[Dan Moore]

I was having a discussion this week with someone and we were unable to clearly define what an original Bendelow bunker would have looked like.  I was thinking Medinah, in particular the #1 and 2 courses, may provide some examples as bendelow is know to have spent considerable time on site but I don't own a copy of Tim Cronin's club history Spirit of Medinah. 

Anybody have any photos to share or possibly descriptions from any of Bendlow's writings that may help. 

Thanks

[RJ_Daley]

Dan, I think that the women's course at Medinah has the only possible remanants of what a Bendelow bunker might have looked like.  They were generally smallish, a bit of lip or contour on the high edges, nothing too artsy.   

Quic Qui Oc also has a few that I think are probably representative of Bende's work.  The most artistic and well placed and designed are those on the par 3 9th.  That is a very sporty little golf hole. 

Beaver Dam's Old Hickory also probably has a few bunkers still close to their original shapes and sizes on the Bendelow 9. 

I'll see if I can't find some Quic Qui Oc to e-mail you, later...

[Mike Bowline]

Beaver Dam's Old Hickory also probably has a few bunkers still close to their original shapes and sizes on the Bendelow 9. 

Dan, I was a member at Old Hickory for ten years in the 90s and I can tell you that the bunkers on the Bendelow nine were non-descript at best. There was lots of meddling in the design over the years by well-meaning folks and I would guess the bunkers were shallowed out and flattened over the years. The bunkers show no resemblance to the beautuful bunkering at Medinah nor Quit Qui Oc, both of which I played many times. I would venture that Washington Park in Racine would be a better-preserved Bendelow course than Old Hickory. M2CW.

[Chris_Blakely]

Dan,

I have pictures of many Bendelow bunkers that have been grassed in and appear to be orginal / untouched.

If I also remeber correctly 8 or 9 of the orginal holes at Coldwater GC in Coldwater, MI are Bendelow.  The bunkers look close to be orginal.

Chris

[tlavin]

Check out Lincolnshire in Crete, IL.  It's largely untouched Bendelow, to the best of my knowledge.

[RJ_Daley]

Mike Bowline, welcome newbie.  Are you living in Dairyland currently?  Old Hickory is interesting in Bende's routing and use of FW slide slopes across the existing terrain.  I haven't played there in more than 15 years. 

Are there a few of your favorite Bendelow holes you can name?  Those at Quic Qui Oc (haven't been there in 4 years) I love the Knoll hole short par 4 3rd, the next hole par 3 over water with steep sloped green is pretty good too.  But, I really like that 9th best due to the bunkers in the foregreen and greensides, with nice green contouring for such a smallish green.

[SBendelow]

Chris Blakely & Mike Bowline,
Can you give me any documentation on Coldwater CC (MI) and Washington Park (WI) as being Bendelow designs?   I have Washington Park but not Coldwater on my list of Tom Bendelow courses.  Thanks
The list keeps growing!
Stuart Bendelow

[Chris_Blakely]

Chris Blakely & Mike Bowline,
Can you give me any documentation on Coldwater CC (MI) and Washington Park (WI) as being Bendelow designs?   I have Washington Park but not Coldwater on my list of Tom Bendelow courses.  Thanks
The list keeps growing!
Stuart Bendelow

I played the course three or four years ago.  I played the course right after I had recently played South Gleason GC (Gary, IN - not Garry CC which has been renamed and was not Gary, IN) and The Cascades (Jackson, MI).  Thus, Bendelow's grenside or grassed in greenside bunkering and Langford & Moreau style fairway bunkering was easy to pick out.  I talked with the pro after the round and he said what I thought that the orginal 9 was Bendelow.  C&W has the course as Bob Beard, but he only added the second 9 (which coincidentally was the reason I sought the course out - I had just played a good Beard course, so I gave this one a shot).  Anyways, the course's website and scorecard (that I have) have 1920 as the date the course opened which is alot sooner then beard was designing courses.

Yes, I may be adding to your Bendelow course list; however, I think I will also help you take some off.  In your book, you list many of the Langford & Moreau courses (while at the American Park Builders) as Bendelow courses, I would think these should be attributed to L&M and not Bendelow.  Expamples, Gary CC (I have the L&M drawing with their names on it and not Bendelow).  South Bluff CC, Christiana CC, and LaPorte CC.  I have played two of these courses and they are L&M and all the documentation on the other two points to L&M.  I would guess the confusion may have come into listing these courses as TB because Langford & Moreau were at the American Park Builders prior to Bendelow and he replaced them when they left.

