The best of the old--the best of the new

[TEPaul]

For over three or four years now something Jim Finegan said to me has been in my mind. We were having lunch and talking about the glory of some of the great old architecture and even some of the older and simpler ways that made golf so wonderful. We were talking a good deal about restoration too!

As we wound up the conversation Jim said; "There were many wonderul things to those courses and those times and restoration is a good thing but don't ever forget the new and the benefits that have come along."

I've never asked him specifically what he meant. But I'm sure he must mean, among other things, advances in agronomy, advances in technology too for some benefical purposes.

Certainly I remember the stuggles that my father's generation went through with the general condition of golf courses back then--it seemed always an uphill battle somehow. That seems to be something "the new" has given us, but how far has it gone? How much should we use something like that in really good restoration of a classic course?

It surprised me in that context when one of my favorite architects said he thought NGLA had gotten too "clean and immaculate". I definitely was not ready for that remark, because frankly I hadn't noticed that as much as I've looked at the course. And I'm not real sure what exactly he was referring to.

And another really good restoration architect who was considering the pros and cons of what seemed like a really interesting chipping area in the restoration of an old classic Ross course said this kind of thing (the chipping area) did not (could not) exist back then. But I said to him that it was a wonderful and fun thing to have now. He said yes it is, but still it did not exist back then, certainly not the way we can do it today.

He decided to go with the chipping areas, although not original to the course. That to me is a good example of the best of the old and the new.

The whole idea of the perfect blend of the old and new into an ideal "maintenance meld" might be another example. If you think about that any golfer could then play the old ground game if he so chose, or he could play the more modern aerial game if he felt like that--or even any partial combination thereof. Theoretically, that seems like even more options than may have existed originally or may have existed with the old courses at the best of times back then.

Isn't that another good example of the best of the old and the new? What would be some other good examples of the best of the old and the new that ideally could make those great old courses play even better than they ever have?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tom,
I was visiting George Bahto, aka "the Marble King"(ask him the story,it's wonderful), at Essex County last week and one of the  uses of the "new" was modern drainage supplies installed using the newest equipment. Water still runs downhill but technology makes it easier to collect and guide it along. I think the majority of the best of the "new" falls into the category of building/ maintenance. As for its use when restoring, I think you hit it precisely by using the concept of maintenance meld. If it doesn't fit don't use it. Using "new" is at its best when it doesn't interfere with the culture of the "old". This seems to be the case in the example of the chipping area you cited.  

George was using the "old" as it pertained to the renovation  and addition of the features on the course. This will be no mean feat as he has 7 Tillinghast and 11 Banks holes to "meld" together:)

[Slag_Bandoon]

It still comes down to the balance of effectiveness with affection  in the advent of these new tools.  We may have a perfect layout of irrigation plumbing but thoughtless overuse can muck up the potential charm of the playing fields.  A laser guided dozer does not contour the perfect green, the designer and shaper do.  It is still the creative mind that is responsible for the outcome.  I'm all for advances if work ethics are practiced with artistic results.

[TEPaul]

JimK:

Good example of drainage as a benefit of the "new" with the "old". I did ask a question some time ago about pipe drainage on some of the old courses on fairways and such. I wonder if they ever used it in the old? In problem areas that certainly would be a benefit for the old--or certainly the sophisticated drainage methods in resorted bunkers and such that must be far better than the original methods.

Interesting mention of Geo. Bahto about to attempt to "meld" Tillinghast and Banks holes together. I wonder what's meant by "meld" in this case? In my opinion Geo. should just restore the holes of those two architects as they built the holes.

But knowing some of these clubs they might want him to make them look the same somehow so as to avoid this ridiculous concern about being "out of character".

We have the same thing in our immenient restoration of our Ross course. There are a number of holes in the middle of the course that have been altered in one way or another by various architects (mostly fairly good architects) that we are going to hopefully return to a Ross style as much as possible. Four holes however, are Perry Maxwell redesigns that look nothing like Ross obviously. In my opinion (and thankfully the opinion of others), though, the Maxwell work is just as good or better than Ross.  So we're going to restore the Ross holes as much to Ross as possible and the Maxwell holes to Maxwell! It's our evolutionary history and that's the way it ought to be.

If you have two really great designers on one course you should just stick with them! Even the great Pine Valley has a couple of greens that are Perry Maxwell slight redesigns of Crump greens and I think it would be a tragedy to ever consider altering those back. Both greens (left #8 and left #9) are awesome greens!

