New member

[Chris Parker]

Did anyone notice that Stanley Thompson joined the discussion group today at 2:48 pm?  Maybe he became interested in contributing after he read Ian Andrew & Jeff Mingay's interview.

[cary lichtenstein]

Chris

I didn't know they could hook up a broadband line to the grave site of a guy who died in 1953 and the frigging guy rematerializes on GCA.

Now I know how Ran has been spending our contributions.

I want to get one for my father, he's in Old Orchard Cemetary since 1993.

[cary lichtenstein]

Hey, let's get Ross on here, where is he burried?

[cary lichtenstein]

I just sent Stanley an IM, I'm not going to sleep til I talk to the bloke

[Stanley Thompson]

You realize I met Donald in Winnipeg. He was a very gracious man, somebody that all of us liked. I met him a couple of times in my travels too.

We wanted him to be the first president of the American Society of Golf Architects but he wasn’t well enough to accept. I convinced Robert Harris to be president because I didn’t want the work, and then convinced Trent to be secretary so that he could cover the remaining duties.

I always liked Herbie (Strong) the best, he was a good friend throughout. Most of the architects dropped into my office at King Street during prohibition. Even Tillie, that drunken prick, he's definitely the one I didn't like.

[Robert Thompson]

Damn Stan. I guess all the alcohol did keep you pickled, after all.

Let me ask you this: McBroom, Carrick and Cooke all claim to be inspired by your work. Do you see it?

In fact, Cooke claims your ghost was speaking with him when he cocked up Highlands Links. Did you see those cart paths? Maybe the worst ever!

Good to have you back.

[Stanley Thompson]

Cooke is inspired by Howard Watson who he worked for, his work has nothing to do with mine. Highland Links was not supposed to have cart paths, I provided a wonderful set of walks between holes for golfers to truly enjoy the property. There are those who definitely don’t understand the game.

McBroom inspired by me? Well he certainly never studied one of my bunkers.

Carrick, he definitely was inspired by William Flynn. All his work features carry angles. Carry angles everywhere on every shot. Now that's William. I never was too into carry angles, I preferred to give the boys some room to play. I liked to test them once in a while, or even throw in a surprise, but I liked to let them play.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Tell me Stan, how did you build such wonderful bunkers by hand and horse in the 1920's and 30's that today's most talented architects and their crews cannot even replicate with their immense technologically superior construction arsenal?  I just don’t get it, maybe I’m missing something, but most of your original bunkers that are approaching 80 years old are still as ominous as ever and have aged wonderfully.  Just curious.

[Stanley Thompson]

Andrew my boy, we stacked all the dirt with horses up until the early 30's. At Westmount we were finally able to secure a couple of crawlers to help with the work. The site was really wet, so it helped overcome the difficulties the men faced. If you go look between the first tee and the second tee at Westmount, you will find one of those crawlers is still there.

The bunkers were made by hand; there is no machine that can do what a man can. We stacked all the material into piles and then shaped with rakes and shovels until I liked what I saw. I gave some directions to what I wanted, and then left my lead hand to build them. Of course, I always returned to approve the work before grassing.

[Ian Andrew]

Stanley,

You began doing simpler bunkers in your early work at places like Burlington and even at Jasper. At Banff your work became very dramatic and elaborate. How did you make this change?

[Stanley Thompson]

My good man, the answer should be obvious.

The work was limited by the skills of the men I employed. Once I taught a few good men to shape, the sky was the limit on what I could build.

[Robert Thompson]

Stan: What I really want to know is your thoughts on helping Cooke at Highlands. Did you really tell him to cut across the fairway with the cart path on 9, and did you suggest that all his bunkers should be in bland oval shapes?

[Stanley Thompson]

I was obviously not consulted on the changes, in person, or by psychic. They are a travesty across the landscape.

[cary lichtenstein]

I love this thread

[Chris Parker]

I'm with you Cary!!  This is fun!  

[Robert Thompson]

Ok, Stan. I've been wondering what you're thoughts are on Robbie since this thread started. I mean, his changes at St. George's clearly aren't subtle. What did you make of them? How about the ones at St. Thomas?

More recently Ian Andrew did some work at a bunch of your courses? Any better?

[Stanley Thompson]

Robbie was always my favorite; he was the one I trusted the most. Robbie understood a lot more than the others, but his weakness was that he was tight with a nickel. I never could get it clear to Robbie (and Geoff) that you should never worry about cost when you were building courses for posterity.

In the end I think Robbie preferred what Trent was doing. If you look at his work and his changes to my courses you’ll see a lot of Trent’s philosophy and style. Some things like the 17th and 18th worked out well, but I don't understand why he changed the 4th and the 9th.

I have no idea who Mr. Andrew is, or what he has done.