Chicago Aerial: Bendelow's Masterworks Part 2: Medinah #3

[Dan Moore]

The older aerial is from 1939 the year Byron Nelson won the Western Open at Medinah.  This version includes the new holes designed by Bendelow after the course opened in the 1920's.  If you have an older version of World Atlas of Golf you can see this is essentially the same course that existed up through 1975 where the current 13th hole was the 17th.  I won't go into the changes since then, but if you are interested in the evolution of 17 take a look at the PGA issue of Golf Digest.  

I blew this up so its a bit blurry, but that made it easier to see some of the detail.  Enjoy.





Current Routing

[Jeff_Brauer]

Dan,

Thanks again for posting Chicago history. I now know that 1939 was a drought year from the looks of Lake Kadijah. Either that, or it had just been built and hadn't filled yet.

The original Bendelow bunkering is a more 'squiggly" than it became later, and not unlike some of the other Chicago bunkering I think Tom MacWood credited to an O"Neil remodel.  It appears Tom could do more than basic bunkering.

Even with shape simplicfication, which Rees has changed, the bunkers were 90% in place for the 75 open.  I notice removals on 13 (old 16) and some short fw bunkers on 3, 6. By 1975, bunkers had been added to 2 and 17 greens (now 13) and 10 fw right side (by Killian and Nugent sometime in the 60's - I remember seeing the plan)  I also recall seeing their plan for a redone bunkering at 6 green, but they were left in the same place and presumably simplified for maintenance reasons?

It would be interesting to see the original routing that was changed. There are some open areas near 3 and 6 that may have been golf holes in the original.

[JR Potts]

Great find.  I love the bunker on the left at the bottom of the hill on 4.  Also, it is amazing how open the area was around 9, 10 and 11.  I guess not all of the course was cut through a forest.

[T_MacWood]

Very interesting aerial...the bunkering does standout especially in comparision to what was there in the early 70s. I agree with Jeff that Bendelow could do much more than basic bunkering but I'm not sure this is an example of it. Medinah underwent a significant redesign in 1932 - the identy of the person who did the work is a mystery.

[Mike_Cirba]

This is off the wall, and pure speculation, but the bunkering in the top aerial seems to bear some Tillinghast qualities.  

Of course, by 1932 it seems somewhat preposterous that the club would engage Tilly (or anyone else) to enhance their bunkering in an artistic fashion.

[Dan Moore]

Very interesting aerial...the bunkering does standout especially in comparision to what was there in the early 70s. I agree with Jeff that Bendelow could do much more than basic bunkering but I'm not sure this is an example of it. Medinah underwent a significant redesign in 1932 - the identy of the person who did the work is a mystery.

Tom,  is the 1932 redesign to which you refer different than the major redesign (several new holes and changes to others) Bendelow did after the 1930 Medinah Open when the club reattained the Medinah Forest land?

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

In this old (2002) GCA discussion : http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=4883
Harry COLLIS is credited for a renovation twelve years after the course opening.

Is it accurate ? Some informations on Harry Collis ?

[T_MacWood]

Dan
It is the same. There has been speculation that Harry Collis did the redesign, there has been speculation the Bendelow came back and redid the course...frankly they aren't sure who did it.

[Dan Moore]

There is more than speculation about Bendelow's redesign.  Tim Cronin reported in the CDGA Magazine on the Medinah Forest lawsuit and scandal and how Bendelow had his plans for a redesign approved by the Club prior to the 1930 Medinah Open.  What is the evidence regarding Collis' involvement, does it rise above speculation?  

[T_MacWood]

The club historian...whose name escapes me...speculated that Collis oversaw the work in 1932. But my impression is they have no idea who oversaw the work and they have no idea who was responsible for the plan of 1932.

Why was Bendelow submitting a plan to overhaul the course one year after he completed it?

