Report from Hotchkiss (Raynor - with an assist from George Bahto)

[ChipOat]

I had the pleasure of visiting with GCA member Jim Kennedy and playing the nine hole course at Hotchkiss School designed by Seth Raynor (it's also where he met Steam Shovel Banks).

Without reviewing individual holes so as not to bore those who haven't played it, I have a few general observations that focus on the golf architecture.

First, due to a very limited maintenance budget, the fairways are in the condition that ALL golf courses were in circa 1926 (e.g. Merion, etc.).  That is, unwatered and unkempt.  Nowadays, most would refer to it as a "cow pasture except for the greens".  Who cares?  The fairway is still a better place for the tee ball than anywhere else and the lies weren't all that bad - just not pristine.  I hope the current recession makes Maidstone re-think the necessity of putting in a watering system (if they haven't already done it).

Second, since the same limited budget precludes any fairway bunkering, it makes one realize that a set of great green complexes and reasonable ground to work with (i.e. no Mickey Mouse holes) is all that's needed to have a really fine golf course.  Not a "great" course, but certainly plenty good.  Put another way, if you put lousy, boring, poorly maintained greens on Merion or Pine Valley, etc., who would think they were great courses?  Not that routing, strategy, length, wind and scenery don't matter, but Hotchkiss doesn't have much else going for it except seven marvelous and well-maintained Raynor, one marvelous Bahto and one good Banks green/bunker complex.  What a treat to play every day!  There's a reason the original superintendents were call "greens keepers" - that's all they were really expected to take great pains to maintain!

Third, also for budget reasons, the Hotchkiss greens Stimp at about 8, or so.  Like Merion West, they are proof-positive that undulating, contoured Golden Era greens don't have to be super fast to be challenging.

Fourth, Jim showed me a 1934 aerial photograph and, like Yale, it's striking how much of the original footpad of all the greens have been lost to lazy mowing over the years.  They're still not small (George's green is downright huge) but most of them looked NGLA-sized as originally built.  Unfortunately, the USGA agronomists have determined that not enough good grass remains to reclaim the lost areas without reconstruction.  That's not in a high school's budget, I'm afraid.

If you're in or near northwestern CT, Hotchkiss is worth a side trip to have a fine Raynor/Bahto experience plus a great conversation and a frozen Snickers bar on the front porch with Jim.

[Mike_Cirba]

Chip,

Thanks for the report.

Hotchkiss sounds absolutely wonderful...the type of very simple yet profound golf that we've gotten too far away from...

I'm hopeful I can see it before too long.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Chip,
Glad you had a nice time and I hope the big galoot you played with added to your enjoyment.
The greens were a lot larger but triplex mowing, among other things, has shrunken a green like #5 in half. It was around 6,000, but it's now around 3300 sq'. George's green (#4) is around 4,300. That one hasn't lost too much yet.   
I think the biggest loss of putting surface happened on the 3rd. It once measured in the 7,000+ range, but now it's a 3,000 sq.' circle.

Mike,
Chip's post gets it right, and at $14.00 for 9 holes who'd complain?  Stop by if you're ever in the neighborhood.

[ChipOat]

My threads usually do better than this one so I brought it back up in hopes George Bahto would see it.

[John Foley]

Chip & Jim,

Thanks for keeping this on everyone's radar.

Hotchkiss is one of those places that most would never have dreamed about playing. 9 holer, middle of nowhere?? Why??

Because it's Raynor!!! Come one - But the bones are there - you can feel the architecture. It's the stuff that we should be.

How many 100% public courses are out there thatr can claim raynor's lineage?

Stopping on the porch to see Jim was a highlight.

BTW - Love the green George did.

[George_Bahto]

Chip - isn’t Hotchkiss special?      A step back in time

It’s pretty slow going there - golf is way down on the School’s list but Jim Kennedy keeps plugging away. We have great documentation about the course and what Raynor built ans what Banks did later.

Concerning the green I built (quite a few years ago):

You should have seen the original green a small round thing that Seth inherited from the original course. It was severely tilted is was near unplayable to and near unputtable - however, while I was working there Jim and I spent a lot of time putting on this overly-slanted green - crazy putting.

The school was expanding the building that housed the music department and the old green was going to be too close so I built a version of one of my favorites Raynor/Banks greens, the Hog’s Back green.

I’d have to think about it, but I don’t remember CBM building one.

The green is to have a distinct ridge through it - sometimes fairly straight but often a bit angled. One the green is higher than the other, ridge between and if you are on the wrong side of the ridge you are faced with one fun putt.

