Lake Merced 8th

[James Bennett]

You would have thought the club would have told the architect at the time to save this hole at all costs. Sadly that didn't happen.

You would equally have thought that the architect might have suggested this to the club.  However, not all clubs and not all architects share the same love for these classics.  The hole was probably too hard, or the bunkers didn't drain, or they were too hard to maintain, or ....  I'm sure you have heard all of these before Neil, more so than I would ever wish to hear.

James B

[Tom Naccarato]

As someone that lives in California and know how Californians think when it comes to great golf architecture and design, you have to understand that anything challenging--something that actually takes you to task in playing the sport, that it was going to make one think, well, then it wasn't going to last long.

We have a lot of clueless people in this state, and even though we had a lot of really good people building and designing courses, if it made people think then it was going to stand about as much chance of survival as a Bloomingdale's in Compton.

[Mike Golden]

As someone that lives in California and know how Californians think when it comes to great golf architecture and design, you have to understand that anything challenging--something that actually takes you to task in playing the sport, that it was going to make one think, well, then it wasn't going to last long.

We have a lot of clueless people in this state, and even though we had a lot of really good people building and designing courses, if it made people think then it was going to stand about as much chance of survival as a Bloomingdale's in Compton.

Tommy, at the time of the 1964 renovation I have the feeling the Lake Merced membership was not the most educated when it came to golf course architecture as well as the appreciation of what made golf courses great.  I've been told the membership was more interested in only spending the money paid by the State in exchange for the land and didn't want to spend any more-most of it was spent on the clubhouse and very little on the golf course.  It was also at a time where historical preservation wasn't a priority for most golf courses, look at how many were changed during that time period.  The time to put the golf course back to a mostly original configuration was in 1996, it was just about 5 years out of sync because the priority then was to get a major USGA event rather than reclaim the greatness of the past.  If it had been in the early 2000's, after lots of renovations had been started by other clubs and some of us at Lake Merced had that knowledge, it could have been different.

[Tom Naccarato]

Mike, I think we are pretty much in agreement and yes, the 1960's was a killer time for golf in California. (as far as classic architecture was concerned.)(Probably just as much the late 1940's-1950's)

[Bill_McBride]

Mike, I think we are pretty much in agreement and yes, the 1960's was a killer time for golf in California. (as far as classic architecture was concerned.)(Probably just as much the late 1940's-1950's)

Don't forget the big chunk carved out of Crystal Springs (H. Fowler  ) by the construction of I-280.

280 was the killer.  How many courses did it impact?  For starters, Lake Merced, SFGC (?), Cal Club, Crystal Springs..  any more?