Favorite hole/course ruined by renovations?

[BHoover]

Holes 14-17 at Granville. I'm not sure that "renovation" is the correct term..."travesty" seems more appropriate.

[Patrick_Mucci]

David Davis,

I wonder what the relative percentages are, between in-house renovations and outside consultant renovations ?

In addition, I wonder what the relative percentages are when the idea for the renovation originated within the membership or from outside sources ?

[paul cowley]

Losing the original Seaside 9 (Colt and Allison 1928) that were part of the old Sea Island Resort. They were merged with the Marshside 9 to be part of the new Seaside 18 during a Fazio renovation about 10 years ago.

These nine holes were my favorite of anywhere.

[Niall C]

The 5th hole at Silloth which got a new green about 6 or 7 years ago.

Tom MacKenzie did the design and while I like what he did at Craigielaw, what he produced at Silloth was a poor substitute for the original green. For those that played there recently the original position of the green was on the flat area short left of the new green. On the left it was guarded by the rough and on the right by a couple of bunkers that sat on the slope making any short chip from the right near impossible to get anywhere other than left side of green. There were no other bunkers tee to green. Given the open but narrow approach, and the hole being a bit shorter, it encouraged players to go for it in two however to do so you had to generally look to hit a tighter line off the tee and make sure the second shot didn't go in the rough which runs hard up the left or bail out to the right where scrambling for a par even short right wasn't easy.

Now with the added length and the spectacle style bunkers guarding, it almost dictates a three shot approach to playing the hole which in turns means you would be as well hitting a safe drive, safe second and concentrate on the third shot approach. The joy and challenge of picking an aggressive line off the tee has been lost as there's largely no point, a great shame.

To my mind, an inferior hole has been created. It would have been far better, in my not so humble opinion, to enlarge the medal tee which is further back on the dune and make that the normal/medal tee. That would in turn give the hole back somne length that it was needing and make it more of a challenge to pick your line off the tee. In the present circumstances I would still be inclined to do that and I would also convert the spectacle bunkering , which is really just a cross-hazard, to a single bunker in the middle of the fairway and built into the slope as it rises to the right side rough. This would allow the weaker players to still try and run a ball up the right side through to the green.

Niall  

edit: I note that this thread refers to restorations which clearly wasn't the  case at Silloth

[Richard Choi]

What USGA has done to the 5th at Chambers Bay is tragic.

It was a world-class hole where you really had to think. The fairway was extremely wide but the ideal angles were limited due to the pot bunker guarding the center of the green. Your tee shot was dictated by the pin placement. Add to that a secondary driveable green to the left and the fantastic view of the Puget Sound, and it was easily one of my favorite par 4 anywhere.

Now, the 2nd green is gone and there are rows of bunkers on both sides pinching in from 250 yards out with a very narrow opening aroud 300 yards. All thinking elements (and what made hole special) have been designed out of this hole.

Now it is just like the 18th at Bethpage... with a view.

I could have cried...

[Dan Herrmann]

I'll nominate Portland, Oregon's Riverside Golf & Country Club's 18th hole.

I was a member here until I moved back East in 1993.  After I left, they tore down their perfectly functional clubhouse and built a McMansion-style clubhouse.  Unfortunately, this huge building needed more space, so they did two things - shrunk the driving range (c'est la vie), and made 18 a LOT shorter.  What was a really cool 18th hole (fairly long and straight with nice ground movement and a fantastic green) was turned into a pedestrian hole with a forgettable green.

Pretty sad.