[Tim_Cronin]

I'll keep this short because it's late. Harry Collis never laid a hand on No. 3. Bendelow did the 1932 redo, based on his plan from the late 1920s that was approved but not implemented before Harry Cooper scored 63 in the 1930 Medinah Open.
There's been some chatter about a Tillinghast bunker enhancement on his PGA-sponsored trip later in the decade, but the club has no evidence that Tilly did a thing (he was busy at Ridgemoor and Oak Park).
Tom: The redo was done because the club didn't have access to all the land south of Medinah Creek to Lake Street when Bendelow drew up the original. The unavailable land was slated for a housing development owned by Medinah's four founders until the membership got wind of their scam (skimming membership fees, among other things) and forced them out.

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Thanks Tim for the information on the 1932 redo.  

I just read Ron Whitten article on GD : "The Major Course That Nearly Wasn't" and this article give me answers to questions I would like to ask you.

Thanks.

 

[T_MacWood]

Tim
Thanks for the info. So the often told tale that Harry Cooper's 63 drove the club to redesign is false.

What is strange the club claims that 7 new holes (3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15) were contructed and 2 holes redesigned (6 & 9) in 1932. I assume those numbers are the holes from the original routing (before they altered the routing in the 80s or whenever). Those holes appear to be all over the property between the creek and Lake St....in fact the 10th (which is not among those new holes) is furtherest south and runs parallel to Lake St....perhaps they got that wrong too.

What I find interesting is Nordic Hills CC (formerly Nordic Hills, I'm not sure what it is called today) which was directly east of the club and adjacent to #3 was built in 1932 by Frank Macdonald & Charles Maddux. Macdonald & Maddux had a very distinctive bunkering style not unlike what you see in this old aerial.

[Dan Moore]

This from Ron Whitten's 8/11/06 article referenced today by  Geoff Shackleford.  The article is based at least in part on Tim Cronin's 2001 club history of Medinah.  This should clear up some of the mystery.  

"1928. Two years later, the Medinah Open was contested on No. 3, which measured just 6,261 yards, par 70, a one-day event won by Harry (Lighthorse) Cooper, who shot a seven-under 63 in the second round.
 
Soon thereafter, Medinah was remodeled, with new holes carved from the 77-acre forest that the Gang of Four had intended to subdivide for profit. In the club's history, Cronin corrects a misimpression previously promoted by many, including this writer, that Cooper's 63 prompted the remodeling.

"On August 21, 1929, over a year before Cooper tooled around in 63," Cronin writes, "Bendelow presented diagrams for a redesigned No. 3 to the board of directors. It was an astonishing change, a makeover that was as brilliant as it was extensive. There were eight new holes ... [turning a] pussycat into a 6,820-yard tiger. The board approved Bendelow's concept immediately, but money was hard to come by, so implementation was delayed."

Cronin also corrects the misinformation previously circulated by this writer that Chicago golf architect Harry Collis handled the remodeling. Bendelow indeed remodeled No. 3 into what it is today. (Well, mostly. The par-3 17th and par-4 18th were added by Roger Packard in 1986 and modified by Rees Jones for this year's PGA.) The original layout had a series of tight, parallel, back-and-forth holes along Lake Street on the south end of the club's property. Those were eliminated in 1932. Among the holes Bendelow created from the forest property acquired by the lawsuit are the par-4 third and the 463-yard, par-4 fourth, perhaps the best par 4 on the course. He created the present dogleg-left par-5 seventh hole, using the corridor of his old par-4 sixth but adding a new green pad another 200 yards into the trees. He added the par-3 eighth and the par-4 ninth, the latter playing in reverse direction up a previous fairway and utilizing the green complex of the very short par-3 fifth. On the back nine, Bendelow made the par-5 10th longer by combining two holes and created the present 453-yard par-4 16th, site of Sergio Garcia's behind-the-tree heroics in 1999. (It played as the 13th back in Bendelow's day.) He also built a par-3 14th, which no longer exists, having been replaced by today's 17th, and a dandy short par-4 15th, which in 1986 was expanded into today's 605-yard 14th.

The new and improved Medinah No. 3 opened June 19, 1932. Harry Cooper returned to win the 1933 Illinois Open on the expanded par-71 layout. He also won the 1935 Medinah Open this time shooting five-over-par 289."

