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Dan Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2011, 03:04:09 PM »
Rick, I believe you can use the left hill side to gain entry to the green. It's farther up the hill than what I'm referencing above, but, I believe it's still a possible shot attempt. Especially to a front pin. But, as admitted above, my memory is shot.

I believe you can, too.

I believe that because I think I did just that, Saturday morning -- unfortunately to a back-right pin, leaving one of the great circus putts of all time.

I say I think I did it, because that front-left portion (and the ground leading into it) is blind from the tee.

"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

Ken Fry

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2011, 03:07:44 PM »
On the Midwest Mashie thread, Patrick Kiser posted photos of the Saturday night presentation and a few shots of historical photos on the clubhouse walls.  Dan Moore informed me the aerial shot of the property is from the time of the course opening.  It's a little hard to make out but you can see the bunker that once sat left of the green on #7.

Ken

Adam Clayman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2011, 03:52:55 PM »
Ken. Thanks for pointing me back to those pictures. I'm not that good at aerials but if its the one I'm seeing, its long and thin with slight widening at the green? Back in the late 80's early 90's there was just a portion of that bunker. I assume they removed most of it for the cart path??
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

Dan Moore

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #28 on: May 26, 2011, 12:07:01 AM »
Pete Dye has built some features that are similar to those of Langford Moreau. He was definitely influenced by his exposure to L/M's work in Indiana.  Jim Engh may also be building features on a similar scale but in a very different style. 

As I hope I said Saturday night, L/M's work at Lawsionia and elsewhere was typified by a deep understanding of the principles of strategic golf, a desire to incorporate fairness and diversity for all levels and skill sets of golfers, a highly engineered approach to construction that was complemented by an amazing ability to artistically blend highly engineered features into the surrounding landscape to give the impression of naturalism. 

As to the technical issues of how they built such steep slopes I have no idea and defer to those with experience in such area. 
"Is there any other game which produces in the human mind such enviable insanity."  Bernard Darwin

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #29 on: May 26, 2011, 02:18:32 AM »
It seems anyone's guess is as good as the other's on the construction technique regarding grass establishment on the mounds next to bunkers.  I'm guessing that once he got the mounds built up and shaped, he stripped off large swatches of prairie grasses, and used them sort of like sod clumps, and over time, added more soil and seed and the whole process took years to get it nice. 

I have tried to remember from the first times I played at Lawsonia as a boy in late 50s early 60s, how the boxcar green was set up.  I don't remember the native being that pronounced, and very well did have shorter clipped rough up on the left side hill with a bunker over there, leading down onto the large green.  The two tiers were always as pronounced.  I find it interesting on the old aerial that the look off the tee on 13th must not have been so 'en eschelon' as they appear today, or when I first saw them which is more like current. 

The thing that really gets me is my memory of the actual small white shack clubhouse, which was more or less like a hamburger stand, with a spring on an old black wooden screen door.  I remember a modest parking lot, basically the same multi tiered practice green.  But the old aerial really doesn't look like there was hardly anything of a clubhouse parking lot when the aerial was taken.

One of these days when I go play there, I'm going to go early and stop at the county court house and look for their local library, and see if I can dig up any more old photos taken on the ground in the 30s-40s-50s.
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #30 on: May 26, 2011, 08:25:04 AM »

One of these days when I go play there, I'm going to go early and stop at the county court house....

......which is one of the great old county courthouses in all of Wisconsin; still in use after being built in 1899.

http://www.wrdaonline.org/CountyPhotos/Green%20Lake.jpg

Tom Johnston

Re: Lawsonia Construction Question
« Reply #31 on: May 14, 2012, 05:09:25 PM »
Matthew, I first step foot on property there in '89. There was no apparent difference, save for the left side of #7.

A bit of a threadjack - the biggest change has been with vegetation - significant, isolated trees on both #3 and #13 have come down due to weather, and the trees planted by a former superintendant on the right side of #9 have been removed.  Also, they have let the fescue grow and changed its contours from time to time.