Matt and Mike Sweeney:
My work at the Knoll was completed last fall. Greenside bunkers had been done and the last part of the restoration was the fairway bunkering - again, now complete, so any reference to “but the folks in charge have draaaaaaaged their feet for too long” Matt, is not true.
Even the cart paths, totally destroyed over the past two years, have been completely done over.
The course condition is very good although, if I had more power, they would be a little bit better.
I’ve changed the mowing patterns and most of the collars have been expanded in the on-going green expansion issues. Many of the greens have been expanded to where they should be already.
A couple years ago “they” (a-hmm) lost a couple greens and some fairway areas so the super is very leery about cutting the greens down to where I would like them to be (sounds pretty familiar?). Considering the undulations on the greens at The Knoll, and after playing there for the past 35-years, if you have the greens anything over 10.5 they are near impossible to play on. It’s not a case of losing too many pin placements - that not a problem for the greens average about 8,000 ft, it’s the dramatic undulations as well as the mounds in some of the greens.
So, he will occasionally roll them after cutting them down to “his” safe speed and they are really fun to putt on. Even now they are fine - it’s just me ..... I just like fast greens with bold undulations.
I’ve been fighting this green speed issue for a long time.
I’d love to have Essex County’s course with the Knoll’s greens.
BTW: Essex County (East- private) was Banks built to the Raynor Banks plans (less a ton of fairway bunkers never installed) while the West course (now Francis Byrne) was totally designed and built by Banks (now a shadow of original course).
An interesting story about the berms on the Knoll’s fairway bunkers:
For years it “bothered” me that the fairway bunker berms had such a low profile - never that usual dramatic look I’ve seen on other Raynor/Banks courses.
There were stones partially sticking out of the top of many of the fairway bunker berms when I started the last phase of the restoration. Stripping off the berm’s vegetation disclosed that Banks (or the construction crews) had built the basic shape of the berms with rocks and debris from construction. Apparently they just added topsoil on top of the stones and planted the grass.
Over the years the soil filtered down through the stones, lowering the overall profile of the fairway bunker berms - which is why they seems so low-profile to me.
Soooooooooooooooooo (Matt Ward-ian) I raised most of the berms dramatically to where they would “normally” have been - or better, where they usually are on other Banks courses.
So now you have some pretty good drama on fairway bunkers and added to that the depth I had already taken the greenside bunkers to (their original depth), the course plays as it should.
The only thing I have left to do is to get the course up to 7,000 yds, adding a number of new tees. I’m not sure why I’m even bothering because everyone, include the better players, usually end up playing the “plates” anyhow (pussies!).
In all fairness if you play the Knoll from the present “tips” - 6,752 yds - you really have your hands full. Even the “plates” are tough at just under 6,500 yds.
My new tee plans lengthening #2 - #5 - #8 - #9 - #11 - #14 - #15 by about 50 yards - #16 and #18 shifting it back and to the right, making it about 465 - 470.
Mike, right now they are letting carts all over the course so you might have hit a “bad” day.
I think Whippoorwill might have been the most interesting of Banks courses but you have to understand, the greens were lost during the depression (maybe more than once) and certainly do not have the dramatic undulations they probably once had.
Matt - GET UP THERE AND TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE COURSE AND STOP TELLING ME WHAT ONE DAY THE KNOLL MIGHT BE - IT"S DONE!
Call me and I tour you.
