Colt & Alison

[Niall Hay]

Sure looks like it.  Even GCGC reference. Pretty sweet.

[Tom MacWood]

Colt & Alison (Alison) listed Plum Hollow as one of their designs in 1924, but did not list it later, which tells me either the plan was not executed properly, or the club chose to go another direction. I suspect the former. In 1924 C&A (Alison) also listed Philadelphia CC and there is evidence they were the architect of record at one point, but then Toomey & Flynn became involved.

Early in his career Flynn was known more for his construction skills than his designs, and Alison offered to make him his construction associate. Flynn was involved at Burning Tree, and I believe Chevy Chase, with Alison. I suspect there may have been a similar situation with Connelan, who had a similar background to Flynn's. I have found evidence Alison was involved at Lochmoor with Connelan, but C&A did not list that course for whatever reason, and after seeing that course I think I know the reason. It must have been a dog eat dog world back then.

[Niall Hay]

Well said Tom.

[DMoriarty]

The 18th hole was a 185-yard par-3 with an island green surrounded by sand?

In 1915??

I've also seen the hole listed as 135 yards, but perhaps that was a misprint.   185 yards was a pretty good iron shot into the wind though.

[Joe Bausch]

This is the routing for the CC of Detroit in 1915, courtesy of the NY Sun:

[Joe Bausch]

A picture of the 18th green from the CC of Detroit in 1915 (courtesy of the Aug 22, 1915 edition of the NY Tribune):

[Niall Hay]

Joe, these are unreal. How did you find these? Great stuff.

[Niall Hay]

Also where was CCD considered in the great courses back in 1915? Seems pretty solid standing with this kind of coverage in national media. More limited options/quantity back then but would be interesting to see how CCD stacked up to it's peers in that era.

[Niall Hay]

Colt made three trips to N. America - 1911, 1913 and 1914. He produced five original designs: Toronto, CC of Detroit (NLE), Pine Valley, Old Elm and Hamilton. He also redesigned about ten course, give or take one or two. Alison came over around 1920 and was very active for almost decade. He designed close to 25 original golf courses in the States and Canada. The great majority of Colt & Alison courses over here are Alison's.

What about Fresh Meadows in NY?

[SL_Solow]

As noted in my prior post, Fresh Meadows was originally called Lakeview.  It appears to be an Alison circa 1925, well after Colt's final visit.

[Niall Hay]

Ah, ok you're right.  Good catch.   How is that golf course? Recently had some renovation work by Keith Foster. Any insight there?

[Joe Bausch]

Joe, these are unreal. How did you find these? Great stuff.

The first is courtesy of the Fulton History site, the 2nd from the Chronicling America web page.

[Tom MacWood]

Colt & Co. Fred Hawtree's biography of Colt has a listing of all the courses purportedly designed by the various Colt associations including Colt, Alison, MacKenzie, and Morrison.  He had access to Colt's correspondence which may have aided his listing.

His list for Alison is slightly different than Wayne's.  for example, he shows Bob o"Link as a revision in 1924 to ross' original.  This comports with the club's view.  Interestingly, he omits Plum Hollow although I know some informed members who insiist it is an Allison.  Coenish and Whitten  credit it to Wilfred Reid and William Conellan.  Lakeville is now Fresh Meadow. There are several that Hawtree lists as NLE and others that are on his list that I knw no longer exist e.g. Deerfield,Il and Knollmead in Lake Forest IL.

Neither source lists Lost Nation or St. Andrews Bay.  Sea Island appears to be an amalgam where he revised a 9 (Plantation) and adde the Seaside 9 in 1928.

SL
Most of the course information in Colt & Co. comes from Cornish & Whitten, and it is somewhat incomplete. My info comes from Colt & Alison's own pamphlets, supplemented by later reports in magazines and newspapers. I believe Deerfield and Knollmead, on Hawtree's list, are mistakes.

Technically Bob O'Link is a redesign of an older course, but since it was a total redesign (he only kept one or two holes from the original) I consider it a new course. After Alison was done with the course Ross did not list as one of his either.

I've marked the ones that are NLE or changed names. I'm not sure what Timber Point goes by these days, and it is partially NLE. The same goes for Sea Island being partially NLE, it was overhauled by T. Fazio. I forgot to add Davenport on my original list.

York Downs (NLE), Kirtland, Burning Tree, Briargate (IL), Westwood, Lakeville nka Fresh Meadow (NY), Plum Hollow, Century, Canoe Brook, Bob O'Link, North Shore, Timber Point, Knollwood, St. Andrews Bay nka Panama, Orchard Lake, CC of Detroit, Colony (NLE), Lost Nation, Old Oaks, Baederwood (NLE), Park, Sea Island, Milwaukee, Davenport.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Wow. This historical info. on the original CC Detroit course is fascinating. Thanks for posting it, guys. I wonder what lead to moving the course to its current, new location?

[Niall Hay]

Great question, it sure seems a shame to leave behind a supposedly really good top great Colt design on the water to a course more inland/parkland. Anyone have any more insight?

[BCowan]

Very good thread in need of bumping.  The original CCD looked awesome.