Perry Maxwell's JP Melrose

[Jay Flemma]

I was researching this Maxwell course and went to the website where they repeayedly state that the course is target golf.

My experience with maxwell was that he wasn't a target golf guy.  Can anyone tell me more about Melrose?  I hear the greens are great, but I'm surprised to read the fairways are narrow and that they claim that it's target golf.

[Ian Larson]

Ive played it and wouldnt consider it target golf. The greens were great. Rolled true.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Today's Melrose is not the original Melrose. The construction of Tookany Creek Parkway(1940s?) drastically changed this course.I believe the original plans are displayed in the clubhouse. Here is the club's history from gapgolf.org:

The same kind of benevolent paternalism that led to the founding of DuPont Country Club and McCall Field gave birth to a recreational facility shortly after World War I on what is today the Tookany Creek Parkway, in Cheltenham. This time it was the Curtis Publishing Company (Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Holiday) which provided its management and employees with a pleasant "country setting" for tennis, swimming, foot racing, baseball, volleyball, and the opportunity to whack golf balls around a rather short and simple course.
In 1926 a small group of men under the leadership of Robert Smiley, Wayne Herkness, and Malcolm Herkness bought the property from Curtis Publishing and organized the Melrose Country Club. Annual dues of $25 enabled a family to enjoy all of the club’s facilities.
A year later Perry Maxwell was commissioned to design a proper course. Kentucky-born and of Scottish descent, Maxwell lived most of his life in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During his career he designed some 70 courses, the majority of them in the south, southwest, and midwest. The great eighteen at Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club, site of both U.S. Open and PGA Championships, is generally acknowledged to be his masterpiece. Maxwell’s trademark was boldly undulating greens, and his reputation such that he was hired to re-contour putting surfaces at Augusta National, the Maidstone Club, the National Golf Links, and others. Here in the Philadelphia area, his handiwork can be seen in certain greens at Pine Valley, Merion (both East and West), Philadelphia Country Club, Gulph Mills, and Saucon Valley’s Old course.
At Melrose, he took a limited and difficult—often abruptly hilly—parcel of land and developed on it a sporty layout which, though short, was challenging and diverse. The construction of the Tookany Creek Parkway would call for extensive revisions to Maxwell’s design by the Canadian architect Clinton E. "Robbie" Robinson.

[Jay Flemma]

OK...so how much maxwell/mackenzie is left?  Where and what?  they didnt change the routing did they?  or the greens?  are there any overheads?

I'm doing a compare/contrast among Mackenzie/Maxwell courses...

[wsmorrison]

I don't think the Melrose history is all that accurate.  It was probably excerpted from Jim Finegan's wonderful centennial history of golf in Philadelphia.  While a very impressive book and one that inspired me to do the Flynn book, it is not entirely accurate.  There is nothing at all in the written record of Merion to suggest Maxwell did any work at all on the East or West courses, at least through 1934.  I haven't had the time to check Merion CC records after that as yet.  Maybe there is something there.  I don't know where the rumors of Maxwell's work at Merion originate.

Philadelphia Country Club members considered a number of Flynn's greens to be too difficult, with short shots being punished by upslopes fronting a number of the greens and poor construction of several greens.  Maxwell's work was done on the existing green sites within the original dimensions of the greens.

A July 7, 1938 letter from Melville Curtis, President, to J. Harris Warthman, Vice President of Philadelphia Country Club mentioned that some of the Flynn greens were remodeled by Perry Maxwell, “The changes were made because the greens that were built up by filled dirt began to settle a little which threw the ball to one side.  Also to make the course easier for the average player.  I do not quite agree with their logic in what was done.  They left the long tees and drives and then eased up on the approach shots.  This is contrary to the theory of golf course design that has been accepted for a number of years, which is to tighten the approach to the green and then for the average player to shorten the drive so he can have as easy a shot with a 200 yard drive as the professional has with a 275 yard drive.

The changes were proposed in a July 12, 1938 letter from Flynn to Melville G. Curtis, the chairman of the golf committee and will be quoted in the following analysis.  Curtis noted that, “There are three or four of the greens that were rebuilt by Mr. Maxwell. These do not drain because he did not make the proper foundation.  If we have a heavy rain, they have large puddles, some of which do not drain for a day or more.   These greens were again remodeled, this time by Flynn prior to the 1939 US Open.

