OLD TOWN CLUBAlthough the current greens are a close approximation of Maxwell's originals, The Old Course homage double green for #s 8 & 17 and movement of the greens in general most reflect Maxwell’s admiration for St Andrews. The great architect was also very impressed by how well so many of the holes on Scottish championship courses lay on the land. These two design principles would be beacons for the entirety of Perry Maxwell’s architectural career.
An unforeseeable event happened during Maxwell's epic 1919 journey to Scotland. The coincidental meeting with Dr Alister Mackenzie, was to eventually lead to a partnership between the two. For Mackenzie, it was his modus operandi to work with creative and industrious people in bringing many of his most famous designs to fruition. For Maxwell, it was a double edged sword. There can be little doubt working with Mackenzie was a feather in his cap, but many later golf historians would mistakenly consider Maxwell’s legacy mainly in terms of a Mackenzie associate. Thankfully, in the past the ten years or so, that misconception has been rectified.
Classic architecture is about many things, but a sense of connection surely must be one of the most important aspects of that period. From approximately 1900 to the Great Depression there necessarily existed a much tighter community in the business of golf than exists today and Old Town is one of the greatest products of this coterie. Consider the timeline below:
1913: Maxwell designs a first effort for Dornick Hills.
1919: Maxwell visits Scotland to experience many championship courses, but most especially TOC.
1919: During the Scottish trip, Maxwell meets Alistair Mackenzie, the two hit it off and, before parting make loose plans to work together should Mackenzie come to the USA.
1920-1926: Maxwell designs several courses including Twin Hills in Oklahoma City.
1924: Mackenzie appointed consultant to the R&A.
1926: Mackenzie visits Maxwell at Twin Hills in Oklahoma City.
1927-1931: Mackenzie, now quite a famous architect, teams with Maxwell for several projects, including; Oklahoma City CC, Melrose CC in Philadelphia, Crystal Downs Club in Michigan and the University of Michigan GC in Ann Arbor.
1933: Augusta National GC designed by Mackenzie and Bob Jones shortly before Mackenzie’s death; Jones is a great admirer of TOC and the design principles of ANGC are closely associated with TOC.
1933: Maxwell works on Pine Valley GC; a course which was significantly enhanced by HS Colt, a former partner of Mackenzie.
1934: Maxwell co-designs Colonial CC.
1935: Maxwell works on National Golf Links of America. Course designed by CB Macdonald who attended The University of St Andrews and became well acquainted with TOC.
1935: Maxwell designs Southern Hills CC in Tulsa.
1936: Mackenzie works on Links Club.
1937: Maxwell designs the 9 hole Prairie Dunes CC in Hutchinson, Kansas.
1937-38: Maxwell works on Augusta National GC and Merion GC. Clifford Roberts, co-founder of ANGC, is hired to work for the firm of Reynolds & Company (later to become Dean, Witter, Reynolds). He would then recommend Maxwell for the Old Town job.
1938: The Babcocks (daughter of RJ Reynolds) donate 165 acres of the Reynolda estate to found Old Town Club.
1939: The Maxwell designed Old Town Club opens in Winston Salem. Many believe this is the final course designed on classic principles.
1939: Maxwell works on Maidstone GC & Westchester CC.
1940: Maxwell works on Colonial CC.
1946-48: Maxwell designs Austin CC, and stays periodically with Harvey Pennick, the long serving head professional of the club. The original course was Ben Crenshaw’s home course in the 1960s before attending the University of Texas. Like Old Town, Austin featured many Maxwell trademarks: downhill front and back nine opening tee shots, uphill finishing holes for each nine, many greens tightly bunkered and rolling greens. Crenshaw’s famous putting skills were honed at Austin CC. It is well known that TOC is one of Crenshaw’s favourite courses and one he looks to for inspiration in design.
1949: A Palmer wins the Southern Conference Championship at Old Town.
1954: In his final year at Wake Forest, Arnold Palmer leads the team to a 2nd place ACC finish at Old Town and wins the US Amateur. He would be the first of many players, including Curtis Strange, Darren Clark, Lanny Wadkins and Jay Sigel, to be groomed by Old Town for a successful career in golf.
1956: Wake Forest University Golf Team begins a long and close association with Old Town Club, two years before the university moves to Winston Salem.
1962: Bill Coore enrols at Wake Forest University. He played a minor role on the golf team, but never played in a Varsity match. Coore greatly admires the work of Maxwell, especially his greens and routings and counts Old Town as one of his favourite courses.
1982: After spending a decade cutting his teeth with Pete Dye, Coore starts his own architecture firm.
1984: Coore starts a long partnership with Prairie Dunes as a consultant. It could well be that this is the big bang point for the current minimalist movement.
1986: Ben Crenshaw joins Bill Coore as a partner.
1992: Coore and Crenshaw open Sand Hills to critical acclaim. Many believe it to be the best course opened since Old Town Club.
1995: Bob Cupp renovation of Old Town.
