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There's a tendency in course architecture circles to sanctify the past while discrediting the present. The top 10 courses in Golf Digest's most recent ranking of the top 100 U.S. courses were built before 1935. Can this be an accurate reflection of the truly "great" courses?

No, says Tom Fazio, probably golf's most successful architect in the past 30 years.

"That is fact," Fazio, 63, said the other day of modern rankings, "not that they are the best, but that that's the way people automatically think. Golf is a traditional game, and people like to go to Scotland and Ireland. They want to visit the home of golf. But imagine if somebody designed a course like St. Andrews today with blind shots. Golfers would wonder what's going on."

Fazio was speaking in his headquarters here, in a house backing onto the Intracoastal Waterway. He'd flown in from Spain the night before, and had watched the film Casablanca on the plane. The famous film was made in 1942 and starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Many people think of it as the best film ever made. Fazio loves the movie.

"It's wonderful," he said. "But I was watching it and wondering what people would say today. You accept that it's the best. That's what people say. It's like when golfers talk about a Donald Ross course. But they never say just that they played a Donald Ross course. They played a 'great old' Donald Ross course."

None of Fazio's impressive body of work is in the Golf Digest's top 10 in the United States, of course. He breaks into the top 100 with Wade Hampton (1987) in Cashiers, N.C. at No. 15, and next is No. 22, his Victoria National (1998) in Newburgh, Ind. But he didn't seem concerned.

"I'm always telling clients that it's very hard to break into the Golf Digest list," Fazio said. "I hammer the people who run the magazines about the rankings, because it's such a controversial subject. I would have a top 100 for every decade. What's wrong with that? I happen to think the nineties were the best decade. Others say the twenties.

"The decade of the twenties was great," Fazio continued. "There was money around then, before the Depression."

Fazio was just warming up. He often addresses these subjects with anybody and everybody. Next week he'll attend the Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta, Calif. He's designed half-a-dozen courses in the area.

"Golf changes," Fazio said. "You wouldn't want to go back to the equipment that my uncle used, or to the way they built courses."

Fazio's uncle, the late George Fazio, won the 1946 Canadian Open and the 1947 Bing Crosby Pro-Am (now that AT&T National Pro-Am). He finished third in the 1950 Masters, when he was part of a playoff that included Ben Hogan and Lloyd Mangrum. Hogan won. George Fazio also designed the Jupiter Hills club across the road from his nephew's office here.

"I've been listening to these discussions forever," Fazio said, "whether they're about equipment and how far the ball goes or about courses. I think the modern equipment is great for golf. It's kept us in the game longer. People in their sixties and seventies are hitting the ball as far as they ever did. They love that."

Not all players love it. Jack Nicklaus, for one, is adamant that the powers-that-be should roll back the distance a ball can go.

Fazio doesn't agree. He also pointed out that the best classic courses are always changing. Pine Valley, No. 1 on Golf Digest's most recent list, had seven new back tees and three rebuilt greens. Then there's Augusta National, No. 3, where Fazio is the design consultant.

"You go to Augusta National, and you might not notice the changes," Fazio said because the club works in alterations seamlessly. "But they're making changes all the time."

Fazio should know, because he's implemented the changes. For next April's Masters, work has been done to the first, fifth and sixth greens to improve drainage. Changes have been made to the first and seventh holes to allow tournament officials to make them shorter.

The day was moving along, and Fazio had to move along. But first he had to sign a couple of flags from Victoria National. Two members had aced the seventh hole.

"Great shots," Fazio wrote, and he personalized each note.

As for great golf, and modern great courses, Fazio had more to say. He went across the street for lunch at Jupiter Hills. The talk continued. It won't stop. Why would it?