Wayne Stiles

[Bryan Icenhower]

Vacationing on the cape this week and popped over to the south shore to play Duxbury Yacht Club.  After playing it, and enjoying the Stiles designed holes quite a bit , I went looking for more of his work. What other courses out there are Wayne Stiles originals? Why don't we hear more about him as he has about 70 courses attributed to him according to the Wayne Stiles Society website?

[Andy Treen]

Bryan,

There are many in Massachusetts.

Working east to west:

Woods Hole GC
Marshfield CC
Pine Brook CC
Half of Marlborough CC
Half of Oak Hill CC
CC of Pittsfield
and Taconic GC (Check the profile in Courses by Country - though this profile is pre - Gil Hanse Rennovation)

I know there are more.

Here is a handy reference.

http://www.waynestilessociety.com/courses.htm

[Phil McDade]

One of my favorite threads posted on GCA...

(forget about belt-notching; I read this site for threads like this and dream of taking trips like this...)

The Maine Island Golf Tour:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,25025.0.html

[Ronald Montesano]

Before his early and untimely death, Bob Labbance wrote a terrific compendium: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=9557366818&searchurl=an%3Dlabbance%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dstiles

[Ken Fry]

Bryan,

There are many in Massachusetts.

Working east to west:

Woods Hole GC
Marshfield CC
Pine Brook CC
Half of Marlborough CC
Half of Oak Hill CC
CC of Pittsfield
and Taconic GC (Check the profile in Courses by Country - though this profile is pre - Gil Hanse Rennovation)

I know there are more.

Here is a handy reference.

http://www.waynestilessociety.com/courses.htm

Andy,

Don't forget Cranwell just down south county from you in Lenox.

I'll echo Ron's statement about Bob Labbance and Kevin Mendik's book on Wayne Stiles.  It's an exhaustive work on all the courses Wayne Stiles designed and/or worked on.

Ken

[David Harshbarger]

Cranwell has some cool holes 6, 7,8,13 (I think, with the ledge and diaganol bunkers) but the start of the back is really pinched by the woods. 

Phil, that is one of the all-time great threads on the courses in Maine.  Folks should check it out.

Taconic I've heard is a real gem.

[John Ezekowitz]

Pine Brook is well-routed in a tiny piece of very hilly property. Woods Hole is endlessly fun and challenging; the dropshot par 3 17th down to a little cove is stunning.

[Tim Martin]

Cranwell has some cool holes 6, 7,8,13 (I think, with the ledge and diaganol bunkers) but the start of the back is really pinched by the woods. 

Phil, that is one of the all-time great threads on the courses in Maine.  Folks should check it out.

Taconic I've heard is a real gem.

Dave-Although I agree that Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes. Taconic is fantastic and exponentially better than Cranwell.

[David Harshbarger]

Cranwell has some cool holes 6, 7,8,13 (I think, with the ledge and diaganol bunkers) but the start of the back is really pinched by the woods. 

Phil, that is one of the all-time great threads on the courses in Maine.  Folks should check it out.

Taconic I've heard is a real gem.

Dave-Although I agree that Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes. Taconic is fantastic and exponentially better than Cranwell.

Tim, I'm with you on that.  I'm not heading back to Cranwell any time soon.  Taconic is on my radar...has been for a while :-).

Wish I could make it out to Yale in the outing coming up.  I have the photos on my desktop wallpaper rotation and it is a blast to see them come up.  You are a lucky man.

[Carl Johnson]

Read this discussion for a possible connection of Wayne Stiles to the Lake Lure (N.C.) Municipal Golf Course: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39361.0.html

[Tim Martin]

Cranwell has some cool holes 6, 7,8,13 (I think, with the ledge and diaganol bunkers) but the start of the back is really pinched by the woods. 

Phil, that is one of the all-time great threads on the courses in Maine.  Folks should check it out.

Taconic I've heard is a real gem.

Dave-Although I agree that Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes. Taconic is fantastic and exponentially better than Cranwell.

Tim, I'm with you on that.  I'm not heading back to Cranwell any time soon.  Taconic is on my radar...has been for a while :-).

Wish I could make it out to Yale in the outing coming up.  I have the photos on my desktop wallpaper rotation and it is a blast to see them come up.  You are a lucky man.

David-Maybe I can convince our mutual friend the esteemed Mr. Kennedy from Hotchkiss to take a trip up to Taconic in the fall to meet up with you. It really is awesome if you can get a play during the foliage.

[David Harshbarger]

Cranwell has some cool holes 6, 7,8,13 (I think, with the ledge and diaganol bunkers) but the start of the back is really pinched by the woods. 

Phil, that is one of the all-time great threads on the courses in Maine.  Folks should check it out.

Taconic I've heard is a real gem.

Dave-Although I agree that Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes. Taconic is fantastic and exponentially better than Cranwell.

Tim, I'm with you on that.  I'm not heading back to Cranwell any time soon.  Taconic is on my radar...has been for a while :-).

Wish I could make it out to Yale in the outing coming up.  I have the photos on my desktop wallpaper rotation and it is a blast to see them come up.  You are a lucky man.

David-Maybe I can convince our mutual friend the esteemed Mr. Kennedy from Hotchkiss to take a trip up to Taconic in the fall to meet up with you. It really is awesome if you can get a play during the foliage.

