I'm going to post my general question first so those that tire of reading my drivel don't miss it at the bottom of my post. What notable project was considered to be ground zero for the restoration movement? What club/architect first sought to reverse the effects of neglect or the intentional changes made to classic architecture?
I'm not speaking of clubs that have always had a grasp on their golden era architecture and have repeatedly made nips and tucks here and there to allow it to shine. I'm suggesting a club (or clubs) that had experienced a complete departure from the features and aesthetics used by the ODGs, and decided to return to the original classic architecture (even with some compensations for a more modern game).
In Bill Brightly's thread on Hackensack's restoration of their Road Hole, he briefly mentions the steps taken (well intentioned as they may have been) that led to the transformation of the club's golden age course to one that would be familiar to many, many golfers that came of age in the game from the 60s on...
"Hackensack might be viewed as a microcosm of what happened to many golf courses built by the ODG's in the States. Construction in the first quarter of the 20th century, removal of some features during the Great Depression (thanks, A.W. Tillinghast...) modernization in the 60's to look like a Robert Trent Jones course, add a thousand white pines in the early1970's to create separation from other holes (thanks Augusta,) bring in Rees Jones in the 90's to rebuild the collapsing sand faced bunkers Gordon put in, a major tree removal project started 10 years ago, and finally, a restoration to attempt to return as much as possible to our Macdonald-Raynor-Banks roots."I think breaking through the trends of the 60s era courses made several architects gamechangers. Pete Dye, Tom Doak, etc... are often mentioned when discussing the move away from the formulaic look that had grown to dominate the golf landscape. Hell, I'm relatively young (35) and I know that I grew up with the mindset that a proper golf course looked like what you might find on a typical RTJ project. This isn't meant to be a criticism of RTJ's work or philosophy, just a suggestion that the look was commonplace and even strived for by many clubs that didn't fit the mold.
The reason I think the trend away from the mid century product is so important is that it has opened the eyes of many, to how interesting courses can be when the main goal is/was to take full advantage of the unique features of each course's property. Just look at the before and after differences in local (to me anyway
) courses such as Beverly and Flossmoor. Bunker improvements, green recapture, improved mowing lines all done in an attempt to return the course(s) to what once was, and they are no doubt better for it.
What is considered the seminal moment in the movement? The answer to that question probably includes several gamechangers.