As a member of a course with greens that have been described as Mickey Mouse and too severe (Alpine CC), I was anxious to see ECC which I did this weekend. While I was not able to save the alterations of 6 of Alpine's greens that were done in years past, I have presided over the alteration of one green that was not original Tillingast (similar to Duane touching up ECC)..
I bring this up because I've played severe, highly pitched greens upfront and also seen some of a great architect- Tillinghast- compromised in the name of pin positions etc. Furthermore, I find myself on the purest end of the scale but having attended plenty of greens committee meetings realize the pragmatic side of the game.
ECC's greens differ from Alpine given their wavy chip and steep slope personas. To me they were very representative in some respects of what I saw last year at Hollywood. To me Hollywood's greens were more like rolling ocean tides than ECC's severe contours and bumps/hollows. The greens putted about an 8 on the stimp (the super's words, verbatim) and that was the perfect # given their slopes. Alpine often putts at 10-11 and is very difficult at that number. I think Engineers would be near impossible at that high a stimp. Members would keep 4 putting as the norm.
As to the routing, I really find myself liking the par 5, 4th up the hill. I do also see how the original hole playing as a dog-leg left could be great fun to play. It is too bad that a course with 19 holes couldn't adopt both tees and still play the 4th as a par 4 or 5 depending on which par 3 is in the rotation that day. Geoff Shackelford has talked about this and the scalabilities possible when he discussed some of George Thomas' views. Yet it is unorthodox so that would probably find itself in the dustbin.
The Duane 3rd is a good hole, I'd never be able to tell it is out of place, the green has a nice vortex in it for putting. I do agree though with Tom that the original routing could be put back in place although if playing the 4th as a par 5 interrupts the flow with its walk--if it meant having 2 or 20 in the rota all the time, then I am for that.
I did mention to my host on the 2nd that the rough before the plateau green should be shaved. He told me many of the female members have problems then with balls continuing to fall to their feet. Alpine has a lot of false fronts like the 2nd and the women members do grouse about that but we've managed to have most of them cut down to fairway mowing height. Still an idea I like but having sat through committee meetings I can see this one causing quite a fuss.
As per the slopes, I did see Tripp's new green at #6 which obviously replaces the old Duane green. When it was explained to me that the old green resides in someone's backyard I realized restoration means nothing unless the club had the specs to that plan. At Alpine, Ron and Jim N. rebuilt the 6th green to rave reviews last year. And I didnt complain one bit, b/c the old 6th was redone in the 1950s by the professional at the time. It was horrid. We had nothing to go with and instead now have a Tillinghast like green that feels in concert with the rest of the course. The 6th is a great roller-coaster ride at ECC, I think the Tripp green is quite good at the end of the ride.
Whilst I had not played ECC before tree removal, I have seen a lot of old pictures with huge vistas etc. The work that has been done to date is tremendous although there are some trees that show up in the pictures that were saplings and now grown up with limbs overhanging bunkers etc. Not sure if that was Strong's intent obviously but would hope some of that gets pruned (notably on the 11th hole)..
I would have liked to see the sandy waste areas put back in but I am not a super and not sure if they could be restored and kept. The bunkering at ECC is odd to me in that several styles seem evident. Some pot bunkering, some that looks like Dick Wilson (Mike Cirba thought this as well as I did on the 7th) etc. I'm not sure how much of it is original. But all of the hazards are strategic in nature and play as such.. The trench bunker on #11 is a wonderful one.
Overall I'm not sure where ECC fits in with the world of golf. I'm not sure what is 100% Strong as Tom Mac has detailed the lineage etc.
Having tried to restore my own course to original plans, we wound up with something that is 80% authentic. We can't put the greens back because most members don't want to fund it for one, but more importantly we don't have original plans to begin with. Luckily, it has been relatively easy to put bunkering back with photographic evidence and due to Jeff Porteas' expertise (our contractor). Most of all though, it was a long drawn out process with many members not caring about pedigree etc. And that is the sad part with ECC perhaps. It may be that its reputation made it not want to preserve exactly what they had as unplayable. With green speeds at 8 the other day, I was overwhelmed in many areas. As a member that may pass but clubs today have high competition and need to retain members. And I know of no club where members repeatedly like to 4 putt. That said, I would love to see what the course originally was but understand the functional limits of today's game. I'm not sure the original greens at ECC could have survived unless speeds were kept at say 6-7 on the stimp.. What member would putt like that at home and then play away in today's game with speeds at 9-11?