Vern Morcom was a prolific architect and worked a lot in South Australia too - he redesigned Glenelg when the club lost the land to the new airport immediately post WW2. He designed the Grange east course in the 1960s and also the Blackwood GC course in the 1950s. As Clayts said, his dogleg holes were definitely his weakness and the angles are too sharp and usually bend too close to the tee. He was in the good but not great category. But the bunkers he built at Kingston Heath - he was the man on the ground for his father who had the responsibility for implementing Mac's bunker plan (and varying from it where he thought fit) - are perhaps his finest legacy.
Blackwood was built in the early 1960's (land purchase in 1961 for 7,500 pounds less the cost of a life membership, course design was in June 1961) . Vern's hand-drawn and painted routing is hanging in the clubhouse - rescued from the bowels of the clubhouse a few years ago. It is a thing of beauty, and it is a pity that the Club was not able to follow the original design, and to maintain the bunkers (not easy, given heavy winter rains and heavy clay soil). Whilst the comments on Vern's designs generally hold true (particularly about doglegs), his strategy was sound. Often, his courses were routed over very small acreages, with peculiar landforms which limited routing options.
Hole #7 could have been (still could be) a good one as a par 4, or as a legitimate 2-shot hole. Instead, it is a tricked-up approach to masquerade as a par-5. The drawing is spectacular, but alas the hole was never quite built as designed. Apparently there were also hand-drawn sketches of the original greens that were works of art, but the Club has been unable to locate them.
The last of the original greens went under after nearly 50 years service, just 12 months ago. Note that Vern designed the course, but it was built (literally) by the members. It is truly a herculean effort by the founders, just a pity that Vern was in Melbourne 450 miles away and distance was a tyrant then, so he couldn't give guidance as the actual course construction occurred. For obvious reasons, Vern's bunkers were better in his home state in Victoria.
Vern was paid 110 Pounds plus hotel accomodation plus travelling expenses for his work. A contour map was sent to him before his visit, and he pegged tees, shot points and green positions (unfortunately, not bunker locations apparently), and supplied an overall layout showing tee shapes, fairways, greens, bunkers, mounds, grassy hollows and necessary tree plantations. That layout is the plan now hanging in the clubhouse. I suspect the founders misplaced the plan when the tree planting occurred, just as they misplaced it on a couple of other decisions. Separate plans were to be provided for each green with sketches showing the finished appearance, and a report oin the method of construction, grassing etc. These latter green sketches and construction report seem to still be hiding somewhere, hopefully to be revealed one day.
James B
PS note that #15 was only in pencil on the map. Apparently, that was Vern's 'swing hole' which he would fit depending on what and how the land fell. If you have visited Blackwood, you would probably understand the challenges Vern (and the founders) faced in routing the course through some 80 or so acres of usable ground, plus the peculiar issues of having prime land taken up as an oval. Doglegs made the routing of 18 holes easier, with a par of 70. The founders found a way to make a par 72 (7 and 18 became par 5's, although they would both be better holes (even today) as par 4's in my opinion. The two holes where the members have the most challenge finding the fairway are 7 and 18 - not surprising given the tees were pushed back from the planned location!