Chris

[SBendelow]

Chris,
Thanks for the response.  The last thing I want to do is pad Bendelow's list of courses; hence my request for documentation.
I have already struck Gary CC (IN), LaPorte CC (IN), and South Bluff CC (IL) from my listing of  TB designs.  Christiana CC (IN) was reported as being laid out by Bendelow in the "American Golfer", April 1916 as well as in the 1926 list published by the American Park Builders.  I think you are correct in that some of Willam Langford's work while he was at the American Park Builders probably also got included in their listing.

I am continuing to refine (add and subtract) the listing of my grandfather's courses and appreciate any and all information on the subject from the folks on GolfClubAtlas.  A revised list of Bendelow course will probably be needed in the near future.
Stuart

[Mike Bowline]

Chris Blakely & Mike Bowline,
Can you give me any documentation on Coldwater CC (MI) and Washington Park (WI) as being Bendelow designs?   I have Washington Park but not Coldwater on my list of Tom Bendelow courses. 
Stuart Bendelow

My only documentation relies on the Geoffrey Cornish/Ron Whitten book "The Golf Course" which lists Wash Park as a Bendy. However, they do not list Old Hickory at all in the exhaustive Part II. Bendelow designed the first nine holes aOld Hickory and Bill Sixty, Jr. designed the second nine holes.

The book does contain a 3-paragraph biography of Thomas M. Bendolow (1872-1936) and lists about 58 courses attributed to him in CA, FL, IL, IN, KS, MI, NE, NJ, NY, OH, PA, WA, WI, and Canada. I only offer the number 58 in case 58 does not correspond to your list and you subsequently want to find the book and pervue the listings.

Good luck!

[Mike Bowline]

Mike Bowline, welcome newbie.  Are you living in Dairyland currently?  Old Hickory is interesting in Bende's routing and use of FW slide slopes across the existing terrain.  I haven't played there in more than 15 years. 

Are there a few of your favorite Bendelow holes you can name?  Those at Quic Qui Oc (haven't been there in 4 years) I love the Knoll hole short par 4 3rd, the next hole par 3 over water with steep sloped green is pretty good too.  But, I really like that 9th best due to the bunkers in the foregreen and greensides, with nice green contouring for such a smallish green.

I moved from Dairyland in 2005 to Denver, but still have my golf roots back in WI.

I agree, the FW contouring at Old Hick is quite remarkable the way the kanes and kettles were utilized in the landing areas of tee shots. Hole #5 is a great hole, with its blind second shot to a narrow, deep green. I also liked #18 (don't believe it was a Bendelow hole) with the undulations between the tee shot landing area and the second shot landing area.

Regarding Quit QOc, I agree,#3 is a wonderful hole. The bunkering around #9 is unique and somewhat intimidating from the tee, although there is more room than it appears from the tee. Hole #12 is a fun hole with the 60'-70' drop from tee to green. I have bailed out left too many times and been left with a difficult if not impossible up and down! But my favorite stretch is #13, #14, #15. WOW! Three really fun holes to play, all in a row! #18 is also a tough driving hole due to the dogleg occuring 200 yards off the tee and therefore the tee shot must cut over the OB to hit the fairway.

At Wash Park, I always liked the fact that the really good golfers in southern Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha all played out of Wash Park. It is a really good track. Hole #3 is a fun uphill par 3 with trouble everywhere and a definite preferred side of the green to hit to. #5 is a blind uphill tee shot with OB right and then a really fun green to hit to with the horizon behind and bunkers short. #8 from the back tee is a super driving hole and a fun green to try to hit in two. And what a finish: #17 is a 90 degree dogleg right, but if you cut the corner you have a tough approach - better to hit to the middle and accept a 160 yard approach. And #18 is a ball-buster par 3. A course that is just plain FUN to play and for a muni, always in good shape.

[Mike Bowline]

Mike Bowline, welcome newbie.  Are you living in Dairyland currently?  Old Hickory is interesting in Bende's routing and use of FW slide slopes across the existing terrain.  I haven't played there in more than 15 years. 

Are there a few of your favorite Bendelow holes you can name?  Those at Quic Qui Oc (haven't been there in 4 years) I love the Knoll hole short par 4 3rd, the next hole par 3 over water with steep sloped green is pretty good too.  But, I really like that 9th best due to the bunkers in the foregreen and greensides, with nice green contouring for such a smallish green.

