[Mike_Cirba]

This photo from a recent (in)famous GCA tourney;




This photo of the Hugh Wilson famed design of Cobb's Creek;




Just agree...

Don't make me post the photos of the original 13th at Merion just to slam-dunk this theory.   

Sure....those Midwesterners can play their Provincial Protectionist Politics and claim that the Mighty Jans course is the work of that (transplanted) Midwestern Master of Medinah, one Thomas Bendelow, but I think this absolute photographic proof displayed here shows clearly that without Wilson's influence, and probably direct instruction to Bendelow in almost "paint-by-numbers" fashion, the genius of what we now know, love, and revere as the Reverse Jans course would never have transpired.

I also have a letter in my pocket, that proves this, but right now I'd rather focus on the visual evidence. 

I'd also ask for those staunch, salt-of-the-earth midwesterners still clinging to the theory that Bendelow, or perhaps transplanted Philadelphian Joseph Roseman, had a hand in the Jans course, that they show me the actual passport and Shipping Manifest from Bendelow's arrival, not only in this country, but also show me when he entered the state of Illinois, because frankly, the only one I can find is from at least 2 years after Jans was already mapped, designed, and ready for construction.

That doesn't mean that Bendelow might not have constructed the course to other's plans, however.

After all, who else but Hugh Wilson could have designed something approximating the Semi-Reverse Jans Reverse Alps hole?

I say that because we all know that Wilson's version of the Alps on the original 10th at Merion was so backwards that the fronting hillside was actually the backing hillside.   Given that evidence, who else could have flipped this template concept on its head besides Wilson?

After all, guys like Macdonald were still building redan holes with front to back green slopes.   It took a true revolutionary like Wilson to build just the opposite on his redan on Merion's 3rd.

[Kyle Harris]

Oh Michael,

The photographic evidence is even deeper!

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

This may be bigger than we can both imagine.

Based on your pics, I'm starting to wonder if the Reverse Jans wasn't built as.........gasp.........a replica Cobb's Creek TEMPLATE course!?!?!! 

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

This may be bigger than we can both imagine.

Based on your pics, I'm starting to wonder if the Reverse Jans wasn't built as.........gasp.........a replica Cobb's Creek TEMPLATE course!?!?!! 

You know Mike, Cobb's is reversible....

Or should I not have said that?

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

Yes, I've already figured that out.   

We should get a group to play the Reverse Cobb's before those pesky golfers come back from the winter recess.

The toughest shot I've envisoned is from the 18th fairway to the 17th green, which is something like firing a shot from the uphill slope of Mount Kilamanjaro over the peak to a green located down the other side.

Sort of like a Reverse, Reverse Alps.   

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

Yes, I've already figured that out.   

We should get a group to play the Reverse Cobb's before those pesky golfers come back from the winter recess.

The toughest shot I've envisoned is from the 18th fairway to the 17th green, which is something like firing a shot from the uphill slope of Mount Kilamanjaro over the peak to a green located down the other side.

Sort of like a Reverse, Reverse Alps.   

I think the reverse original 6th would be scary good as well - in fact it could play as a double green to the old 12th as well. Which brings me to a thought I had while playing out there today - how many amazingly good cross-country holes are there on that golf course?

15 tee - 13 green, which by definition is a reverse 14th, but it never touches the 14th hole!

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

It's also extremely Sheep-Ranchable.   

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

It's also extremely Sheep-Ranchable.   

There's a lot of good golf hiding in those woods. I played the old 13th as well........

I think there may be a few Geo. Fazio bunkers out there, as well. Will you be available this weekend?

[Mike_Cirba]

There's a lot of good golf hiding in those woods. I played the old 13th as well........

I think there may be a few Geo. Fazio bunkers out there, as well. Will you be available this weekend?

Kyle,

I thought I was a f*c*ing maniac.

You, my friend, are a F*C*ING MANIAC!!?! 

As I mentioned on the phone the other day, I have a broken bone in my left hand from a fall on the ice and am particularly pissed and ornery.

My ability to play even the reverse, reverse (re: normal) Cobb's Creek Golf course is SEVERELY hampered, although I can walk and presumably chip and putt.

However, 98.9% of the fun of playing a reverse golf course is hitting full shots, and right now, I'm not much able to do that.

Also, we're expecting 6 inches of snow between daybreak Saturday and nightfall.   That might make things a bit more challenging.

Let's talk tomorrow..