Thanks to Tom Paul, Maxwell's work at Gulph Mills is well documented.  I'm not sure about his work at Saucon Valley.  I have never been there.

[Chris_Clouser]

Jay,

The routing at Melrose has changed significantly.  I believe they are using some of the original green sites on many of the holes.  I will try to summarize what happened to the course over time.  Not sure where the notes about Maxwell working on Merion come from or where the target golf thing started.  But I have seen articles from the 1930s that refer to Maxwell as having worked on Merion but I have not found anything that specifically points to this or what he did there.

The Course originally opened in the mid-20s.  The Tookany Parkway (1938) forced them to eliminate some of the holes where the Parkway now runs through the course.  The club purchased some land to the west of the course and laid out two or three holes over this terrain.  The club then eventually sold that land for development and severely shorted many of the holes on the course.  Also over time the hole sequences have also changed significantly so I will use the original hole number and tie that to the current routing.  I believe most if not all of the greens have been changed in some way.  Also, Mackenzie's involvement here was limited to some recommendations for bunkering around the course. 

Hole 1 - Roughly the same as todays. 

Hole 2 - Roughly the same location as todays hole 15, but I think some work has been done as the hole to the right has been changed significantly.

Hole 3 - Runs over what is today the 16th hole and is similar in nature to that hole from what I could tell.

Hole 4 - The current 13th hole is pretty much the same hole.

Hole 5 - Eliminated with the expansion of Ashmead Road on the NE edge of the course. 

Hole 6 - Eliminated all together when the Tookany Parkway was put in. 

Hole 7 - Eliminated by the Parkway

Hole 8 - Eliminated by Parkway

Hole 9 - Essentially today's 2nd hole

Hole 10 -   Was originally routed to run over the current tenth hole but played to about where the 12th green is.

Hole 11 - Current 17th hole.  Probably the only green that I would say is a Maxwell original.  Stunning green. 

Hole 12 - Current 18th hole, but the green has been redone multiple times and moved to its current location.

Hole 13 - Tee shot was eliminated by Parkway and was originally near where the third green is now.  The shot went across what is now the Parkway to the low area that is the fairway of the current fourth hole and ran up to the current fourth green.  This hole was one of the best in Philly at the time from articles that I have seen about the course.  It seemed to be seen as an equal to the 13th at Pine Valley from what I read.

Hole 14 - Shortened and played to about where the current sixth tee is.

Hole 15 - Original tee was down where the current fifth green is but the rest of the hole is probably about the same as the current sixth hole.

Hole 16 - Probably about the same as the 7th hole.

Hole 17 - Basically scrapped with the Parkway.

Hole 18 - Only thing that remians is the current 9th green.

As for his other work in the Philly area, Wayne has the info on Philly CC.  Tom Paul can give you the nuts and bolts about Gulph Mills.  At Saucon Valley he only changed two holes, the 11th and 12th on the Old Course.  I believe for tournaments they play them as 17 and 18.  At Pine Valley the only thing he did there was work on the 5th, 8th and 9th.  He also constructed and designed the course for the Pennsylvania Railroad at was the original location of the Chester Valley club in Llarnech. 

Call me if you want to discuss it in more detail.  Also, I have a copy of the original routing, a photo of the course from above after the Parkway was put in place and the added holes were in play to the west of the course, plus there is a pretty good aerial view available on Google Earth.

[Jay Flemma]

Wow.  Great job everyone, there's a lot of information there, so thanks.  Lets start with easy questions...why does the course describe itself as Target golf?  Have trees crowded the fairways?  Have the greens gotten smaller? Were there any restorations?

[Bob Harris]

Chris,

You are correct, the current 3rd, 4th, 10th, 12th, 16th and 18th greens have been rebuilt over the last 15 years. 
Some of your hole numbers are off.  The current 15th hole runs along Front Street and the tee is 500 yards from the 1st green.  It's the 13th tee that is behind the 1st green.  The 10th hole played down to the area near the 14th green.  The current 12th hole is the hole that runs down Ashmead Road.
I think it was two years ago that they changed the routing again.  Coming off the current 2nd hole, you now play the old 9th and continue to the old 3rd.  The front nine now ends on what was the 8th hole.  You then drive/walk back the entire hole to the tunnel at the 4th tee.  They did this to eliminate crossing Tookany Creek Parkway.

