My exposure to golf and subsequent addiction to golf course architecture began on this AW Tillinghast beauty. What makes Fenway truly important stems from the membership having the good sense to leave the course alone. They never tampered with it. As a result, it is an unspoiled example of Tillinghast at the height of his powers (1924). The accepted history has it that Fenway’s original architect, Devereaux Emmett, was either halted before completing his design, or it was finished and then plowed under to bring in Tillinghast following his great success in building the two courses at Winged Foot.
Like Winged Foot West, the original par at Fenway was 72, with the current 5th and 14th holes designed as par-5s. The 5th has been on the score card as a brutal par-4 for many years, measuring about 480 yards from the black tee. The 14th hole, on the other hand, was shortened to around 380 – 390 yards from approximately 460 yards prior to WW II. This decision was probably the sole one made by a (rogue) Green Chairman or Committee. So I would amend “never tampered with it” to “hardly ever” tampered with it. Why was it shortened? Two words, plus a familiar set of initials to explain: uphill, blind, OB. The tee shot was blind with out of bounds running down the left side. The 1926 aerial shows this par-5 with few trees to the right, so there was a bail-out with the small 15th green out of range even for the big hitters.
As featured in the “Courses by Country" section, Fenway was profiled following a well regarded restoration by Gil Hanse and his team back in 2001(?). As part of the project, the 14th hole was lengthened and a fair amount of fill was brought in to build up the teeing area to keep the landing area in view. The new tees were “tied in” reasonably well to their surrounds, but in my opinion, the area still looked built up and stood out as such when compared to the rest of Tillinghast’s teeing areas.
Two autumns ago, the decision was made to lengthen the hole again. Since the grade falls down towards the 11th green, a great deal of additional fill was needed to build up the back tee. From the new tee, the view of the 14th fairway is excellent, but at a cost. The following photos show that “fairness” was achieved (or blindness negated) at the expense of artificiality. The view of the 14th tee from the 11th green is (I hate to say) awful! I cannot believe the resulting stadium golf look was condoned by Mr. Hanse, let alone built by his people.
Question: Would the hole be improved if the teeing area was reestablished as Tillinghast envisioned it: uphill, blind, with OB left? It would be funky. But on a par four (and a half), I would say the tee shot would be appropriate, and the resulting hole a better one. The improvement based on aesthetics alone are compelling.
I truly love this golf course. But I can't understand how a stewardship that historically has to get high marks could allow this to happen. All in the name of "fairness."
view from the 11th green: looking at the 12th tee and 13th green (on left).
view from the 11th green looking at the rear of the 14th tee. (Muy malo!)
view of 11th green and side of 14th tee. (tied in?)
another view from 11th green...
