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Ronald Montesano

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Merion Gamble
« on: June 08, 2013, 09:30:26 PM »
From this article: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/us-open/2013-06/us-open-david-fay

"The USGA's Joe Dey had become enamored with the work of architect Robert Trent Jones, and Trent was all about big and brawny. After reworking Oakland Hills in 1951 into a course described by Hogan as a "monster," Jones had strengthened Baltusrol Lower in 1954. Both these clubs were 36-hole operations, with plenty of staging room. Dey saw this as the future, so it's no wonder that the Open went to large facilities like Congressional (1964), Bellerive (1965), Champions (1969) and Hazeltine (1970)."

So, did Joe Dey ever help golf course architecture?
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Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: Merion Gamble
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2013, 05:44:55 AM »
Mr. Dey was also trying to eliminate as many bunkers as possible from The Creek Club when he was green chairman there.  The superintendent told me his "master plan" was to get down to FOUR bunkers, out of Macdonald and Raynor's original 120 or so.

Rick Shefchik

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Re: Merion Gamble
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2013, 05:45:10 PM »
It can be said of Joe Dey that he at least recognized early on that equipment and physical training were making the traditional courses lesser tests of golf than they used to be. Trent Jones determined that severe doglegs were the best way to counter the increased distance the pros were hitting the ball, and Dey endorsed this remedy. It did not make for charming golf courses, but the game is still struggling to find a way to deal with the distance problem Dey recognized a half-century ago.
"Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation." - Grantland Rice

Joe Bausch

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Re: Merion Gamble
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2013, 07:18:10 PM »
Maybe you would enjoy these articles by Joe Dey in the Evening Bulletin, a Philly paper he cut his teeth on before moving to the USGA:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33841.0.html

Anything there to suggest a dislike of bunkers?  Maybe he really liked Cobb's Creek, which was not significantly bunkered.
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