Does Anyone Know anything about William Mitchell?

[Adam_Jessie]

I don't know a whole lot about this archictect or his work could someone please fill me in.

Adam Jessie
Assistant Superintendent
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

[Dean Paolucci]

Adam - Just played a W. F. Mitchell course (Built 1962) today in Blue Bell, PA called Cedarbrook founded 1909.  Some history if you look the course up in the GAP at the following link. http://www.cedarbrookcc.org/index.cfm?menu=6186

[David Stamm]

Adam, I'm  citing info from whitten and cornish's book, The Golf Course. Lived from 1912-1974. Obtained his first greenskeeper job at 19. While working as a greenskeeper at Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire he established a turf farm specializing in bent grass. Through this business, he gained experience in course construction and assisted Orrin Smith. After the war, he became superintendent at Charles River CC near Boston. In the '40's, he formed with his 2 brothers a design firm.  this later disolved and he then teamed w/ Albert Zikorus. By the 60's he was designing courses exclusively. He estimated that he had 150 original designs and 200 remodels. He is also credited w/ coining the term "executive course". Hope this helps.

[Pete Lavallee]

The blue course at New Seabury in Mashpee on  Cape Cod is  a Mitchell design. The front nine plays by the Ocean, with the back nine in the scrub pine forest. A very enjoyable course that I would considered much better than average; possibly a Doak 4-5.

I haven't heard of any other Mitchell designs that are in that area though.

[Mike_Sweeney]

Adam,

I assume you know that Noyac GC is the closest one to you. It is a pretty good course on a small property, but is not well know due to its neighbors. His bunkering was clearly maintenance friendly. If they took out a bunch of trees........ I remember Jeff Fortson playing a tournament there and saying it was very fair and challenging.

[Mark_Fine]

Adam,
We did a Master Plan for a William Mitchell course up north of Boston, MA and spent some time researching him for the project.  I'm not sure what you are looking for (maybe just general info. such as what has already been posted) but I'd be happy to email you offline if you let me know any specifics.
Good luck,
Mark

[Evan Fleisher]

I know he was the original architect who designed Rolling Hills in Davie, FL...movie site of Caddyshack!!!

At least I think so................  

[Gene Greco]

   He's the archie who was hired by my club in 1964 to fill in most all the Raynor bunkers and replace them with his clover-leafs.

As John Kirk can attest, as we just finished 18, and as Dan Taylor, Jimmy Murrat, Mike Sweeney and Jeff Goldman will also stand behind, Southampton Golf Club is a fine golf course which had its bunkers butchered by the greens committee some 40 years ago.

[Matt_Ward]

If memory serves, you can also find a Bill Mitchell layout with Tarry Brae in Fallsburg, NY. Not a bad layout -- and roughly just behind the likes of The Monster at the Concord, Grossinger's and Kutscher's.

P.S. The layout at Noyac is also well done and worth a look for those who venture to the east end.

[David Harshbarger]

Old thread, but what the hey...

I've played quite a few William Mitchell courses, albeit unwittingly, and for a mid-handicapper like myself, they are consistently fun and challenging.

The Saratoga Spa course in Saratoga Springs, NY, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.  This public course is set in a piney park, and is routed so that rarely do you see, and are never distracted by play on other holes.

This course shares many of the aspects lauded in golden age courses: wide fairways, a variety of challenges, a natural quality other than the built up greens, but then only because the course is essentially flat.  Water is used minimally, but effectivley on 3 and 4.  There is almost no OB in play, but the woods are used strategically on a number of holes where the better approach tempts the player to hug the treeline.

Bunkers are limited, generally large, and mostly strategic.  A very dramatic bunker gaurding the ninth green looks like a tsunami frozen in sand.  A large cross bunker 60 yards out on the par 5 17th protects the approach for long hitters.  On the par 5 6th, a flat green is protected by a large, visible bunker 20 yards from the green right, a less visible, shallower bunker left, and a hidden bunker off the green behind.  For variety, the par 5 12th has a deep greenside bunker protecting the front of a steeply pitched, shallow green, leaving the player pondering a run up through a channel on the right or a perfectly placed longer club to reach the green in two.

All of this is by way saying that for a course of this era, this and a number of other of his courses remain relevant, vibrant, tests of golf for the average golfer.  In this category I place McCann in Poughkeepsie, Town of Colonie in Colonie, NY.  While these are not destination courses, they are honest golf courses that deserve recognition, and in some ways are worthy of emulation.

Taken in the context of their era, the golf boom of the post war years, the Mitchell courses I've seen are huge successes.  These public courses met the need to provide quality golf to the masses, and the fact that they are still popular 50 years on shows that the qualities his courses exhibit tap into more than the design motif du jour.

For anyone who wants an enjoyable $30 walk in the park, based on the courses I've seen, I would definitely recommend the courses of William Mitchell.