[Kyle Harris]

Well, the range was empty and closed. I was playing 7 and decided to poke around back in the woods and found the path to the back of the range. I recall the spot I had picked out to determine the width of the old fairway from our conversation last year and dropped a few balls in that area and tried to get them up toward the green. Even though it was blustery I am still able to carry the 2-iron 200 yards or so and get it over the fence and tree line. It seems that second shot would have called for a full 3 wood and then full wedge approach. The ground is amazingly receptive to approach shots from the far left side of the hole, and I think my location today must have been well left of the ideal line off the tee (if you'll recall I tried to pick a spot 275 yards from the tee). It seems the optimum way to play the tee shot was toward the current 7th fairway, and then hit the second shots away from the 7th green out toward the center of the range. This zigzagging effectively made the hole play a lot longer in reality, especially when factoring the uphill approach.

Amazingly, where that green is approached from today is the absolute worst position for one to hit an approach, and the so-called back bunker really must have been a left bunker.

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

I'm thinking perhaps an annual home/home between Reverse Jans and Reverse Cobbs in perhaps a Ryder Cup format?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Need I say this but I always thought the Reverse Jans was designed by C. B. MacDonald. After all, wasn't he in Chicago about the same  time? Just connect the dots...

[PThomas]

Kyle,

I'm thinking perhaps an annual home/home between Reverse Jans and Reverse Cobbs in perhaps a Ryder Cup format?

January 8, 2009

Mr. Mike Cirba
Philadelphia, USA

Dear Mr. Cirba:

It has come to the attention of the Reverse Jans Golf Club that you has expressed great admiration for the club on some golf website called "GolfClubAtlas" (NOT sic! ; that , for whatever reason, is how the site's name is spelled on its website...perhaps Mr. Morrisett was a poor grammar student and did not always put spaces in between each word as almost every other normal human being does).  I have been instructed by Mr. David Schmidt, Founding Member and Co-President of the Reverse Jans GC, to inform you that you MAY be eligible to join our club as a National Member.  The club just very recently made one Mr. Phil McDade of Wisconsin its first such member (although, it must be noted, that the club's board is reconsidering Mr. Mcdade's status after an apparent incident during the 2nd Reverse Jans Tournament.  However, between you and I, highly and well-placed sources tell me that Mr. McDade will be "cleared" of any possible wrongdoing very soon, even as early as today.)

Therefore, if you might be interested in such a prestigous membership - and , of course, such opportunities are quite limited - pls contact me directly in order to begin the application process.  Again, pls understand that this is only an offer to APPLY for a national membership; your application would undergo a thorough and comprehensive review by Mr. Schmidt and possibly others.  If you are accepted for membership, you would then be contacted by Club Treasurer Mr. Rod Blagojevich to discuss membership fees.  I should also tell you that unlike many other clubs in this recession, the Reverse Jans' membership is flourishing:  our club TRIPLED its membership this past year.  Therefore, our club has actually RAISED our initiation fees in 2009 which, of course, would apply to your membership even though the new year has barely begun (i.e., the Reverse Jans does not believe in any of that "grandfathering in" bullshit.)

The Reverse Jans GC looks forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Paul Thomas
Reverse Jans GC Committee Member

[TEPaul]

Look at you guys----you seem to have been looking for some basic underlying architectural "influence" of "thread" in the old days between Philadelphia and Chicago and you were all doing it in the middle of the night last night. If you guys are looking for "influences" my suggestion is for you all to hie on down to some Main Line gin mill and find your "influences" in a bunch of beers or a bottle of scotch!  

[TEPaul]

Michael Cirba:

As we are proper Philadelphians I should warn you to consider that odd Jans GC membership solicitation at your own risk. Those people out there in the Midwestern region of this continent are a bunch of wild and benighted Indians; always have been!!

By the way, who in the hell are those insane people in those photos above on a frozen putting green? Don't they know that the golf clubs should have been put away into the proverbial closet about two and a half months ago and that this is the season for squash?

[Mike_Cirba]

January 9th, 2009

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Please consider this speedy reply to your gracious invitation to apply to your hollowed club as indicative of my genuine humbled enthusiasm at the thought of someday perhaps not only being able to view the sacred grounds of the Reverse Jans Golf Club in pictures, but to perhaps softly trod across her gentle, flowing fairways. 

I look forward to the inquisit...inquiry into my background and credentials and hope...nay, pray to meet your high standards.

Most Humbly Yours,
Mike

[TEPaul]

David Schmidt:

Have you people out there discovered Christianity yet or are you still into your old pagan ways? Do you still eat with your hands? If so, we cultural purveyors of taste here in Philadelphia will send you some rudimentary knives, forks and spoons. Do you think you can figure out how to use them properly on your own? If not we do have a few "adventurers" around here, namely Cirba, Bausch and Harris. Perhaps they could make the danger-filled trip out there to teach you. Just IM me and they might be there by the springtime. It's a long rough journey you know, and the heathans in this region known as Ohio are some pretty tricky mongrels who will have to be avoided somehow.