I would love that.

[Tom ORourke]

Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes
I was a student there when it was a high school, class of 1969. When I arrived there in 1965 it was a nine hole course. The first 5 holes and the last 4 holes were the course. In 1966 the other nine holes were added. That may be the disjoint. The fifth was a par 5 and is now a par 4 as homes were added near the tee. I see one of the par 4s on the back is now a par 3 and the par is now 69. I am not sure if those extra holes were once there, abandoned and redone, or if Stiles had no part of them and they were added  by someone, but the course has been altered too much over the years to be an original.

[Mike Sweeney]

I drove past it on July 4th with no time to play, and Rutland Country Club is just a sliver behind Taconic on the Doak Scale. Mr Moore also did one of his unique write-ups on Rutland:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49943.0.html

[Bryan Icenhower]

Here is a handy reference.

http://www.waynestilessociety.com/courses.htm

I looked at that site but it doesn't give a lot of information.  For instance, it lists DYC, but in reality it is only 9 designed by Stiles.  In the 60s Cornish laid out another 9, and the only way to know this (it was obvious to me when playing that some holes just didn't fit with the others) was in asking the head pro.  It doesn't seem to be listed anywhere else.

[Bryan Icenhower]

Although I agree that Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes.

Duxbury is the same way, as the head pro told me ...
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18 are Stiles (with 18 being the original first hole) from the 20s
and 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are Cornish from the 60s
 

[Ken Fry]

Cranwell has some good holes the routing seems disjointed to me especially when you make your way across the road to the inward nine holes
I was a student there when it was a high school, class of 1969. When I arrived there in 1965 it was a nine hole course. The first 5 holes and the last 4 holes were the course. In 1966 the other nine holes were added. That may be the disjoint. The fifth was a par 5 and is now a par 4 as homes were added near the tee. I see one of the par 4s on the back is now a par 3 and the par is now 69. I am not sure if those extra holes were once there, abandoned and redone, or if Stiles had no part of them and they were added  by someone, but the course has been altered too much over the years to be an original.

Tom,

Interesting stuff.  I grew up in Pittsfield and played Cranwell many times.  I have always been under the impression that all 18 holes (at least those prior to housing developments) were all Stiles and Van Kleek.

I agree once homes began going up on the back nine, the course and it's character changed dramatically.  My fondest memories of playing the place with my Dad were before any development was done from the 10th through 15th holes.

Ken

[Dan Moore]

The is a little tournament this week on a Stiles, or whats left of a Stiles, out in Nebraska.  I assume the essential routing is fairly original.  Terrific course.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130706/SPORTS/707069994/1707

A view of the 2nd hole, apparently featuring an original Stiles green complemented by Foster's Maxwellian bunkering. A 557 par 5 for the Seniors.












And Stiles 4th green.

[Ronald Montesano]

Funny story about Stiles: When Bob Labbance was researching courses for the book, he came to western New York to learn what Stiles had done at East Aurora country club. He made a stop at South Shore in Hamburg (a bit south of Buffalo along Lake Erie), once a private club and now a public-access course. What he found was original correspondence from Stiles, an entire 18-hole course running the same fairways as originally laid out, original drawings, essentially a treasure trove of information. South Shore is sometimes the butt of jokes locally for its (lack of) conditioning practices. The folks who run the course are terrific people, but they don't demonstrate that they understand what they have. A number of bunkers have been removed and fairways and rough often blend together (and I ain't talking fast and firm; more like thick and turtle at times.) I don't believe that there is any money available to consider a restoration, and I'm not certain that there would be money post-restoration to maintain the course as it should be kept.

[Phil McDade]

The is a little tournament this week on a Stiles, or whats left of a Stiles, out in Nebraska.  I assume the essential routing is fairly original.  Terrific course.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130706/SPORTS/707069994/1707

Dan: Cornish and Whitten list Omaha as originally by Langford and Moreau, with a renovation by Perry Maxwell.

Stiles did most of his work in in New England, and C&W list no courses of his west of St. Louis. Langford, meanwhile, is credited with three separate courses in Omaha -- Happy Hollow (1926), Highland (1924), and Omaha CC (1927). Plus he had extensive experience throughout the Upper Midwest. And Maxwell of course had extensive experience in the Midwest designing and renovating courses.

Does that article you site make sense, given the geographical locale of the three architects' work?

[Dan Moore]

Phil,

I seem to recall that C&W's report Langford's role at Omaha was incorrect.  I think I may have heard that from Ron, but do not remember for certain.  In any event I have no reason to doubt the article.  Clearly the club has elected to emphasise the tie to Maxwell with the bunkers of Foster's renovation. 

[Tom Ferrell]

Stiles did venture down south, to Thomasville, GA (winter rail destination of Great Lakes-region during the Robber Baron era), where he designed Glen Arven CC.  Awesome piece of property.  A club member recently discovered original plans in an old quail-hunting plantation house, and the club is now conduction a "resto-vation" of the golf course.  Glen Arven was actually quite well known through the 1950s.  PGA Tour used to stop there (Hogan has won there; so has Snead). 

Super layout - old golf at its finest, with great topography and routing.