Fresh Pond Clubhouse
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Using the course at Fresh Pond, MA, as a case study, we researched not only the nature of the clubhouse, but also the modern game of golf itself, the relationship of the course to nature, and the ritual of the game. Through its passages and links, the clubhouse acts as a gateway or portal into another world, the world created by the course, the game and its mystical history. The form embodies the scientific reduction and analysis of the golf swing, golf clubs, and the technology which has become so much a part of the sport and hobby. Inextricably linked to the site, and yet detached from it, the structure reflects the dualistic character of golf as being both natural and unnatural, sympathetic and destructive, tangible and illusory.