Where does one begin when so much misinformation is asserted?
A full presentation of the proposed changes was made to the membership at a meeting to which all were invited.
The Green Committee which includes some members who have played the courses at Olympic for more than fifty years spent nearly a full year in conversation with the architect and the Green staff. They interviewed countless members, including Mr Stewart, and they consulted hundreds of historical photographs. The final decision, by the Board of Directors, was made after reviewing the recommendations of the Green Committee and input from the membership.
Some points need to be made:
The decision to modify the eighth hole at this time (recommendations for such a modification have been made by numerous architects and critics over the last forty years) was made because the replacement of all greens made the construction convenient. The design was not influenced in consideration of the upcoming US Open, other than a concern that the Bent grass conversion needed to take place well in advance of that event.
The re-design of the eighth hole was not influenced by changes proposed for the seventh, but rather the changes to the eighth once agreed to made it possible to consider possible changes to the seventh green and the ninth tee.
The change of the seventh green to a two tier layout from the tight three tier configuration was actually restorative! The third tier had been added not that many years ago, and as Mr Stewart acknowledges, the three tier arrangement was frequently criticized by players not least distinguished of which was multi-time champion Randy Haag.
While it is true that length has been added to several of the course's par threes over the last few years, the tee complexes have been designed to allow significant variation in tee position. Thus, from day to day a hole's length might change by as much as thirty yards, and in a multi day tournament such as the Club Championship one might find these holes calling for very different club selections.
It can actually be argued that Willie Watson and early Green Keeper Sam Whiting would have used the routing now built if they could have moved dirt as effortlessly as modern equipment allows.
Finally, for Mr Stewart to demean the ability and qualifications of respected industry professionals in an off handed manner is unconscionable. Mr Love consistently displayed respect for the integrity of the Lake golf course spending countless hours with our Club historian, Pat Finlen has been honored by his peers and by the California Golf Writers for his contributions to agronomy, and Frontier has done remarkable work throughout the United States in restoring classic golf courses. In particular, they were chosen for this project because of their extensive experience and expertise in GPS measurement and restoration of contours (something absolutely vital in our effort to maintain slope integrity when reconstructing our greens).
As President of the Donald Ross Society, I might be expected to hold fast for tradition and turn a cold eye on renovation as opposed to restoration, but my primary focus is on design philosophy and strategic intent as opposed to blind adherence to old measurements. The old that is strong may not whither, but not all that is old should be worshipped.
I hope that all of you, including Mr Stewart, have a chance to play these holes in the context of a full round and suggest that until you have done so, you might reserve judgement.