...under In My Opinion.
Perry Maxwell doesn’t get near enough credit as an architect, at least it seems so to me. A few factors are involved. First, his most famous work (Prairie Dunes) was played as a nine holer for the first 19 years of its life. Second, his next most famous course (Southern Hills) has changed a good bit since his day and is now presented in a conventional parkland manner. Third, his famous counterpart architect at Crystal Downs seems to suck up all the glory there - that much is 'crystal'
clear. Finally, one of his most original designs (Dornick Hills) has been robbed of the features that would make it a cult favorite today.
Two things going for Perry are 1) Every living architect I know speaks in reverence of his work and 2) researcher/writer Chris Clouser, who has done more than anyone to chronicle Maxwell’s accomplishments. His book The Midwest Associate is crammed with information and my favorite chapter is probably the one on Dornick Hills, which was Maxwell’s first course. In his In My Opinion piece, Chris expands on Dornick Hills with additional research and photos that he has uncovered since The Midwest Associate was published in 2006.
Have a read and see what you think. A few points stand out to me. First, CB Macdonald/NGLA’s influence on Maxwell. Second, Maxwell’s trip to Scotland to study the great links. Third, the overwhelming excellence of Dornick Hills as a direct beneficiary from Maxwell’s attention over a 22 year period. Dornick seems like the type of course that many of us cherish: genuine hazards based in nature that were strategically incorporated into a design, all the while with acres and acres of short grass by which the thinking golfer can navigate around them. Chris writes that Dornick was ‘a bold design unlike any other in the Southwest.’ How true! Maxwell’s use of canted fairways, bold green contours, a creek, a pond, the cliff on the north edge of the property, shared fairways, template holes including a Redan, Bottle and Road hole, it’s all to be found at Dornick.
Importantly, the course smacks of greatness, including holes two, eight, nine, twelve, sixteen, and seventeen. For any architect to be considered great, he needs to build great courses. This was surely one of Maxwell’s and it is a pity that so much has been altered as today’s course doesn’t do much for Maxwell’s legacy. However, thanks to Chris’s detailed hole by hole analysis of Dornick at its peak, we are all reminded of just how special an architect Maxwell was.
No wonder Maxwell is getting inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame this coming Monday night at the Jim Thorpe Association.
Cheers,
PS For those wanting to learn more about Maxwell, Chris still has some copies of The Midwest Associate for sale and he can be reached directly at chris.clouser@comcast.net.