Old Town Restoration

[Bruce Wellmon]

The restoration of Old Town Club is simply fantastic IMO. The details have been discussed in previous posts by Dunlop White.
From my perspective, I appreciated that the fairway often ran directly into the bunkers. The collar of rough between fairway and bunker was eliminated. Secondly, the tree program continues, opening up views from one corner of the course to the other.
In short, a great course is now even better.






Will leading the tour.




Probably my favorite bunker on the course, 12 green.


The detail work on 14 green from the fairway. Unfortunately, not a good picture with the sun.

[Mark Pritchett]

Looks great Bruce, thanks for posting! 

[Bill Hoyle]

Enough good could not be said about the work at Old Town Club.  The tree removal, the bunkering, the green work and more subtle moves has been a great move up for an already great track.

[Jason Topp]

I remember those bunkers

[ed_getka]

I had always heard good things about Old Town, but hadn't been there before this past Sunday. There is some incredible land that this course is laid out on. When you look down #1 it certainly has you thinking about Crystal Downs and then when you get up over the rise of #4 fairway and see the expansive bowl of terrain laid out before you it again transports you to thoughts of Crystal Downs front nine. The holes themselves are not what remind you of CD, it is the overall feel and visual appeal. Before a round is over you will have had every stance imaginable to hit shots from: uphill, downhill, sidehill shots with the ball above and below your feet. The sand seems like it might be river sand and it is a perfect match for the course. None of that blinding white stuff so many courses have been enamored with in recent years. I forgot to ask Dunlop where the sand came from.
   I will try to run through the holes with some pix when I get a chance. I wish I had seen the course pre-renovation for comparison, but what is there now is a lot of fun and there are a lot of interesting holes for those with an architectural bent. I know Scott thinks #4 turned out great after he hit his second to 3 feet and made eagle!!
   More later.

[Neil Regan]

Ed,

   Good eye.
You say:
 "The sand seems like it might be river sand and it is a perfect match for the course. None of that blinding white stuff so many courses have been enamored with in recent years. I forgot to ask Dunlop where the sand came from."

Dunlop included this in his summary a few months ago:

"...

5.  We returned to local creek-bed sand from the nearest harvester -- the Yadkin River.

...."

[Quinn Thompson]

...I used to lifeguard there in the summers, shaking babes and flipping burgers, occasionally blowing a whistle...but in the winter months of that year, they gave me a shovel and a kick and pointed me towards the trenches, towards the diesel tanks, down to where the wild things roamed...I took a few pictures, unbeknownst to the others, though I think they knew all along.

[Ronald Montesano]

What year(S), Quinn?

[Will Lozier]

Lovely Quinn!

[Dunlop_White]

Ron -- Quinn took these shots during the Spring of 2013. He is a C & C associate, who joined the team at Old Town after he finished up at Maidstone.

[Scott_Burroughs]

I know Scott thinks #4 turned out great after he hit his second to 3 feet and made eagle!!

Are you saying I should evaluate holes/courses based on how well I play them?    

Some irony in that I eagled the #1 handicap hole (on the card) and doubled (only one) the #18 handicap hole.  I don't agree with either hole's handicap number (and not based on how I played them for one round).  #9 should be #1 handicap hole, IMO (hardest on front) and #14 the easiest on the back.

[Brian Hilko]

Scott-Handicap of a hole has little to do with how hard the hole is.  Handicapping is done by score differential between 2 groups.  15 handicaps and below and 16 and higher.  That is why par 5s are almost always the number 1 handicaps.  Bad golfers make big numbers and good golfers tear up  par 5s. Handicapping holes is done to help lesser golfers out against stronger competition.

[Ronald Montesano]

No thread jack from me, but when are par 5s the number one handicap hole, ever?

EDIT: Mr. Dunlop White III has since emailed me with an explanation as to why distance is the most important factor in handicap computation. Thank you for enlightening me.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Scott-Handicap of a hole has little to do with how hard the hole is.  Handicapping is done by score differential between 2 groups.  15 handicaps and below and 16 and higher.  That is why par 5s are almost always the number 1 handicaps.  Bad golfers make big numbers and good golfers tear up  par 5s. Handicapping holes is done to help lesser golfers out against stronger competition.

Hmmm, I knew that slope was the 'difficulty difference' between a bogey golfer and the scratch golfer, but didn't really know that about hole handicaps.  So does that mean the #18 handicap is the smallest differential?  The particular hole at Old Town is a longish par 3 w/a creek hard down the entire right side....right where most 'bad' golfers miss.

And you may have just offended some 16-cappers out there who don't consider themselves 'bad'.  

[Dunlop_White]

New Pics of Hole 17

[Ben Carey]

I'm not sure how I missed that this work was being done - but it looks incredible.

I never was able to make it out to the course before the restoration, but the before and after pics are incredible and the course looks amazing.

Can't wait to get out there and see it in person.

[Brian Hilko]

I am sorry if I hurt some 16 handicappers feelings.  

I did not understand handicapping until I worked at a course. I always assumed it was by the hardest hole. Handicapping is a really big issue at my club so we handle absorbent amount of score analysis. I know fellow golf pros who do not even understand it that well which is a shame.

I am done with the thread jack. Thanks again for the wonderful photos of Old Town.

[Dunlop_White]

Old Town's restoration was just covered by Ron Whitten in Golf Digest's "Best New Courses" of 2013.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/2013-12/best-new-courses-photos#slide=14

[Josh Smith]

Wow Dunlop !!   This looks so well done.  Love it.  I hadn't seen but one or two construction photos until this.

[David_Madison]

Dunlop,

Any chance you could post a photo of the alligator eyes bunkers on #14? [Carol saw it too!] Also, I'll bet this group would love to hear about your signature bunkers and the thinking behind the tying together of all the fairways starting from #4 and then going to #7 and so on). Even though I've played the course a few times over the past eight years or so, I learned a whole bunch of new things on my last visit, and these are some of the things that were most interesting and memorable.

[Dunlop_White]

Any chance you could post a photo of the alligator eyes bunkers on #14? [Carol saw it too!] Also, I'll bet this group would love to hear about your signature bunkers and the thinking behind the tying together of all the fairways starting from #4 and then going to #7 and so on)./quote]

Coore asked Axland to give him some "Hippo Eyes" or some "Gator Eyes" behind the green, obviously some lingo used before meaning to raise the bunker's profile. A few weeks later sure enough the rear bunkers looked like either Hippo Eyes and Gator Eyes peering above the surface of the water. Then, Bill said to Quinn Thompson, we need a Frog's Eye on the right. Voila! So today -- this small 2,800 square foot green is surrounded by reptiles and I'm not quite as comfortable approaching it any more.



As for the fairways, we are starting a fairway expansion program, a native expansion program, and a bermuda rough elimination program. Looks much better without all the lines! Ron Whitten just wrote about this in Golf Digest saying, "Eventually, one swath of fairway will connect the fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 17th and 18th holes. Very unique". I agree!

[Rees Milikin]

Not too much to add, but the work done here looks really special.  

[Cory Lewis]

Played Old Town again today and I can't say enough about how good this golf course is now.  The maintence meld is perfect and the golf course is one of the most interesting and special places in the country.

[Dunlop_White]

Thanks for all the compliments. We are very pleased with the outcome. More tree work, native work, and fairway expansion ahead.

The course is playing so firm and fast right now. (8-over just won our Club Championship this weekend in a run-away. 20-over took second.)  

[Jeremy Rudock]

The course is playing so firm and fast right now. (8-over just won our Club Championship this weekend in a run-away. 20-over took second.)  

Did Mr. Perry win again?