At Wash Park, I always liked the fact that the really good golfers in southern Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha all played out of Wash Park. It is a really good track. Hole #3 is a fun uphill par 3 with trouble everywhere and a definite preferred side of the green to hit to. #5 is a blind uphill tee shot with OB right and then a really fun green to hit to with the horizon behind and bunkers short. #8 from the back tee is a super driving hole and a fun green to try to hit in two. And what a finish: #17 is a 90 degree dogleg right, but if you cut the corner you have a tough approach - better to hit to the middle and accept a 160 yard approach. And #18 is a ball-buster par 3. A course that is just plain FUN to play and for a muni, always in good shape.

Ooops, I have been away from Wisconsin too long. All my above comments about Wash Park are in fact in reference to Johnson Park, not Washingotn Park. I unfortunately never played Washington Park, so I have egg on my face. SAT.

[RJ_Daley]

Gents, I wonder if there is some carryover or continuity of the work that was in the pipeline at American Park Builders from when L&M were there, and when they left and turned it over to TB?   In a way, I always thought it was a bit odd that TB came to APBs after the younger L&M were there.  I guess I'll have to re-examine Stuart's book and see if I can get any insight as to how the older succeeded the younger in that regard.  At any rate, I wonder if L&M might have had a few sites they worked on in terms of prelim site visits, working up intitial routing schemes, then left and TB took them over.  Heck, maybe they even had old letterhead business correspondence paper, that had an L&M letterhead, and TB being an economical frugal old Scot, just used it until it was used up... 

[Dan Moore]

Chris &  RJ,


Would love it if you could post some Bendelow bunker photos. 

BTW I think it was  Jeff Penkwitz, the former DOG at Lawsonia, (who I heard in light of the closure of JT Skewers has taken a Head pro position at N. Wisconsin course (Big Fish I think)), who told me that he thought Langford may have had a hand in Quic Qui Oc.  I have not seen Quic Qui Oc or any evidence to corroborate. 

Thanks. 

[Tom Roewer]

Dan:  I can send you several great bunkers from Temple Terace C.C. if you would like. I don't have them in digital or scanned so let me know where to send    cheers    tom roewer

[JR Potts]

I was having a discussion this week with someone and we were unable to clearly define what an original Bendelow bunker would have looked like.  I was thinking Medinah, in particular the #1 and 2 courses, may provide some examples as bendelow is know to have spent considerable time on site but I don't own a copy of Tim Cronin's club history Spirit of Medinah. 

Anybody have any photos to share or possibly descriptions from any of Bendlow's writings that may help. 

Thanks

Let me see if I can round up some photos of Course #2 bunkers.  FWIW - The bunkering on Course #1 is very similar, if not identical, to the bunkering on Course #2.

[Chris_Blakely]

Dan,

Sorry it took so long for me to get these up.  I had to do some digging at home.  Anyways, here are a couple of Bendelow bunkers with and without sand:

Cascades GC, Jackson, MI (18 hole course)



Cascades GC (behind green)



Cascades GC (fairway bunkers with sand)



Cascades GC (with greenpad behind)



South Gleason Park GC Gary, IN (this is not L&M Gary CC know known as Innisbrook CC)

Fairway bunker with sand:



Fairway bunker grassed in:



Fairway bunker grassed in (tree added  ):



Fairway bunker grassed in:



Greensite approach bunkering grassed in:



I will post more of a course in Ohio that I played recently.  All of the bunkering there has been grassed over.  I have pictures of several other Ohio courses and a couple in Indiana that I will have to dig to find.  If I do find them, I will post some more pictures.

I think with Bendelow's  bunkering there is a big difference in styles if the site is flatter or hillier.  South Gleason is a completly flat site; hence, the mounding is raised and the bunkers sit flat.  Cascades is a hillier site and the fairway / greenside bunkering does not need to have mounding around it to give it character.  The same was true of the Ohio course I will post later.


Chris

[Dan Moore]

Chris,

Thanks for taking the time to post. 

Though in need of some tlc look far some of them look far more interesting than many would expect from Bendelow. 

There is a Bendelow course in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin Big Foot CC built in the mid-1920's.  Has anyone played it?  The little I have seen of it driving around Lake Geneva it looks very well preserved and on some pretty good land. 

Tom and Ryan,  I thought I sent you pms in response to your offers but sdon't see them in my outbox so maybe I did something wrong.  I will resend. 

[Chris_Blakely]

Dan,

Your welcome.  There are some intersting fairway bukers at both courses I posted.  Both need ALOT of TLC.  I will get some pictures up of the course in Ohio I played that has some great grassed over bunkering.

Chris

[RJ_Daley]

Chris, your photos of the two courses are very similar to Quic Qui Oc, front 9 Bendelow.  Dan, as I mentioned, I can't find my CD with the QQO pix.  I guess you'll just have to get up to Sheboygan County and play it!  You won't be disappointed. 

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