Patrick:
* from what I’ve seen at courses and from what I have in old aerials and drawings, I’ll try to put the Short bunkering in context - MY opinion.
National: certainly the most complex set of greenside bunkers he built - nothing even close to it (and I’m sure that is by (Macdonald’s) design). In my opinion the bunkers at 6-NGLA “ring” the green - not as symmetrical as are (and were) the other Shorts, but the green is ringed.
The two Shorts at Piping Rock and Creek are far from what they once were and hopefully Tom’s company will make it more like the original at PR - a lot of this usually depends on the club, though. If they are not on board ................................
Creek: as I stated Gil’s master plan recommends the green pad be enlarged to original size, adding material and redoing the green surface. Hopefully they will follow through on our ideas.
Greenwich had a great short that was ruined and it has been “suggested” that one be rebuilt to as close to the original as practicable - that was a great green complex.
Sleepy Hollow: the present 16th was dramatically altered over the years (really bad - I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures) and when we did the course over, over the past couple of years, we got it back to where it was, using the original 1912 photo as a guide, except for a portion of the “ringed” bunkering. We had to leave a walk-on area for this green just around the corner of the left front, trying to hide it from view from the tee-box. We created a pretty large ramp, rear left for mowing and service equipment but this cannot be seen from the tee.
I have no idea how they got the mowing equipment on to the greens on some of those original greens.
ALL the Shorts had tricky internal contours - you were asked to test your short iron play and then there were the testy undulations to deal, with once there.
Let me address the “ringed bunkering” if I may.
With very few exceptions (maybe none) the Short holes were ringed with bunkers - sometimes a single bunker, other times one, two or three bunkers (with separations for walkways mostly). The drawing of these Short holes were usually a squarish green with an outer circle, further out, which represented the “ringing” bunker(s). Generally there was not a detailed version of the bunkering - just a circle or rectangle around the green and it was left to who ever was in charge, on site, to determine what configuration the bunker(s) would end up looking like.
Think of this as an oasis of green in a sandy area.
In the days when these holes were built bunkers were not manicured and people just walked thru the sand on to the green. Over the years, of course, that changed, leading to the separations in the bunkering - usually a direct route right up the front of the green. This led to the look of what may Short have today - (“unintended consequences??”) - an evolution.
Incidently, at Old Macdonald the green is not “ringed” - but you will find, on part of the right front and along the right, a large hockey-stick bunker (probably Marty Brodeur’s goalie stick !!!)that was a natural feature on the ground; fronting the green the is an abrupt rise to the green, creating a difficult situation; a bunker left front corner and another on the left (working the ring around the green); and if you go over the back you might wish you were in a bunker for the green is falling away from you.
I see that green’s protection that way - perhaps Tom or Jim Urbina could add something or correct my thoughts on Old Mac-5th.
Internal features: The doughnut feature was on NGLA 6 - a bit of it on the 1st green at NGLA and it appears there may have been such a feature on NGLA-12 but much of it has been removed (still about half of it there). I think CBM wanted the doughnut on his greens only and I think this evolved into the “horseshoe” on other Short and Biarritz hole built by Raynor and Banks. Some of the evolution may have been dictated by needed surface drainage on heavier soils.
(Why am I writing all this here - now no one will by my book ...................