[Matt_Davenport]

Tom,
In response to your question... I am familiar with many golf courses in the Philadelphia area where there is a preponderance of terra cotta (vitrified clay) drainage pipe in the ground.  Much of this pipe was installed by the golf course superintendent, after the fact.  The utilitarian approach by the golf course superintendent to eliminate soggy ground conditions through the installation of french drains (clay pipe lain in a trench surrounded by pea gravel) often occurred after a late spring snow.  Picturing the channels created by moving water on the surface of the melting snow, the golf course superintendent knew that this was where he needed to install his french drains. Records of these installations were often embedded in the minds of the superintendent (and not often recorded on paper).  As a result many of these pipes are encountered while installing new corrugated plastic (or pvc) drainage pipe during renovations or irrigation system installations.  What I find very interesting are the old drainage installations (on courses with minimal slope) that dead end in the rough...  You can often locate the dead-ends after a substantial rain when walking in the rough you encounter an area of pumpy soil resembling a taut balloon.

As for Mr. Maxwell's greens at "your club".  I thoroughly enjoy the "Maxwell roll" and I would personally hate to see them altered as I surmise is also your opinion.

To add to Slag's comments as it relates to "your course" Tom.  A modern irrigation ystem is a wonderful thing, but it is often a license to flood the turf.  Thankfully, you have an excellent superintendent who stands for dry, lean turf.  I wish the golfing public could understand   that green turf is not synonymous with healthy turf.  Excuse me while I go order another case of green paint...

[Ed Baker]

I would agree that drainage is one of the biggest "new" improvements to old courses.

During our restoration, several chronic "soggy" areas were fixed and all the bunkers drain MUCH better.

One humorous sidebar to the improved drainage occured on our 8th fairway, we "fixed" the problem so well that halfway through the first season after the work was completed we had to add two sprinkler heads The members were not amused!

[Eric Pevoto]

I'm not so certain that more sophisticated methods of drainage are always a positive, particularly in light of new construction.  After the fact changes I can see and welcome, but does anyone think that these developments might tempt an architect or builder to venture into areas previously thought of as "unbuildable?"   If they then do that, do those areas then require more maintenance?  

One of the most interesting new uses of technology to me is gps mapping to record green, fairway, and bunker positions.  How many golden age golf courses would we not be able to argue about if those historical records were made back when they were built?  

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom,

An excellent post and I wish I had more examples to add.

One feature that I wish superior drainage techniques would allow for is the re-introduction of the gathering bunker. I wish that balls that hit 10 or 20 yards from a bunker on an inland course could still be sucked into the bunker by the use of gradual, subtle slopes. In the past, I have been told that such slopes create too much of a drainage issue.

In terms of something "new", when I worked for the USGA in 1985-1987, we were trying to raise money in part to help develop grasses that required half as much water and that grew slower.

The Texas Department of Transportation had success in planting grasses that looked attractive yet grew slowly and they had saved a FORTUNE on their maintenance bill for the upkeep of the grasses along the hundreds and hundreds of miles of highway in that state.

I hope that many, many golf courses will be similiarly fortunate one day to have such grasses. If the costs of watering and upkeep were significantly reduced, perhaps the game would return to being less cost prohibitive.

Cheers,

[John_D._Bernhardt]

Drainage, watering systems, more consitent and easier to maintain turf, better pesticides and now an appreciation of the design features of the old masters.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tom,
Sorry if the way I used "meld" misled or misinformed you.  
They are mainly re-doing the bunkers at Essex and using aerials from the 30's as a guide. There have also been other hands on this course in the past and some of that stuff is being seen to. I was suggesting this:  because the holes were from different designers a "maintenance meld" might be hard to acheive due to style, i.e.- Tillinghast's greens are subtle but quick, Banks' are "Banks'". Same for the bunkers. The super, Sean Klotzbach, is a great guy and totally dedicated to the course and has been "mowing in" chipping areas around a couple of Tillinghast greens and they work/fit quite well there. That might not be the case around some of the Banks' greens.    

Matt,
We also have found Terra Cotta drains on our course(1925).  
Not only is it found under several fairways but we have also found it about 8" down on several greens.

Ran,
There might be some cons about using slow-to-grow grasses on a course. They wouldn't necessarily be able to be used on greens or fairways due to the much longer recovery time needed to come back if hit by disease, fungus, etc.. Even after droughty times they might take so long to green up that golfers might not be able to cope Do you think their use would be relegated mostly to rough or out of play areas?  