[PThomas]

January 9th, 2009

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Please consider this speedy reply to your gracious invitation to apply to your hollowed club as indicative of my genuine humbled enthusiasm at the thought of someday perhaps not only being able to view the sacred grounds of the Reverse Jans Golf Club in pictures, but to perhaps softly trod across her gentle, flowing fairways. 

I look forward to the inquisit...inquiry into my background and credentials and hope...nay, pray to meet your high standards.

Most Humbly Yours,
Mike

Mr. Cirba:

Your prompt and speedy reply can only be considered another plus for your membership application!  On the other had, it has come to our attention that you are associated with one Mr. Tom Paul, who apparently made some disparaging remarks about our GC on that Golf Club Atlas (pls note I spaced properly, unlike the apprently unrefined southerner Mr. Morrisett) website.  It is possible that this association may be overlooked; our Treasurer, Mr. Blaojevich, will discuss with you how such behvavior can be "overlooked".

Also, as you may be aware due to recent items in the national media, Mr. Blagojevich likes to discuss application fees and the such BEFORE such decisions are made, so please do not be surprised if he contacts you asap although he is apparently tied up in some other important business these days which may preclude him for doing so.

I also noted your wish to play the Reverse Jans GC but, again, unlike many/most clubs, the Reverse Jans does NOT allow prospective members to play the course as a "trial run" before membership.  Our membership TRIPLED last year without the Club seeking new members which puts the club in a great position to bascially do whatever the hell it wants/be like one of those "snotty" older, more established clubs.

Best,

PT

[TEPaul]

Mr. Cirba, you do realize, don't you, if you go out to an area like that one in the midwestern region of this continent with an attitude like the one you just exhibited above you will never be able to come home again? WE do not fraternize with those Huns and Mongols. The best you can do is bring a few of them back with you packed in ice so we can perform autopsies on them to see if they have any chance at all of genetic equality some day. But don't get your hopes up. I have been observing this leader of theirs on television----a man or thing known as Bog..., Bog...dan, Bog..devitch or some such name and I do not believe he has progressed yet to the state of basic Homo-sapien! Just check out his pate----it is much too far down his forehead which indicates to me he must be some form of Midwestern Monkey/Man, even if he seems to have developed a rudimentary understanding of the basic barter system.

[Mike_Cirba]

Dear PT my good man,

Consider your recent correspondence understood in full, and until such time as my application for membership is hopefully accepted, please just know that I'll be peering in though the fence; watching in awe at your course while clutching that pearly barbed wire fence with my frostbitten fingers firmly and frigidly fixed to the wrought iron.

Frigidly,
Mike

[TEPaul]

Mr. Cirba:

This has all gotten quite interesting----in an anthropological way of course.

For instance, look at this man who is offering you some kind of club application. He'd developed enough apparently to have had the ingenuity to take my name even though he exhibits some early form of dyslexia as he got it turned around backwards.

And I'm encouraged by the fact that he seems to be thinking about some form of club which means those Indians out there have probably progressed past the point of general "roamers" and "gatherers" and they have begun to experiment with the basic concept of "community."

By the way, Cirba, I do not know who that Indian is with the wild purple and white trousers on in the first photo above but if you find him in that Midwestern region of this continent I'd appreciate it if you'd either kill him or trap him for me. I want those trousers!!! So would you bring them back for me please??

[Mike_Cirba]

Mr. Cirba:

This has all gotten quite interesting----in an anthropological way of course.

For instance, look at this man who is offering you some kind of club application. He'd developed enough apparently to have had the ingenuity to take my name even though he exhibits some early form of dyslexia as he got it turned around backwards.

And I'm encouraged by the fact that he seems to be thinking about some form of club which means those Indians out there have probably progressed past the point of general "roamers" and "gatherers" and they have begun to experiment with the basic concept of "community."

Tom Paul,

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I believe I'm gaining their trust and have almost infiltrated their herd.  Don't blow my cover. 

I feel like Jane Goodall.

[TEPaul]

"Tom Paul,

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"


Cirba, my good man, what is the matter with you? Have your lips frozen?

[Adam Clayman]

In regards to the McDade alleged indiscretion, I can personally verify that his actions were in deed not an indiscretion, but, an imperative if one is to play according to time honored traditions at Canal Shores. As matter of fact, failure to attempt the supposed indiscretion is in fact an indiscretion. As such, it is this objective observer's opinion that McDade should be entitled to any refund of initiation and dues making him a lifelong member emeritus gratis.

TePaul, Do the sophisticates use the good silver whilst consuming this indigenous sustenance?

[TEPaul]

"I feel like Jane Goodall."


I'm extremely sorry to hear that Cirba. Is there anything I can do before it's too late? If not, it has been nice knowing you and it is both my hope and my wish that someday you too will be inducted into the Anthropolgists Hall of Fame.

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