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Tony Ristola

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Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1983)
« on: December 18, 2002, 07:50:01 AM »
Excerpted from:

GOLF Magazine, Sept. 1983 with John Trinkle

IT ISN'T THE SAME
Says Jimmy Demaret, looking back on a half century of American pro golf.

...He was invited to compare lifestyles, travel, purses, competition, quality of players - no holds barred.

Here is his story.

THE TOUR...
THE MONEY...

THE COURSES

I know one thing: They built better courses 40 and 50 years ago than they do now. Golf wasn't meant to be a real estate promotion.  We used to play some great courses - Riviera, Pinehurst, Los Angeles Country Club, Merion, San Francisco Golf Club and Lake Merced in San Francisco.  They were marvelous courses and still are.

Then the new crowd of pro's started griping about the grass, the trees, the bunkers, the locker rooms and everything else, and the wheels came off.  Fine clubs didn't want the tournaments.  Before the pro's knew it they were playing on public courses like Sharpstown, in Houston.  Some players would complain if they were playing on Dolly Parton's bedspread.

The great course architects - fellows like Donald Ross, Percy Maxwell (sic), John Brademus, Alister Mackenzie, Ralph Plummer and A.C. Tillinghast (sic) - built fairways (italicized) and greens (italicized).  They didn't dig holes for 100 sand traps.

It's all cosmetics nowadays.  Helena Rubenstein and Max Factor could build these new courses.  But they get away from golf.  Palmer and Nicklaus may be able to play 'em but the members can't.

I read where one course used 43,000 railroad ties.  It's all gimickery.  The great courses like Merion and Pebble Beach and Riviera don't need retouching.  They endure.  Augusta National would have endured, too, but I think they have made too many changes on it.

Courses are in better condition than they were years ago.  technology is better and so is equipment. We used three-blade mowers as compared to the present 10 blades.  We fertilized every few years; they fertilize every week.  You didn't find fairway watering systems at Winged Foot, Westchester or Shinnecock Hills.  The only water was around the greens.

I learned a lot about golf courses from John Brademus, shaping greens with a mule and a fresco.  That was between 1926 and '29.  He built the first sand greens around Texas.  Before that, they were sand mixed with cottonseed hulls.

Let me tell one final story and I'll stop.  early in 1949, Hogan and I tied for first place in back-to-back tournaments.  He won the playoff at Long Beach and I won the next one in Phoenix. We were the best of friends so I asked him if he was going to Tuscon the next week.  He said no, he and Valerie were going back to Fort Worth to see their new house.

He had the accident on that drive home.  I stopped by El Paso to see Ben.  I walked into the hospital and said, "You'd do anything to get out of a playoff with me, wouldn't you?"

The fellows on today's Tour may have a lot of things better than we had - bigger purses, bigger endorsements, jet planes, and caddies who tell 'em the yardage and how a putt's gonna break.  That's fine.  But if Ben and Sam and Byron and I had another chance, we'd still say our way was better.
END

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

George_Williams

Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2002, 08:31:41 AM »
Tony-

This was cool.  One thing, though, I think it should be..."a mule and a fresno..."    I think a Fresco is what Judge Smails offered Danny to drink in Caddyshack, right?

George Williams
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tony Ristola

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2002, 08:36:23 AM »
George:
You are correct.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Lou Duran

Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2002, 01:15:27 PM »
Sounds like Mr. Demaret would have enjoyed gca.com.  However, one has to wonder why Champions in Houston turned-out as it has, much more similar to the work of RTJ than to those of the master architects he mentions.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

A_Clay_Man

Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2002, 01:23:36 PM »
That's a fresca. A fresco is temper paint, painted into wet plaster and lasts a long time. A fresno is the tool used in shaping and/or a city in california. ;D
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Carlos_Febres

Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2002, 01:33:02 PM »
"How about a fresca?  And why don't you come over and mow my lawn?  Afterwards, you can come down to the yacht club and watch me christen my new sloop.  MMM?  MMMM?"

Sorry- couldn't resist. ;D ;D  This site needs more humor.  

"What's that sign say? "
"No bare feet!"
"What's THAT sign say?"
"No fighting."
"You owe me one gumball machine." ;D ;D ;D

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Steve Lang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2002, 01:38:19 PM »
:D

Lou,

I think Champions' courses developed more from Jackie Burke's ideas than Jimmy D's.  I understand when Jimmy D passed away, a lot of his stuff was taken down from the walls.. its now bow to Mr B or the highway.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
Inverness (Toledo, OH) cathedral clock inscription: "God measures men by what they are. Not what they in wealth possess.  That vibrant message chimes afar.
The voice of Inverness"

David Wigler

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2002, 06:17:17 PM »
My home club (Plum Hollow in Michigan) was lucky enough to have had Jimmy Demaret as our Head Professional for a couple of years in the late 30's/early 40's.  We still have a couple of his Pro Shop tickets in our archives.  It is wonderful to hear some of the second generation members retell stories that their parents told them about Demaret.  He sounds like he would have been a wonderful guy to play a round of golf and then throw back a few pops with.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
And I took full blame then, and retain such now.  My utter ignorance in not trumpeting a course I have never seen remains inexcusable.
Tom Huckaby 2/24/04

John_D._Bernhardt

Re: Golf Architecture from Jimmy Demaret's eyes (1
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2002, 09:23:52 PM »
I agree David and the game was lucky to have him. I wonder about champions too. It is a very good course but more of cousin of Spyglass. I still think it has Texas size holes that reflect the character of the people and the state. It does not play as long now, particularly when dried out by the tour minions. It really was a big course and still is in normal conditions.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

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