I never hesitated to promote someone I didn't like. The comfortable assistant - the nice guy you like to go on fishing trips with - is a great pitfall. Instead I looked for those sharp, scratchy, harsh, almost unpleasant guys who see and tell you about things as they really are. If you can get enough of them around you, and have patience enough to hear them out, there is no limit to where you can go.

Sometimes thinking too much can destroy your momentum.

I learned how to win by losing and not liking it.

Ballybunion is the course on which many golf architects should live and play on before they build golf courses.

Golf will grow so long as it’s fun.

If a course needs to be in great condition to be played effectively, then the design strategy is flawed.

Having played the Old Course many times since my first visit in 1981, I am now of the opinion it is one of the best and most beautiful tests of links golf anywhere in the world.