[Joe Bausch]

A couple of weeks ago I had the distinct pleasure of visiting another Flynn course, Lancaster CC in Lancaster, PA.  In 2015 the "Flynn 18" will be on display for the US Women's Open.

Here is some of the history of Lancaster from the GAP web site:

By 1915 the club had become so popular that the membership was closed at 280. Immediately following World War I some 65 additional acres were acquired. In December, 1919, William Flynn was hired to lay out nine new holes and remodel the existing nine. Flynn, then the 29-year-old head greenkeeper at Merion, had worked alongside Hugh Wilson in the construction of Merion’s East and West courses and would, over the next 25 years, establish himself as one of America’s outstanding golf course architects.

Work began under Flynn’s direction in the spring of 1920. The new course was playable early in the summer of 1921, after rock-picking-up parties of members and caddies helped clear the new fairways. Flynn was paid $44.92 per month for the ten months required of his time and genius.

Particularly worth noting is that, three months after Flynn accepted this assignment, H. Roy Eshelman was elected to the board of governors and not long afterwards appointed to the post of grounds committee chairman. Though consistently declining to accept the presidency, Eshelman nevertheless ran the club for the next 25 years, a benevolent dictator in the tradition of Charles Blair Macdonald, William Fownes, and John Arthur Brown.

Obviously with great regard and respect for one another, Eshelman and Flynn worked hand in glove to create the superb golf facility that Lancaster Country Club members would come to enjoy in the years that lay ahead. Flynn actually served as a consultant to the club from 1919 till he died in 1945, always on a retainer and providing continuous service. He even established a turf farm on Roy Eshelman’s property, adjacent to the course, where he cultivated bent grass sod. It is safe to say that Eshelman took full advantage of Flynn’s frequent trips to Lancaster and made no alterations to the golf holes without the architect’s thinking and support.

Below is the routing, using a 2005 Google aerial where clearly the water in the creek was a bit high!  I was amazed at the elevation changes at LCC, and how well they were utilized.  And it was easy as pie to walk.  

[Joe Bausch]

#1. Lancaster starts out with a nice, gentle, par 4 (434 yards).

[Joe Bausch]

#2.  A dogleg left par 4 (377 yards).

[Joe Bausch]

#3.  A 'down then up' par 4, the tee from a very elevated, scenic spot.

[Joe Bausch]

#4.  A very interesting par 4 (396 yards) with the creek in play all over!  The green is tucked up into a small hill to the right.

[Joe Bausch]

#5.  A slight dogleg left par 4 (392 yards) with a downhill 2nd shot to the green fronted by a creek.

[Joe Bausch]

#6.  A 178 yard par 3 with the creen in play left of the green.  The first photo shows the tee perched behind the 5th green.

[Joe Bausch]

#7.  A par 5 (490 from the back tees in the first photo, and 520 from the elevated championship tee in the 2nd pic).

[Joe Bausch]

#8.  A slightly uphill par 3 (198 yards).

[Joe Bausch]

#9.  A gently climbing par 4 (424 yards) that returns to the clubhouse.  I'll post the back nine tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, enjoy the wonderful first nine holes.   

[Eric Smith]

Beautiful Joe.  I can see why Jim was so enamored with the place.  Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't LCC sort of remind you of Merion?  Particularly the holes with the meandering creek.

[TEPaul]

Hey Joe, what's going on with you? Are you on some kind of William Flynn appreciation tour?

Maybe you should write a book about the guy. I can start you off by telling you he was one helluva golf architectural prodigy. He designed a course in Heartwellville, Vt in 1893 when he was 2 1/2 years old. Unfortunately it's gone now and all the old copies of the Heartwellville Times Leader newspaper have gone missing too (when they tried to digitize them back in '29 they just up and exploded in a cloud of smoke) so it's pretty hard to document the above with complete certainty.  

[Joe Bausch]

Hey Joe, what's going on with you? Are you on some kind of William Flynn appreciation tour?

Maybe you should write a book about the guy. I can start you off by telling you he was one helluva golf architectural prodigy. He designed a course in Heartwellville, Vt in 1893 when he was 2 1/2 years old. Unfortunately it's gone now and all the old copies of the Heartwellville Times Leader newspaper have gone missing too (when they tried to digitize them back in '29 they just up and exploded in a cloud of smoke) so it's pretty hard to document the above with complete certainty.  

Tom, nobody has written a book on Flynn
yet, right?  Whaddaya say me and you do
one?

[mike_malone]

 #4 and #7 would seem to me to be consistent with Flynn's "creek" manifesto. #4 is diagonal for the tee shot and not a factor for the approach. #7 is also diagonal for the tee shot with an option to play away from the water on the approach.

[JNagle]

#6 also has the creek parallel to play.  Thankfully, they took down a large Sycamore left and forward of the tee so you can actually see the feature.  Will be interesting to hear from Rory C. as to how it now plays without the tree.  We suspected harder for the left pin placements.  Also, the 7th originally played with the Conestoga to the right and not crossed diagonally.  It was not until after WWII that holes 3-6 were in play and therefore the diagonal tee shot for #7.  #7 did play with a stream crossing the approach to the green prior to the current pond.  The same creek crosses in front of the downhill par 3 12th. 

Pictures forthcoming.

[mike_malone]

 Even though Flynn had to come back from the dead I like what he did to create the diagonal on #7.

[JNagle]

Mayday,

The course was planned and routed before Flynn passed away.  I left that out to see if anyone would jump on that.  You sly fox, we can't get anything past you!!!!!  The hole is a little more challenging playing from the elevated "straight" tee rather than the diagonal. 

[mike_malone]

 Of all of the Flynns that I have played I think LCC has the strongest set of par fours.

[JNagle]

Agreed!  10 and 18 are two of the most difficult you will play, anywhere!

[mike_malone]

 #11 is all world in my opinion.

[Kyle Harris]

#11 is all world in my opinion.

I saw an all-world birdie there out of Cory Lewis in the AB Thorn in 2006.

[Bill Brightly]

Great pictures, thanks for posting!

[TEPaul]

"Tom, nobody has written a book on Flynn
yet, right?"


Joe:

Wrong. Actually somebody has written about ten books on William Flynn but it hasn't been published yet.

[TEPaul]

"Even though Flynn had to come back from the dead I like what he did to create the diagonal on #7."


Mayday Malone:

If William Flynn did come back from the dead there is no doubt in my mind he would be sitting on our side of the booth in that diner on a Friday night! 

You've never tried to seriously route a golf course with a prominent creek extant on the property, have you? Golf holes don't get conceived in some individual vacuum, you know?! A routing is like a jigsaw puzzle with essentially eighteen pieces that have to conform to various directional and conceptual exigencies.

I guess that could be considered something of a damn shame, because wouldn't it be nice if golf architecture could consider and conceive of golf holes in something of a geographical vacuum?!

[Kevin Pallier]

Great photo tour Joe

I really glad I made time on my visit last year to the USA to get upto LCCC.

#9 was the only hole that didn't really do anything for me on the F9. Look forward to the B9 pics.

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