[T_MacWood]

I wouldn't write off Harry Collis so soon, often these unexplained or undocumented attributions have some truth surrounding them.

Medinah #1, #2 and #3 were designed/built by Tom Bendelow acting for American Park Builders. By the end of 20s Bendelow was winding down his design activities...as were all architects because of the Depression (and land planners/developers like American Park Builders).

One can assume American Park Builders was engaged to remodel #3. That would explain the 1929 plan attributed to Bendelow. The only other American Park Builders golf course project I'm aware in the early 30s was Cherry Hill (1931-32)...that course was design/built by Harry Collis & Jack Darray.

Collis & Darray's involvement would explain why the aerial of Medinah #3 looks nothing like anything Bendelow designed, including Medinah #1 and #2.

By the way that is an excellent article by Whitten with Cronin's help. A very interesting story.

Here is a link:
http://www.golfdigest.com/newsandtour/2006pga/index.ssf?/newsandtour/2006pga/gw20060811medinah.html

[Tim_Cronin]

Tom: The 1929 plan isn't attributed to Bendelow. The plan is by Bendelow. And the club paid Bendelow, personally, $1,000 for the redesign. There is no evidence in the record that Collis was on the scene. Ron Whitten thought he was, which is how the story got started.

[T_MacWood]

Tim
At the time I suspect Whitten had a reason for thinking Collis was involved.

Does the 1929 plan exist...was Bendelow working for American Park Builders in 1929?

Is there any record of Bendelow on site in 1932?

[Tim_Cronin]

Tom,
Just catching up here post-PGA.
Tom Whitten and I talked before the PGA and he indicated he was relying on information compiled for "The Golf Course" for the Collis reference. It was just one of those things picked up and carried along over the years.
There is an existing 1929 plan, actually a drawing made in 1933 with potential new bunkering apparently suggested by a club member (never implemented, because it was too severe) on it. There's also a 1927 APC drawing of the original layout (work had started on it in 1925 and proceeded slowly thanks to a money crunch at the club). Both are reproduced in "The Spirit of Medinah."
I believe Bendelow was still with APC in 1929. I know he was paid directly, in two installments, for the redesign.
The original contract for the first two courses required Bendelow to be on site not less than 10 times, and it appears he was there much more often. I'd guess the same was true of No. 3.
Here's my list of Bendelow's confirmed Chicago area work in the late '20s and beyond (and I would not be surprised if there were others; research goes on):
1927: Wicker Memorial Park GC (Highland, Ind.)
1928: Medinah CC No. 3, St. Charles CC, Lincolnshire CC No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 (one of the three NLE)
1932: Medinah CC No. 3 redesign, Dempster GC (Chicago, NLE)

[T_MacWood]

Tim
Thanks for the excellent information. Any idea why or when the Collis rumor started?

[Tim_Cronin]

No clue where the rumor started.
Maybe because Harry was a seed merchant too (and developed a bentgrass strain used for greens), his name got mixed up along the way. If the club bought his seed (and Bendelow made seed recommendations, though I have no idea if he recommended Collis'), then you could say they were "Collis greens." Hey, crazier things have happened.

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Digging into my files, I’ve found this aerial of Medinah n°3. I’ve not recorded the year of this file but I’m almost sure this is a 1998-1999 aerial. This aerial is very clear, so you can easily compare this aerial and the 2006 aerial from Dan to see Medinah n°3 before and after rees-toration. Note particularly the changes in the bunkering and the old position of 17th green.



I add the hole-by-hole Rees modifications (found on PGA.com) to permit better comparisons between 99 & 2006 aerials.

Hole #1
By adding a new championship tee, the hole has been lengthened by 46 yards. The sharp ridge at the landing area has been lowered and the cross slope has been reduced. The tee shot has definition as the blindness has been eliminated. The new green complex, including the greenside bunkers, has been designed to a size appropriate for the approach shot. A new collection area has been added at the left rear of the green.

