Heard that you were shaping bunkers for Tom Doak and Jim Urbina nowadays. That's great. Look me up when you visit next. The course has improved a lot since the mid-80's.
Dunlop,
I was considering stopping in Winston as part of my
Unemployment 2009 Tour and having a chance to see more of those photos you have may pull me in that direction.
And yeah, I have done a good deal shaping work for Tom Doak over the last 10 years, and often even a little bit more than bunkers.
I learned a lot from Tom and from all the guys that work for him including Brian Schneider, Brian Slawnik, Eric Iverson, Don Placek, Bruce Hepner and Jim Urbina. Hopefully someday there will be another opportunity!
As for those photos of 15, they really show an amazingly different and much more interesting 15th hole! Kind of a more dramatic and difficult version of 16 at Augusta, and a few decades preceding Augusta's. That would be really cool if you could bring that back along with some renovation/restoration.
I was at Old Town for the Wake Pro Am in about 2000 and remember being stunned by some of the changes ot the bunkers. Stepping on #2 tee I did not know whether to laugh or cry at the ring of circles around the green. Things were a lot rougher in the 80's, but I much preferred the look then.
The other hole that really stood out was 7. The tee shot when we were in school was pretty intimidating over the big mess of bunker in front of the fairway, especially into the wind.
The bunkers now are really out of scale and visually generic. I know the tee shots go further today and the bunkers may not come into play for the college kids anymore, but If you could get the bunkers to return to a look in tune with your early photos I think those two holes (if done right) would be great examples of how the original visual style of bunker really affects the psychological impact of playing the holes. Plus, it would look so much better!