[Michael Blake]

Jay,

Haven't played there in maybe 5 years, but I do remember some VERY tight fairways with trees everywhere. 

[Chris_Clouser]

Bob,

Thanks for the corrections.  It has been a few years since I was there.  So if they have changed the sequence again, then my hole numbering would be off. 

Jay,

There are a ton more trees now than there were during the early days of the course.  The aerial I have that is after the Parkway was put in shows much fewer trees than what exists currently.  I don't know that the greens are a lot smaller, but there probably has been some shrinkage.  As far as I know they have never thought of restoration because there is no way it could happen.

[Jay Flemma]

Yeah, with all the land changes...how about the greens?  How much of mackenzie's influence is there in them?  How do they compare to Okla City GCC?

[Chris_Clouser]

I would say there is little to no influence by Mackenzie in the greens as all of that was pretty much done before he came over.  As I sad earlier, I think the only green that I would say is still reflective of Maxwell is the current 17th, other than that and possibly the 2nd I would say they are not original.  So it is hard to compare them to Oklahoma City. 

The current 17th green at Melrose has a lot more slope in it from back to front than almost all of the greens at OKC.  The only ones that would possibly compare are the 2nd hole at OKC but it runs away from front to back and it has been softened over time I believe and the 11th.  The rest of the greens at OKC feature more internal contours than anything else that provide their interest. 

[Jay Flemma]

Chris, what other Mackenzie/Maxwell courses should I research then?  I love OCGCC's greens, what other of their collaborations is equal?

[TEPaul]

Chris:

You say that the greens they use as #17 and#18 at Saucon's "Old Course" are the ones by Maxwell? I'm not sure what those greens are because we used a routing that isn't the normal course.

I was thankful to meet Jim Roney, Saucon's really great super in the last three days and be able to talk to him about this kind of research, though. He says the club has a ton of really good historic architectural documentation. I think he said he thought greens #5, #6 and #11 were Maxwell but I (or he) would have to check again.

I told him what he and the club has with historical documentation is something the USGA Architecture Archive will be delighted with.

And to think this complete nitwit from the West Coast keeps trying to criticize what me and others are trying to do with this kind of research for the USGA Architecture Archive. What the hell has that nitwit ever done except criticize others who've done more than him by a factor of about a hundred?

Last time I checked out Melrose (on site ) with an eye as to what was left of pure Maxwell it seemed like there were only a couple of original greens intact.

I'll tell you one thing----that "Old Course" (Herbert Strong) at Saucon Valley that we used this week for the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship played really great. The only hole that needs some architectural attention in my book is the one we used as #13. And I think about three trees need to come out on the tee shot left on the hole we used as #12. Most all of those greens and their slopes and contours were remarkably strategic!

[Chris_Clouser]

Tom,

I think Saucon has changed the hole sequence on more than one occassion over time, but the holes are named Turtle and Dogleg and were 11 and 12 in Peter McKnight's My Home Course write-up on this site.  It is possible that Maxwell touched another green while there, but he basically rerouted those two holes to fit in with the landscape better and eliminated what were supposedly a couple of awkward holes. 

[TEPaul]

Chris:

Did you get a chance to go through the apparently extensive architectural documentation in the possession of Saucon Valley on the old course? If you did when you researched your book you probably would've been dealing with super Jim Roney. He did say Ron Whitten got into it with alacrity until either he or the club ran out of time to analyze it. Certainly the USGA Architecture Archive will be most interested in all of it.

[Bob Harris]

Chris:

Last time I checked out Melrose (on site ) with an eye as to what was left of pure Maxwell it seemed like there were only a couple of original greens intact.

I was member in the 1980's and had the opportunity to talk to some of the old-timers about the history of the course.  At present, there are 12 greens that are at the original sites, of them I think the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th and 17th are original greens.  There was debate whether the 7th and 13th are also original.

[Mike_Cirba]

I'm looking at a 1938 aerial of Saucon Valley Old Course and the "Turtle" par three did not exist at that time.   It sure looks like a Maxwell hole to me.

I'm not sure the numbering or sequence....the course always seems to change in that respect.