[TEPaul]

Those are some excellent and sophisticted replies!

Matt:

Email me or give me a call sometime. tpaul25737@aol.com or 610-353-2966

[Eric Pevoto]

Matt
Sorry, I think I half read your reply, then made the mistake of thinking I knew something about the subject.  

What I guess I should ask is:  What are some of the progresses made in drainage (over terra cotta) and does that have any affect negative or positive on where a builder or designer decides to route?

Eric

[Don_Mahaffey]

Modern golf course mowing equipment has certainly made an impact on how our courses are maintained. Unfortunately, it has also led to an arms race of sorts, how low can you go. We mow fairways at 3/8ths, tees at 1/4, and greens at 1/8 th or less. This has led to many other problems. I can say I used to think the way to make a course play fast was to mow everything tight, it took awhile for me to learn that a fairway mowed at 5/8 ths and kept dry was a lot faster than one cut at 3/8 ths and kept wet.

Matt,
Although I would agree that many irrigation redos concentrate on increasing the amount of water delivered, they also should increase the uniformity, and actually in the hands of a skilled user, should result in a dryer course. Most courses get watered based on their bad spots, thus an older inefficient system may result in more wet spots trying to get rid of all the hot spots. A new system with improved uniformity should reduce those wet spots, but like you said, if it allows the user to put out a million gallons a night, they just might do it.

[TEPaul]

Don:

Interesting what you say about a course mowed at 5/8 and dry being a lot faster than a course mowed at 3/8 and not dry.

That very thing started to get to me bigtime a few years ago when my course's fairways were cut short and the ball was practically plugging but if I hit it just out into the rough the ball would get about 40yds of rollout!

That's what I call a backward Indian maintenance policy because the rough was not exactly short!! Length of the grass has virtually nothing to do with it--it's almost entirely the firmness of the ground (soil and subsoil)!

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

I think one of the more important modern developments is the art of restoration. This is a recent phenomenon with more and more excellent specialists in this field. There also seems to be an influx of very fine histories and do not think the two are unrelated.

[Theresa Stotler]

It is interesting to note that our club has just recently gone to a double irrigation system.  I tink it has improved but I think that it is generic, It doesn't make much sense to pu a sprinkler head in a gully, as opose to placing it on top of a null.  Sometimes I think the OLD had much more common sense and had a eeye for where drainage needed to be, and lay of the land.

[Matt_Davenport]

Eric,
Evolution of drainage piping used on golf courses has gone from the terra cotta drain lines to perforated/solid PVS to corrugated PE (polyethylene) to double-walled "N-12" (two-layer--corrugated-outside & smooth-inside) PE.  I don't know that there has been a negative effect of this evolutionary process.  The positives relate to the ease of installation where installers (contractors and/or superintendents) used to have to deal with 4' sections of terra cotta or 20' pieces of PVC, they can now handle a 100' roll of corrugated PE.  (The N-12 because of its rigidity (for increased strength) is made in 20' pieces).  
As for placement of drain lines, there still is a mystery at times for determining the "best" location.  Drainage is often placed near perpendicular to the slope of the land.  Naturally, you have to have a minimum slope (.5% or six inches in 100') to the pipe to move the water from one end to the other to outlet in a water feature.  However the mystery may be that the groundwater flows may occur differently than water would flow on the surface of the ground above it.  This is not particularly common but it is important to know that this may be the case.  On many courses in the Philadelphia area, each Spring may present the Superintendent with new challenges in the form of new springs.  Where groundwater accumulates and reaches the surface, this is a spring.  The variability of groundwater flows present new springs at any time.  Herein is the reason why a golf course may develop new "wet spots".

Don & TAS,
Don you are on track with mentioning that a new irrigation system "should" (if designed properly) increase the uniformity of coverage.  A proper design will also give the operator of the new system more control over the high/dry and low/wet spots.  A double-row system will put out more water while irrigating a larger area of the course, but proper operation of this system should reduce the water placed on individual areas.  A Superintendent with a new computer-controlled irrigation system has an endless array of possible irrigation practices at his/her fingertips.  Remember: Concerning water (and often better design)---less (frequent, but deeper irrigation) is more

Tom,
I'll give you a ring...   I hope I'm not in trouble with the GCA God?