once said to me, you know, he was more of an idea collector than a visionary, and they meant it as a insult, as a pejorative, uh, that like, you know, visionaries were better than idea collectors.

You know, I, I, I wasn't born at the age of four with an ability to understand golf courses, you know.

I had a love of golf and I drew golf holes and I read golf books, and then I spent, you know, every waking hour thinking about how I could play golf as a 13-year-old, and going on trips with my dad and, you know, and then every waking hour trying to travel the world and figure out ways to play all of the great courses.

So I've always thought of myself as an idea collector or an editor, and, you know, that I've seen so much and that I've been a part of so much and that I've, you know, been able to work with the greats, you end up building up your ...

Just like you do your palate for wine or anything else, you know, if you've seen everything and you've done it a whole bunch, you develop your own process.

I, you know, my process is not Mike's, um, of rating holes one through 10.

Um, you know, Mike also loved the architect bake-offs, um, a- you know, and loves competition.