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Bill Brightly

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Just take the covers off
« on: July 10, 2012, 10:13:01 PM »
"Just take the covers off." Anyone want to take a stab at who said this and what course he was talking about?

I have just returned from what I thought would be a boring, routine business dinner. Much to my surprise, the coolest gca discussion broke out, and I'll give you the details over a few posts. It has a little inside baseball, but none of it is inappropriate. All of it is good gca talk that I think you will enjoy. (There have been threads about"gca-blank stares" where gca geeks like us bore others, right? Well this was one of those RARE times when my conversation partner just fed the fire!)

As a quick backdrop, when the casual conversation turned to golf, the guy across asked me where I played. When I named my course, he said: "Ah, a Charles Banks course, want to hear a great story about Banks?" Of course I did! Well, the guy tells me he is third in a line of four generations who attended the Hotchkiss School, and he proceded to tell me how Raynor and Banks met. He was so enthusiastic and launched into the story so fast, with other people listening, that I could not determine at what point I should interrupt to mention that I am a MacRaynor-Banks junkie... It was like a guy telling his best joke and you know the punch line. At what point do you jump in?  I politely let him finish and then we moved on to discuss his course, where he was once president.

"Just take the covers off." What a great line.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2012, 10:54:47 PM by Bill Brightly »
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Bill Brightly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Just take the covers off
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2012, 10:50:57 PM »
So the guy related the story when he was club president and he and the greens chair took the prospective architect around their ODG course. They were prepped to not expect much banter. For the first few holes the archy did not say much, just looked around and rolled a few balls on the greens.  By the third hole a huge smile errupted on the architect's face and he then talked freely for the rest of the tour.

After the tour was finished they asked the archy what he thought should be done to their course. He said it was like an old English mansion that had been boarded up for years, and all the furniture had been draped in cloth. Just change the mowing patterns, Take the covers off.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2012, 10:53:45 PM by Bill Brightly »
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David Harshbarger

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Re: Just take the covers off
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2012, 01:29:03 AM »
Those are both great stories.  Keep them coming.
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The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Bill Brightly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Just take the covers off
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2012, 10:44:12 AM »
What I found so interesting was hearing from a club president, let's call him your "average golfer, average member" and how he viewed the architect's "presentation."


Obviously, the president probably had some concerns that he'd bring in a guy who would screw up the course, right?


The course is a Tillinghast, a consensus top 100 course in everyone's rankings.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 11:00:02 AM by Bill Brightly »
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Bill Brightly

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Re: Just take the covers off
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2012, 11:08:03 AM »
The architect was recommended by a member by the name of Ben Crenshaw :) No it was not Bill Coore.
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Bill Brightly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Just take the covers off
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2012, 12:58:52 PM »
The course is Somerset Hills and Tom Doak was the architect.

http://www.mgagolf.org/news/2011/june/somerset_prepares_for_ike


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