Perry Maxwell photographs of Augusta National ca1938-39 - 3 MORE PHOTOS

[Neil_Crafter]

I purchased off eBay some ANGC photos that came from Perry Maxwell's old house I understand. I had previously purchased some of Melrose, Oklahoma City and Alwoodley from Green Jacket Auctions that came from the same source and the purchaser of the ANGC ones resold them recently them on ebay. I cherry picked the ones that had some bunkers and architectural interest, others were just shots of fairways so I didn't buy those.

I believe these photos date from just after Maxwell's work at ANGC from 1938-39.

The photos are not captioned unfortunately, so I have had to try and figure out where some of them are taken from, one is quite obvious. I think I have got the other two correct. So just thought I'd share these.

View to 13th green



View to the 10th green showing the greenside right bunkering that Maxwell built into the hillside when he moved this green back. Fairly elaborate bunkering too, and with an island. Hard to make out for certain, but it looks like it may have been two bunkers, with a smaller one at high right.



View to 17th green. This follows Maxwell's rebunkering of this green where he put two bunkers into the mound at the left and another at front right which appears to be out of the shot. Appears he followed Mackenzie's bunker character, until ANGC later changed them.

[Tim_Cronin]

Wow. The left half of that mound on 17 is now covered by a grandstand during the Masters. Great find. Thanks for sharing.

[Neil_Crafter]

Thanks Tim

This pic of the 10th from around 1950 confirms that there were 2 bunkers there :-)

[Dunlop_White]

Hello Neil,

Curious as to whether you have any more of these 1939 pics of Maxwell's bunker work at Augusta?  

It is often misunderstood how Maxwell's bunkers at Old Town were never representative of his Mid-west renditions? It needs to be noted that in 1939 Maxwell had just completed an extensive renovation at Augusta National sympathetic of his old design partner, Alister MacKenzie, and it was this Augusta connection that led Maxwell directly to Old Town that same year.

Instead, the bunkers Maxwell designed at Old Town look remarkably similar to those he designed in Augusta. Also, the more I look at this stuff, the more similarities I find between Mackenzie's bunkers and Maxwell's originals at OTC. Sure they had a long partnership and admiration for one another in the late twenties and early thirties, but I believe that if Old Town was not an Ode to Mackenzie of sorts, at the very least, Mackenzie was fresh on his mind at Old Town!

[Neil_Crafter]

Hi Dunlop
No just bought those three. There were another 4 or 5 for sale but they did not feature any bunkering in the shots, and so I cherry picked those three that did.

I have three photos of Melrose and about 6 or so from Nichols Hills (Oklahoma City) from the same source.

Have seen pics of Old Town bunkering in Chris Clouser's book, certainly looks different.

[Tom MacWood]

Neil
Fascinating pictures, and thanks for sharing them. Maxwell was a big fan of the islands of grass within the bunker; it seems to be his calling card.

[Pete Blaisdell]

Neil
  What a great find!! Thanks for posting and sharing. The references to Old Town are most interesting as Old Town is one of my favorites and I feel greatly underrated. I love scraggy back pitched bunkers. Symmetrical bunkers are boring and show no imagination.

[Joe Bausch]

Would love to see the Melrose photos if you can....

[BCrosby]

Thanks Neil. Great stuff.

[jeffwarne]

Thanks Tim

This pic of the 10th from around 1950 confirms that there were 2 bunkers there :-)

Neil,
This 1950 picture shows the Mackenzie bunker(s) farther left and larger than I've ever seen it/them!
great stuff-thanks

[BCrosby]

Jeff -

Good catch. There is a set of MacK bunkers short and left of the existing set. Anyone know when they disappeared?

Were they originally built to give pause to players trying to approach the original MacK green from the left?

Bob

[Neil_Crafter]

Thanks all.

Bob, not sure that there were ever more than one big bunker on 10 that was front left of the green, just think the shadows make it look like there are more.

Joe, here re the Melrose pics, not sure what holes they are, perhaps you can help with that, two of them appear to be of the same hole though.

[Dunlop_White]

Tom -- Yes, Maxwell used these islands of turf everywhere at Old Town. I call them scabs for some reason? Don't know where I picked up the term? Anyway, at Old Town and in the Augusta bunker featured on Hole 10, these scabs have stalks of broom grass eliminating from them. Same look!

[Joe Bausch]

Neil, I'm going to hope former Melrose member Bob Harris checks in to assign those photos.  I've only played there once, so I'm not super familiar with the course yet.

[Tony Ristola]

Interesting stuff; been watching The Masters since 1980, and never liked the look of the bunker right of 10, it seems disconnected, but Maxwell's original work looks great.

[Alex Miller]

Great pictures! The ANGC threads this year have really been top-notch.

[Sven Nilsen]

Thanks Tim

This pic of the 10th from around 1950 confirms that there were 2 bunkers there :-)

Neil,
This 1950 picture shows the Mackenzie bunker(s) farther left and larger than I've ever seen it/them!
great stuff-thanks

Jeff:

My guess is that you rarely see a photo taken from this angle, which makes the bunker look like it is further to the left than it is today.  I don't think its been moved, but the edges have certainly been softened over the years.

Interesting that you can almost pick up the outline of the old green in the photo.

[Patrick Kiser]

Neil,

Good stuff.  A little hard to make out those Maxwell greens, but certainly appreciate you posting for us.

[Neil_Crafter]

This is the postcard that shows the old 10th green and its bunker. Somewhat different angle to that 1950 photo that I posted.

[Tom MacWood]

Neil
Based on the map of Melrose on page 44 of Chris Clouser's book it looks like you have photos of the 2nd and 6th holes. I can see why people were impressed with Melrose.

[Neil_Crafter]

Thanks Tom

[Ed Oden]

Neil, sorry I've been late to the game.  Too busy lately.  These are some great photos.  I don't recall seeing many (if any) good historical photos of Maxwell's bunker on courses that DON'T have a connection to Dr. Mac, particularly those that pre-date their partnership.  If anyone has any photos along those lines, I'd sure like to see them since I suspect they would tell the story of Mackenzie's influence on Maxwell from a bunker standpoint.  I wonder if the bunkering we see today at Maxwell's Southwest/Midwest designs is reflective of their original look or the result of evolutionary drift.

[Neil_Crafter]

There are a few in Chris Clouser's book but its hard to know which ones are old as they are all in B&W.
 

[Neil_Crafter]

I've purchased three more of the ANGC photos that came from Maxwell.

The first appears to me to be the 15th green.


The second is clearly the 1st tee and fairway at the right, with 9th fairway and back of 9th green at left.


This last one though is a mystery to me. I've tried comparing it to the old photos of each hole in Stan Byrdy's book but to no avail. Thoughts anyone?

[Sam Morrow]

In the last picture is the chute near the top left 11 tee?