Also at Hotchkiss we raised a large portion of the ninth fairway where the second shot landing area was so tilted, your ball might end up in the adjacent pond. It works fine now. The ninth is a Road hole.

I would love to finish this course - chump-chance wold do it but we cant get the $$ (yet).

4 green:

[Tim Gavrich]

Having had my greatest high school golf triumph (shooting 70 on a day when my Westminster team shot an all-time low score and beat Taft, Avon Old Farms and Hotchkiss) there, I for one would love to see more pictures of the course if those in possession are amenable.  Otherwise, I might just have to make the hour's trip from Avon myself (which I might do in the next week anyway)!

[ChipOat]

George:
 
Three things:

First, if you had the $$, what would you do to "finish" the course?

Second, I understand how, after your work (that Jim had also told me about), #9 does have some Road Hole strategy down the right side and (sort of) a Road Bunker-type penalty left of the green.  However, my opinion is that the hole sits on a terrible piece of property and, as a result, it still plays as a "lay-up + lay-up + approach" par 5 as there's no room to miss left off the tee with a Driver.  Not a criticism - nothing else you could have done - even with all the $$$ in the world.  Jim says it was REALLY a terrible hole before you got there.

Finally, the third green was originally 6000 square feet??  Guess I didn't look at Jim's 1934 aerial closely enough.

[George_Bahto]

Chip, what I would do to the Hotchkiss course. Wow

I would re-establish as much of the original Raynor bunkering as feasible most of which has been lost. I would improve the course a bit strategically but most importantly keeping the course with the feeling we get now when we visit - a step back in time.

You cannot restore the course as built - some of the original course is in other use now.

The present 7th green has been moved, shortening the hole.

The present 4th hole was originally a medium length par-4 and is now down to a par-3 - school building expansions.

So we now have this present configuration:

* three par-3s, two of which are original holes - the 5th a Short and the 8th was is an Eden - the 2nd hole is      the shortened par-4
* one par-5, the present 7th was inspired by the Long hole at St Andrews (now bunkerless)
* that leaves five par-4s
   * an opening hole, par-4
   * the 3rd hole, the Alps
   * the 4th (where I built the new green)
   * the 6th par 4 with great green
   * the 9th with the Road-hole style green


The original greens were the usual huge putting surfaces Raynor built - now all just small circles cut by tri-plex.

Leaving the fairway not irrigated would not bother me much if I were able to expand the greens out to their original size and have the greens in excellent condition with the original greenside bunkering. There are major drainage problem on the Hotchkiss site, the runoff coming off the road to the left and of the first and 18th holes as well as the Short hole #5 where we had down some drainage work (not sure it has all been addressed - water from the tee down to the green was a river during heavy rains and ran into the bunkering).

With bounding fairways and great large greens, I think we’d have a pretty good course.

The conditions under the greens is a disaster and I’m not sure this can be solved without totally rebuilding the greens and their drainage.

I would love to see the greens rebuilt because at that time I would re-contour them with more typical Raynor-like internal contours. Blah greens - the 9th, the 7th. The short holes are OK but could use a bit of a tune up.

I would love to see a dedicated (DEDICATED!!) maintenance crew that would take pride in what they were doing.

Chip, about the 9th: I’m not sure what more can be done to the hole, tee to green (aside from properly draining the landing area. The second half of the hole is very narrow and tilted left, yes - but you should have seen it before we built up the 2nd shot landing area. It is what it is! But I feel the green complex can be very interesting if done over - the green, not the greenside bunkering. It is hard to keep surface water from falling into the right strip bunker because of the severe slope from above.

oh yes - I’d build Jim Kennedy a new pro shop - his rivaled the Old NGLA pro shop!!

For those who are not familiar with the Hotchkiss course history, there was original a rudimentary “course” there built by H. R. Pryde in 1911. Hotchkiss alumnae Scott Probasco playing over the old course in 1923 felt the course, “now shortened and mutilated by construction of roads and buildings ,” was not suitable for the boys for the boys of the school so he offered $3,000 for a new course if the school could come up with matching funds.

Raynor was now building Yale, and the Hotchkiss School a feeder to Yale University, it was not hard to imagine not hiring Raynor for the new course.

I’m not sure Raynor even charged for his work but if he did it would not have been much. This is where he met Charles Banks (English teacher for 17 years), soon after taking him on as an associate then a partner.

The Raynor 9-hole course was originally 3312-yards and wanders around the campass.


