[TEPaul]

"They look a lot like Ross, Travis and others from that era, being on the typical graph paper."


There is obviously very good and very practical reasons a lot of the architects of that era drew similar looking plans with similar language on it (sort of boilerplate)-----eg the actual markings are something of an architectural "lexicon" or language which together with the textual explanations on the right are simply easier to follow in construction with foremen and construction crews. 

[Tom MacWood]

Steve
Here is a Park ad from late 1923, right before his brother Mungo brought him home to Scotland.

[Mike Cirba]

Here's the original nine at Schuylkill CC in Orwigsburg, PA.   Some time back Joe Bausch found evidence that Park was the man, but that was in 1916 and WWI intervened and the nine holes didn't get built/open until 1921.   

I have no idea if Park drew this or not, but from a previous Kyle Harris thread, here's the first nine.    I can see that the holes definitely have characteristics I've seen on other Park courses, as has been discussed here previously.

[Tom MacWood]

Here is Park's list of courses circa 1923, again Shuttlemeadow is mentioned fairly prominently.

[Ryan Taylor]

Tom MacWood,

I would like to resurrect this topic.

I'm trying to find more information about Red Run GC (1914) in Royal Oak, MI. I'm specifically looking for original routing, maps, pictures, descriptions, etc.

Can you specifically link Mr. Park Jr to the greater Detroit area in the early 1900's? Being that he built 10+ courses in the Midwest, did he live or stay in one particular area?

I also read somewhere that Tom Doak listed Battle Creek CC as one of his favorites or top undiscovered. Can anyone expand on this?

Ryan

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Ryan,

Sadly, Tom passed away just over a year ago. Here's an obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dispatch/obituary.aspx?pid=159177449#fbLoggedOut

[Ryan Taylor]

Dónal,

Thank you. Sad news.

Ryan

[Chris DeToro]

Hey Ryan, I'm a member of Battle Creek CC and an active member of the greens committee.  We were very excited to be noticed by Tom last year for our golf course and one of our members' kids was also recently highlighted, I believe, in Golf Magazine as he became the second youngest to ever qualify for the US Am.  So lots of great golf exposure for our small club.  

BCCC opened in 1919.  We just recently wrapped up a massive bunker renovation with Bruce Hepner and will be finishing up most of our tree removal plan this fall.  The course tips out just a little over 6900 yards, par 72 (though it typically plays to a par 71 during qualifying events--they play the tees up on the 9th hole making it a long par 4 as opposed to a mid-length par 5) so not long by any means.  We're most known for our very large (maybe Tom can expand more, but I believe his words when he walked off the course with our super were simply "big greens") and fast greens.  Our super prides himself on keeping the greens extremely fast, typically running between 12-13 throughout the summer.  I think we have a nice variety of holes and some really cool features.  The bunker remodel was also a tremendous success and restored a lot of the playability that Willie Park's original design intended.  

Let me know what else you're interested in knowing.  I'll try to post some pictures soon after our greens have healed (we just started our fall maintenance).  

Chris

[Ryan Taylor]

Hi Chris,

Having played Sunningdale Old, it's very difficult to see the connection between the Old and some of the Midwest US Willie Park Jnr designs.

How much of the BCCC history was recorded? (old routings, old photos, etc.) How informed about Willie Park Jnr is your greens committee? Do you consider the bunker renovation to be a restoration? Can you talk more about the original look of the BCCC bunkers? Is it a change from highly manicured, sharp edges to a more natural look? How did you educate ("sell") your membership on a tree removal plan?

Sorry for all the q's.

Ryan

[Chris DeToro]

Unfortunately the only other Willie Park course I've played is Olympia Fields, so I can't compare much to his other designs.  But to answer a few of your questions:

BCCC is pretty big on the history.  We do have the old routings and photos of the course and it's pretty dramatic how much the course had changed over the years due to situations where the greens committee chair's wife wanted more trees or a bunker here or there.  So the bunker project was really both a renovation and a restoration, I would say.  Many bunkers were removed (I believe the total was 8?  Including all of the bunkers that surrounded the 6th hole.  None of those were in the original design and they were a maintenance and playability nightmare since they sat in the lowest lying area on the course), many were shifted (best example is the bunker in front of the 5th green which now fronts more of the green, protecting the front left pin a little better and the bunker to the right of 14 green which was shifted up, allowing more of a swale front left of the green as opposed to bunker) and the remaining bunkers were all deepened and reshaped to give more of a natural, classic look.  I wouldn't say that they're rugged by any means, but they flow naturally with the lay of the land.  I would say it looks similar to the bunker work that was done at Belvedere in northern MI or Walnut Hills in Lansing.  

As for the tree removal, I joined after the plan had been pitched and started, but I've heard the stories.  We had some luck from mother nature who took out some problem trees during storms (also took out some non-problem trees that need to be replanted to restore some of the trouble to certain holes) but I think we were "lucky" in that a lot of the trees that were added over the years were just of poor quality, so making the case to remove them wasn't as hard as originally thought.  Plus, we sold it in with the entirety of the restoration plan, so learning about the history of the course and having Mr Hepner explain how Willie Park intended the course to be played and how the changes that we were proposing were meant to restore and make for a better course and experience helped a lot as well.

If you're ever in the area, definitely stop by!

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