An interesting historical design limitation

[Jeff_Mingay]

I was just corresponding with Ken Donovan, Cape Breton Highlands Links' wonderful historian.

Ken had recently sent me Stanley Thompson's original routing plan for Highlands Links (dated September 1, 1938), which shows the par-three 12th hole in a very interesting, but slightly different location than it is today.

When all 18 holes opened in 1941, golfers had to cross the Clyburn Brook over an elaborate suspension bridge to get from the 10th green to the tee at the par-four 11th. (It was a famous bridge that, sadly, no longer exists.)

The Clyburn winds its way to the Atlantic Ocean along the length of the 11th hole, at left. Thompson's original plan included another crossing of the Clyburn to get from the 11th green to the proposed 12th tee, which would have been followed by a third crossing of the brook en route to the 12th green.

This proposed 12th hole would be spectacular... with the tee shot played over the Clyburn into a beautiful nook surrounded by hillside and trees. However, the construction of two more suspension bridges apparently prohibited the realization of this hole. So, Thompson slide the 12th to the right of the Clyburn, where it plays today, into the same green site. The difference is, the tee shot isn't played over the brook.

As an admirer and student of Thompson's work at Highlands Links, I found this to be a very, very interesting historical tidbit; and also an illustration of how things actually go down in golf architecture to this day. There are, unfortunately, some limitations occasionally.    

[Ian Andrew]

Jeff,

I also have that plan as of last night. I aquired his essay and the incredible interview with Geoff Cornish that goes with it from the University press.

I also found that intersting becaause the hole would play over the brook and be back dropped by the rock face which is on the right of the green. The hole would have been much better.

Did you notice that he altered the famous 2nd hole in the field too. His plan called for a straigher hole, it looks like he took the green way to the right to the current site.

In Geoff's interview he clearly states that the golf course was routed on aerial plans and then designed in the field from there.

In essay is a picture of the fourth hole - the tee seems to be behind the 3rg green and is hitting over the giant sink holes hidden in the right trees!

By the way I got to walk over that suspension bridge when I played the course the first time as a teenager. I turned over my photos to Joe and Irene when I was last there.

With all the old photos from Geoff's collection and from the archives it is quite clear that the course was failry wide open throughout and the current tree lines are well inside what they should be.

I would love to work there for nothing - it would be a labour of love.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ian,

Here's a plan, my friend...

You and I, as two promising young Canadian golf architects team up to actually restore Highlands Links  

Hmmmm...

You know I'd do it for free too, because this place means that much to Canadian golf. It really does.

I agree, the 12th would be amazing as laid out on Thompson's original sketch plan routing for the course. Unfortunately, I suspect it'd be very difficult to build that hole today as a result of regulatory interference (not the cost of constructing two bridges!)

I thought the original 4th tee, now grown over, is left of the 3rd green? Ran, Ben Dewar, Noel Freeman and I played it one day. It's a neat spot there, that today would tempt (unintelligent!) big hitters to try for that elusive green, atop that volcano-like knob!  

The old photos of the 4th are some of the best examples of the openness of the course in the early days... the entire right side of that hole was sand dunes, right up next to the beach, and the ocean! Absolutely amazing. Today, that same area is covered with grass, trees and other vegetation. As a result, you really don't get a sense that you're playing seaside golf at the 4th, which is really sad.

Same goes for 1, 2 and 6: holes that seemingly had a seaside feel in the early days.

The course is thickly forested from the 1st thru the 18th these days. And, as you know, a really, really good salesman is required to convince the Canadian government that cutting down trees within a National Park is a necessity for golf!

I think I can do it though  

[Tim MacEachern]

I was just corresponding with Ken Donovan, Cape Breton Highlands Links' wonderful historian.

...

This proposed 12th hole would be spectacular... with the tee shot played over the Clyburn into a beautiful nook surrounded by hillside and trees.