Aren’t there any “angles” out there?? open up those pockets - we have a good course here

[George_Bahto]

9th green - practice green fronting Jim's pro shop

[Jaeger Kovich]

I will never forget playing Hotchkiss, especially #9... Had a high school tourny there and made a 12! Hit 2 irons straight OB right and then duffed it up the fairway from the bottom of the hill! Not so good! The kid on the Hotchkiss team had his father following us, driving his Ferarri up the road as we walked the fairways.

I never would have known it was a Raynor course until I saw a list of his work, but forgot again until today. I but I do remember a lack of fairway bunkers and some pretty "different" playing conditions... talk about chasing the little white ball across a cow pasture!

[John Foley]

Here are some pics from a visit a few summers back (need to go back again!!)

Hole #1 from landing area



Green #1




Green #3 (I think ??)



Green #3 close up w/ swale



Green @ 4th w/ 5th in back





Great green on 6th



??

[Jim_Kennedy]

John,
Your photo, "Green #3 ?", is of number 2. It used to have two teeing areas and played as a par 3 and a short par 4. a building project caused removal of the back tee, so it's now just a par 3 of around 170. George saved that hole by using the existing green and giving it a whole new surround.

Your photo "??"  is of number 8, the Eden.

Chip,
I'm happy to see that you didn't like the 9th on your first play!  The 'REALLY' terrible part of the hole, fixed by George, was a landing area that funneled every shot to the pond.

[ChipOat]

George and/or Jim,

Since golf course construction is a sub-set of golf architecture, would one/ both of you mind fleshing out George's observation that "the conditions under the grass are a disaster" in more detail?

[Jon Wiggett]

Fourth, Jim showed me a 1934 aerial photograph and, like Yale, it's striking how much of the original footpad of all the greens have been lost to lazy mowing over the years.  They're still not small (George's green is downright huge) but most of them looked NGLA-sized as originally built.  Unfortunately, the USGA agronomists have determined that not enough good grass remains to reclaim the lost areas without reconstruction.  That's not in a high school's budget, I'm afraid.

If the lost portions of the greens have the same subsurface as the remaining greens area it should be possible to reclaim the lost areas with the appropriate programme of mowing and overseeding.

[ChipOat]

Jon,

That doesn't seem to be the case, according to the USGA agronomists.  Hopefully, Jim and George will give us some details on that, too.

[George_Bahto]

Chip - I’m not an agronomist and would certainly rely on the USGA reports and reports by other “experts” in the field  as to what to do to the greens.

There has always been a great deal of wash coming of the hills around the course and on to a lot of the greens so I would assume there would be a silt and/or layering problem there.

Adding to this would be that lack of proper aeration and poor drainage under the greens.

Personally, I think they could be reclaimed, especially if we could get someone in there to drain these greens properly.

I think it all could be done with not a lot of money, if you were not going to gut the greens.




Here is the Alps hole.  Note how far the green (will) can be expanded front right and front left.  Tons of room for green expansion all the way to the P-Bowl berms behind and to the left and right of the green.

When I first saw this green in late 80's - early 90's it was so overgrown on the sides and rear of the green and the green itself may have been all of 3,000 - sf

also note the prototypical two ridges running thru the green, side to side




The great 6th green is the “funnest” green to putt on, on the course.

[Tim Martin]

I had the good fortune today to meet our own Jim Kennedy and get it around the very cool and quirky Hotchkiss School Golf course. If there is a more accommodating and personable golf pro than Jim I have yet to meet him. The templates are out there and although the greens are not as big as the originals there is no mistaking that this is Raynor`s work. This is quite a walk and it takes you all over the campus. My only regret was that I didn`t have the time to head back to # 1 tee and do it again. Can`t wait to get back.

[David Harshbarger]

I too had the good fortune to meet Jim Kennedy today as we made the trip over to Hotchkiss for a lovely early spring, wind blown round with the boys.

The photos on the thread just don't do justice to how dramatic these greens are.  For $15, you get to play into 9 excellent green sites.  John Foley's photo of 8 doesn't do justice to this dramatic hole.  The hole is listed at 188, and the tee must be 40' above the green, which sits across a little valley with exposed lime stone formations about.  The green is so large, and the shelf back left so prominent, the green looks like a giant mitt waiting for the pitch. Holes like this make for wonderful shots.

The Short at 5 is reminiscent of the Short at Sleepy Hollow, in that the hole is framed by the open view of a lake down the hill in the distance.  Unlike Sleepy Hollow, the sand that fronts the green isn't visible from the tee.  The green has shrunk in from the sides, which if reversed would wonderfully serve to accentuate the shallow green through the great width.

