Recently I played the CC of Scranton with McKeever and Cirba. This was my first Travis course (at least that I can recall!) and it was memorable.
Much work has been done at Scranton over the past 8 years or so, with still more work planned. Ian Andrew was involved from about 2003 to 2008 and (this from the supe Greg Boring) "he oversaw the expansion of the greens and helped with the tree management program."
Greg summarized in another e-mail to me more of what has and could happen at Scranton:
Approximately 8 years ago the club started a tree management program to begin opening up sight lines and restoring views on the golf course as well as opening up golf holes and allowing the course to be played the way Travis intended it. At this time the club began expanding the greens back to their original shape and size. In 2010 the club hired Tom Marzolf of Fazio Design to complete a Master Plan. Phase one of that Master Plan included a bunker renovation, adding low mow chipping area around the greens that Travis had on his original drawing and recountouring fairway lines. Where we added the chipping areas around the greens we wrapped the greenside bunkers in bentgrass which is a look that is common in Australia. (Travis's Birthplace. Even though he didn't take up the game until he came to the States.) The bunker style is not the origninal style put on the ground in 1926. The club officials felt the original bunkers were entirely too penal for our membership and there was major concern with maintaining them. The project started in July of 2011 and was completed in July of 2012. We started the contruction of a new Driving Range tee this week which should be completed in two weeks. We hope to add a short game center in the next few years. The Master Plan has the addition of some forward and new back tees as well as trying to recapture the original contours on the 4th, 5th, and 11th greens. Those are the only greens that aren't original. That will be several years down the road though. The Tree Management Program continues every year. The Evergreen trees are slowly being removed from the property and Deciduous trees are being evaluated yearly. The club will host the PA Senior Am in 2013 and the PA State Am in 2015.Here is the hole sequencing at Scranton from an October, 2011 Google Earth aerial. In it you can see where some recent tree removal has occurred.
Here is a camera phone picture of the original plans by Travis:
Greg points out that it is not known how much of those original plans ended up on the ground.
And here is an early oblique aerial of the course from the 30's I believe:
Those are some unusual fairway bunkers!
Enough of the intro, let's see the greens.
Edit: all photos are now 'clickable' leading to a much larger size.
#1. Slightly downhill par 4 (412 yards).
Tee view:
Approach view:
I believe a creek used to run in front of the green but that has been mostly piped under:
You get the feeling this will be an interesting day after this first green with lots of internal contours and running faster than anyplace I played all season (probably around a 12):
#2. Par 4 (432 yards).
Tee view where you can detect some different looking bunker left:
Some church pew inspired bunker it is!
Approach shot where that bunker left is well short of the green:
From short of the green:
From over the green, where I've now taken 6 putts for the day!:
#3. Par 3 (182 yards).
Unfortunately lighting was not so great here on this one-shotter with a devilish green. This front pin was challenging, but there is a "Sunday pin" back right that I could not quite capture with the cam.
Tee view:
From the back of the green:
From long and left of the green:
That's it for today. Grading of papers calls my name!