As I recall, there's quite a big tree to the front left of that green, and the green itself has a slight left to right slope.  Are you talking about crossing the Clyburn at an angle (~190 yards) or going straight across (~150)?  In either case, wouldn't the current green contours be less-than-inviting to a long shot?

That stream is placid during the summer and fall, but I believe can be quite nasty come spring break-up.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Tim,

I'm sure, had the hole been constructed as Thompson originally designed it, the green would have been shaped differently. And the tree would have been felled.

Thompson's original scheme has you leaving the 11th green left and crossing the Clyburn to reach the 12th tee, then playing back to the current green site.

Again, I'm confident the green would have been constructed differently in that circumstance.  

[Chris Parker]

I also have that plan as of last night. I aquired his essay and the incredible interview with Geoff Cornish that goes with it from the University press.

Ian & Jeff,

Is the plan you speak of the one included in Donovan's essay in The Nashwaak Review?  I received my copy just before Xmas.  The essay itself is great, but the real treasure is Donovan's interview with Cornish.  

Hey, if you guys need anyone to help with the grunt work when you restore Highlands Links, give me a call!  

[Jeff_Mingay]

Chris,

Yeah, the same plan's in the Nashwaak Review.

[T_MacWood]

Thanks for the information. I thought the current 12th was somewhat non-descript, especially compared to the other par-3s. I also wondered why the river was not incorporated into the plan. If Thompson's plan was fully realised Cape Breton would have been even more spectacular than it currently is and that is saying something.

Very sad to learn the swinging suspension bridge is no longer...it really added to the overall experience.

[Ian Andrew]

Tom,

When I went back I dearly missed the bridge, it was great fun. I went back and forth over it a couple of times because I was stunned it was a swinging bridge. The walk to the next tee was also very beautiful with a cascade coming off the hill. That was also lost when the new tee was put in to make 11 a par five - never understood the change - but I assume it helped move the bridge.

12 would have been a much better hole, and remains the weakest hole on the course for the change. The project was over budget according to Geoff's interview.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ian and Chris,  

Look at Thompson's sketch plan for the water system at Highlands Links (dated 30 May 1939), on page 260 of the Nashwaak Review, and notice the location of the 10th green. It's on the opposite side of the Clyburn!

There are some absolutely amazing historical photos accompanying Ken Donovan's interview with Mr. Cornish in the Nashwaak Review, too; particularly those shots of the property before construction of the golf course began.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

My recollection as from our visit with Geoff Cornish regarding the 10-12 stretch are as follows:
10 - It was Robbie's, not Stanley's idea for a green on the other side of the river, Geoff said that Stanley immediately shot down the prosect.
11- With the trees on the left cleared out exposing the river, the hole was far more visually attractive.
12 - When the realized they could not go across the stream, the also looked at hugging the water with the green, but it was below the high water line in the Clyburn. I have never seen the water that high in any season I have been there, but I do not know what it looks like in the spring runoff.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ben,

I recall the same story re 10. However, it seems Thompson liked that spot across the Clyburn at the time the plan for the watering system was drawn up... or, maybe Robbie Robinson made that sketch without running it past his boss!

Interesting that there was apparently concern about flooding at the 12th hole, but not the 3rd. In the Nashwaak Review interview, Mr. Cornish says: "Now the third hole at Cape Breton, that green, even when we were constructing it, it flooded a couple of times. We would say to Stan: 'Wouldn't it be way better if we raised her two or three feet?' No, was his reply. (Thompson) said: 'I want the green as close to ground level - water level - as we can get.'"

Mr. Cornish says Thompson insisted the greens be "built on the ground".

[Dave Kemp]

Ian and Jeff,

You guys must have been at the other end of the table during certain points of the December get together.  I had brought my copy of the Nashwaak Review with me that night and some of us were going over the pix.  Not surprisingly I missed a lot of what you guys have picked up on and mentioned in this thread.  Looks like  another night of "self learning" when I get home to review your comments with the book in front of me.  

Dave