Also throughout the course are rock outcroppings small and large.  These well accentuate the mountain terrain, and reinforce the idea that the many spines and ridges that run through the greens may be native features.  The spline that runs through 2 ties in with the "nose" in the right front quite well, and suggests it is just a natural feature.

Jim, as Tim noted, was very gracious, and thanks to my unusual last name, was able to place me as a GCAer, ere I'd have left without sharing a few moments relishing his fine course.

Oh, and there's a wonderful diner just west ofnHotchkiss, in Millerton, NY, worth the stop.

[Jim_Kennedy]

David,
It was a pleasure meeting you and your two sons and I'm glad you all had a good time on Monday, and that we figured out who we were.       

It would be nice to think that the spines, ridges and and humps in the greens were all natural features or extensions of same, but the pads are 'built', so there goes that theory.  The only greensite where that may hold true is #8, it sits on an outcropping of ledge and I imagine the site in its natural state made it easy for Raynor  to choose an Eden as the basis for the hole.

When it re-warms up I'll make the trip up to see Battenkill CC. It looks like a most pleasant place to play.

[Jim_Kennedy]

David,
Here are a couple of shots that will hopefully add some further dimension to the 8th.

A view from ground level (between the upper tee box and the green) on the line of play. The drop off to the right of the green (right side of the photo) will leave a player 10+ feet below the playing surface.



This view is from the left side of the green. The area on the lower left side of the photo was a bunker, but it drained poorly and was filled in. It's still no picnic recovering from that position. If you happened to look over the back of the green, the high section in the photo, you would have seen the big cobble it's perched on.
 

[Matt MacIver]

My dad went back a few years ago for a reunion and raved about the renovations, am hoping to go back with him at some point and see for myself.

[Bill_McBride]

  There's a reason the original superintendents were call "greens keepers" - that's all they were really expected to take great pains to maintain!

Chip, I think they were really called "greenkeepers" which referred to ALL the mown grass, as in "through the green," "green fees," and "green committee."

Just my thought after being puzzled about being on the "green committee."

[David Harshbarger]

Jim,

Thanks for those additional photos and of course, looking forward to showing you my course this summer.  If nothing else, it is a pleasant place.

Reflecting back on Hotchkiss vs. Yale, I'd put Hotchkiss' Eden 8th up against Yale's 15th as a more engaging version, even with the poorly draining bunker at Hotchkiss.  

For the Short, I'd give the nod to Yale's 5th over Hotchkiss' 5th, even though the Hotchkiss 5th has the beautiful framing of the lake below.  The bunkering at Yale is more dramatic, which sets it apart.

Hotchkiss' 1st, which doesn't really have a good comparison at Yale, except maybe the 8th, would be welcome on any course, especially if the long fairway bunker (that I found, naturally) was reclaimed.  It is a stern uphill 400+ yard par 4, where the direct line pulls you directly along side the grassed fairway bunker.  The safe play is off the line of charm right, but too far right and the hill feeds the ball down and away, leaving an even more treacherous approach uphill, ball below feet.  The green is protected left with a bunker, and right, with a 10-15' grassed bank to a grassed shelf. All-in-all an excellent hole.

Great find, and definitely worth a stop.

[Tim Martin]

Jim,

Thanks for those additional photos and of course, looking forward to showing you my course this summer.  If nothing else, it is a pleasant place.

Reflecting back on Hotchkiss vs. Yale, I'd put Hotchkiss' Eden 8th up against Yale's 15th as a more engaging version, even with the poorly draining bunker at Hotchkiss.  

For the Short, I'd give the nod to Yale's 5th over Hotchkiss' 5th, even though the Hotchkiss 5th has the beautiful framing of the lake below.  The bunkering at Yale is more dramatic, which sets it apart.

Hotchkiss' 1st, which doesn't really have a good comparison at Yale, except maybe the 8th, would be welcome on any course, especially if the long fairway bunker (that I found, naturally) was reclaimed.  It is a stern uphill 400+ yard par 4, where the direct line pulls you directly along side the grassed fairway bunker.  The safe play is off the line of charm right, but too far right and the hill feeds the ball down and away, leaving an even more treacherous approach uphill, ball below feet.  The green is protected left with a bunker, and right, with a 10-15' grassed bank to a grassed shelf. All-in-all an excellent hole.

Great find, and definitely worth a stop.

Dave-Tell me where you see similarities between 8 at Yale and 1 at Hotchkiss. Aside from them both being par 4`s and on the outward nine I am missing the comparison.