Hole #2
The tees have been enlarged and leveled. The new green has been shifted to the left to bring the lake into play and the large bunker behind the green protects the rear hole locations.

Hole #3
The third hole has a redesigned tee complex. The tees have been shifted slightly to the left and enlarged. A forward tee has been added. A complex of three bunkers has been built on the right side of the landing area. The cross-bunker and ridge blocking visibility of the green have been removed. The greenside bunkers have been redesigned to bring them closer to the green surface. The mound behind the green has been removed.

Hole #4
The tee complex on the fourth hole has been redesigned. The tees were enlarged and elevated and new forward and back tees were added. The hole has been lengthened by 16 yards. The greenside bunkers have been redesigned and shifted closer to the green to protect the left and right hole locations.

Hole #5
The tee complex has been enlarged and extended forward. The single bunker at the first landing area has been replaced by a series of three bunkers extending to the rebuilt cross-bunker guarding the second landing area. The greenside bunkers have been redesigned, reshaped and extended to the front of the green to fortify the approach to the green.

Hole #6
The tee complex has been completely rebuilt. The tee was elevated and extended forward and back. The hole has been lengthened by 24 yards. The ridge in front of the tees has been lowered for better visibility to the landing area. The bunker to the left of the landing area has been reshaped and enlarged. The greenside bunkers have been redesigned, reshaped and brought slightly closer together to tighten the approach to the green. A ramp has been added to the approach alongside and beyond the right greenside bunker to aid in reaching the right hole locations with a knockdown shot.

Hole #7
The fairway bunker on the left has been redesigned and located farther down the fairway. The fairway bunker short of the second landing area has been rebuilt and shifted slightly toward the fairway. The greenside bunkers have been relocated and redesigned.

Hole #8
The tee on the eighth hole has been enlarged and elevated. To improve visibility of the green and bunkers, the ridge in the fairway short of the green has been lowered. The greenside bunkers have been completely redesigned and reshaped.

Hole #9
The ninth tee has been rebuilt and enlarged as well as being elevated to improve visibility of the fairway. The greenside bunkers have been reshaped and repositioned slightly closer to the green.

Hole #10
The 10th tee has been enlarged and elevated. The fairway and greenside bunkers have all been redesigned and rebuilt.

Hole #11
The tee on Hole No. 11 has been rebuilt and a forward tee added. A new fairway bunker has been added on the right side of the landing area. The greenside bunkers have been redesigned, deepened, and repositioned closer to the green.

Hole #12
The 12th green and fairway have been reseeded.

Hole #13
The 13th hole has an entirely rebuilt tee and green complex. This hole is capable of playing 25 yards longer with the addition of a new championship tee. The teeing areas have been enlarged and repositioned to provide a better view of the green and lake. Three bunkers now guard the new green; one left, one right and one fronting the putting surface.

Hole #14
The 14th tee has been re-leveled and re-grassed. The approach bunkers and greenside bunkers have all been redesigned and reshaped.

Hole #15
The fairway bunker on the left has been redesigned into a new fairway bunker complex protecting the left side of the landing area. The green has been entirely rebuilt and reshaped, as have the greenside bunkers. A chipping area has been added beyond the green.

Hole #16
The teeing area has been redesigned and a new forward tee has been added. The fairway bunker on the far side of the landing area has been removed. The green has been redesigned, as have the greenside bunkers. The slope leading to the green has been graded to be less severe.

Hole #17
The tees for the 17th hole have been redesigned and regraded. A new back tee was added and the forward tees were enlarged and lowered to provide visibility of the lake and green. The green complex has been relocated adjacent to the lake with bunkers guarding the left rear and right sides of the green. The terrain beyond the hole has been restored to its original slope creating a natural amphitheater.

Hole #18
The finishing hole has had significant changes. The left side fairway bunker has been replaced with a grass pocket and a complex of bunkers has been added to the right side of the landing area. The fairway itself has been completely regraded to accept the tee shot. The rebuilt green complex has been elevated above two large greenside bunkers on the left and a chipping area beyond the green to the right.