2002: Long term tree management project begins.
2004: Coore & Crenshaw renovate Prairie Dunes.
2012-2013: Fresh off renovating Pinehurst #2 to rave reviews, Coore & Crenshaw hired to renovate Old Town; the course reopened in August 2013.
One can easily see the incredible connections between TOC, Old Town, ANGC, Prairie Dunes, Mackenzie, Maxwell, Jones, Coore and Crenshaw. However, it takes a will power on the part of a club to effect change and Dunlop White iii has been at the helm of this process of improvement at Old Town for over a decade. Once meeting Dunlop it is clear he is a strong advocate for proper tree management and preserving principles of classic design. Old Town Club and golfers in general are extremely lucky to have a man of vision guiding the re-birth of one of the best courses in the US.
Dunlop explains the nine month renovation work:
1. Restored the approximate size, shape and dimensions of Maxwell’s original bunkers.
2. Reinstated some of Maxwell’s common bunker formations:
-- Scabs: "islands of turf", often called "scabs", were reinstated.
-- Big and Little Bunker Sets: Maxwell’s bunker systems tended to feature one large bunker with a smaller one tagging along.
3. Revived the artistic character of Maxwell’s natural bunker style.
-- Jagged Edges: we recaptured Maxwell’s rugged bunkers with jagged-laced edges, rumpled lips, and exposed dirt face variations.
-- Native Plant Patina: we recaptured stalks of native bluestems, known as Broomsedge, which will once again envelope the edges.
4. Restored the original depths of bunker floors. In coring out the bunkers, their original depths were idnetified by unearthing old sand layers and drainage tiles approximately two feet below the current bunker floors.
5. Returned to local creek-bed sand from the nearest harvester -- the Yadkin River.
6. Restored 68 bunkers in their original locations, and added 9 bunkers in new locations.
7. Restored the close relationship and proximity between bunkers/greens. An important element of the restoration was tying the bunkers and the greens back together seamlessly.
8. The double green was 8,200 square feet in 2012. The restored version is 16,300 square feet which closer resemble its source of inspiration at The Old Course -- home to seven large double greens.
9. Re-contoured hole 5 green which had lost its Maxwell "rolls".
10. Expanded the size of the putting surface on nine (9) greens closer to their original foot prints.
11. Expanded the fairways from 35 acres to 52 acres to recapture the width revealed in the old aerial photos.
12. Repaved the cart trails (re-routed some trails and removed others altogether)
13. Removed dozens of huge trees which had outgrown their welcome.
14. Re-constructed over 22 tee boxes by slightly adjusting their distance or their orientation to the fairway.
15. Native area work will commence in the fall.
16. Plan to increase fairway acreage to approximately 80 acres; including a massive expance of fairway between #s 4, 7, 8, 9, 17 & 18.
17. Plan to eliminate Bermuda rough, leaving only native areas and fairway (similar to Pinehurst #2 with all waste areas and fairway – no Bermuda rough).
18. Plan to switch the 9th and 18th tees.
With the lengthy intro it should be more than obvious I am greatly affected by Old Town and the recent work. I thought very highly of the design after first seeing Old Town maybe four years ago. Dunlop enthusiastically spoke about further tree removal to create interior views, something I am always in favour of especially on a site with limited potential for exterior views, but I was not prepared for the Coore & Crenshaw renovations. While much the same course, Old Town is aesthetically vastly improved and in spots visually more intimidating. I was impressed by Mid-Pines’ renovation, but the work at Old Town could very well be considered THE model renovation. It seems to me that every possible improvement which could be made is at the very least on the table for discussion. In fact, the very day I played Old Town it was decided to switch the 9 and 18th tees. Dunlop asked us to step over to the 18th tee (all of a few feet!), look up the 9th fairway and see the improvement for ourselves. I have to admit that keeping the ball safely left did strike me as a more obvious play from the 18th tee and playing to the right side of the 18th fairway more imperative when playing from the 9th tee. Life can be quite simple! Onto the course.
A very attractive opening tee shot conceals the danger of a nasty native area left and a creek crossing the fairway.
On #2 the golfer is treated to a wonderful par 3 whose bunkers have been radically overhauled.
The lay of the land wants to shove tee shots left into tree trouble, but a good drive on #3 leaves an approach from just shy of what I think is a new bunker, or perhaps a repositioned bunker. I seem to recall a bunker being more centre-line. In any case, the land movement heads directly for the bunker in the foreground so its placement makes a lot of sense. The green moves almost imperceptively right to left! I had an interesting incident occur. From the left rough I caught a flyer, my 9 iron, which I chose because I didn't think I could reach that blasted black Merc, flew over the green, hit directly on the mound, took one bounce over the black Merc and slammed into a maintenance fence. While searching for the ball I jokingly said it would be difficult to explain to our host how I broke a window. Dunlop later confessed the black Merc was his, though I wasn't totally convinced this was the case until he unlocked the door! Whew!
More to follow.
Ciao