Can two people claim passion for the same piece of art, yet translate its beauty in entirely different manners?
If we accept that the answer is a resounding, “yes,” it would explain why you and Bradley Klein might not overlap in too many ways were your interests in golf to be measured.
For instance, if you believe that pro golf encircles the PGA Tour, mountains of Strokes Gained data, all topics concerning Tiger Woods, and this ongoing dispute with LIV golf, you’d be hard-pressed to engage Klein in a discussion that would last more than a few words.
If told that Klein has been writing about golf for about 30 years and that he’s been at Augusta National during the Masters and part of editorial coverage of all the major championships, you might be surprised to hear that you wouldn’t want to ask him about media center operations and press conferences.
That’s because pro golfers bore him and grinding out stories about rounds of golf is mundane. Klein prefers to be in attendance for 4 a.m. meetings with maintenance staffers, study mowing patterns, or put on work boots to walk through mud and brush with visionaries who design and build golf courses.
Cast him a quizzical look. Klein will merely smile.
“Isn’t that what makes the game so great, that there are so many angles to the game,” said Klein.
He wholeheartedly appreciates that the large majority of golf fans want to play the game, watch the game, and talk about the game. He also appreciates that he’s quite okay being far from the mainstream.
“I did not grow up in the newspaper business, aspiring to be a sportswriter. I didn’t grow up in that culture,” said Klein. “I have a different view of these things.”
Consider that the leader in the clubhouse for understatement of the year.
Need proof? Consider the books Klein authored in 1994 (“Strategic Studies and World Order: The Global Politics of Deterrence”) and in 2022 (“Citizenship After Trump: Democracy Versus Authoritarianism in a Post-Pandemic Era.”)
That different enough for you?
“He’s certainly unique. But he’s comfortable with it, I think he embraces it,” said Rodney Hine, the superintendent at critically acclaimed Boston Golf Club in Hingham, Mass.
Twenty years ago, Hine was part of Gil Hanse’s crew that was building BGC. It was a project that would eventually help open massive doors – nationally and internationally – for Hanse and his partner, Jim Wagner, but at the time he was an under-the-radar architect with an eye for the minimalistic. Klein, at that chapter in his life the architectural editor at Golfweek, had studied Hanse’s work and applauded it.
“Early on, Brad took us very seriously and we very much appreciated that,” said Hanse.
As he dove into the BGC project, Hanse introduced Klein to John Mineck, the club’s co-founder, who in turn invited Klein to walk the property and weigh in with whatever thoughts he had. Hanse was all in favor, saying,
“He has a great set of eyes. They are eyes you can trust.”
On challenging terrain that called for outside-the-box thinking, Klein was very much accepted by Hanse, Wagner, Hine, and Mineck.
“It doesn’t take a lot to be a critic,” said Hine. “But Bradley backs up his observations with what he sees. He tries very hard to be authentic and he pulls it off.”
To study the great breadth of Klein’s unique professional career requires accepting that there are those who ignore the “either/or” choice when it comes to their path in life. Some, like Klein, who grew up on Long Island and lives now in Connecticut, chose “both.”
“I do what I do,” he said of his juggling loves – political science and golf course architecture – for as long as he can remember.
He graduated from Binghamton University in 1976 and promptly began caddying summers on the PGA Tour. But education maintained its grip as Klein pursued a Master’s and a PhD (’84) from UMass-Amherst and served as a professor at St. Lawrence, Trinity, Holy Cross, and Clark.
But from nuclear deterrence to diving into library archives to study a man called Donald Ross, Klein seamlessly changed direction in his life.
“Discovering Donald Ross” is one of three golf books Klein has written. It came out in 2001 and pretty much pushed Klein into view as a premier architectural writer and a serious expert on the most famous golf course architect of them all. Impeccable timing, for sure, because around this time golfers were becoming far more architecturally literate (“Maybe only five percent, but that’s way more than 50 years earlier”) and thus was Klein a popular invite to speak to golf club memberships.
At a time when Tiger Woods was busy taking the PGA Tour by storm, Klein was on the other side of the golf spectrum. He was more in tune with the iconic builders like Alister Mackenzie and A.W. Tillinghast, Seth Raynor and George Thomas. He had a thirst to write about today’s heralded architects such as Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Tom Doak, and Hanse.
Maybe the PGA Tour attracted all the headlines and TV times, but the side of golf Klein was on was thriving, too. His reputation as a consultant – someone who would educate members about a needed restoration, then be a conduit to the builders – grew exponentially to the point where he’s been involved in more than 100 projects, from Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes to the Cal Club in San Francisco to Scioto CC in Ohio.
His current project – Wampanoag CC in West Hartford, Conn. – has special ties. Not only does Klein live just 7 miles away, “but I was a member here from 1994-02 and spent two years as co-golf chairman.”
Kyle Franz and Tyler Rae are the architects on a project that involves tree reduction, the addition of 98 bunkers, and other restoration work. It will be, Klein insists, as Donald Ross intended when he built the club in 1926.
Should you wonder how Klein knows that he’ll politely remind you “that I’m a trained researcher.” The slice of golf that he loves best.
