Although not certain, I tend not to agree that all or nearly all the greens at PCC are by Maxwell. Admittedly, I have not seen enough of Maxwell to be as definitive as Tom Paul or others. And I certainly have not done the exhaustive work that Mike McNulty (who I have the highest regard for) has. But my feeling is that 2, 4, 8, and 10 (former 17, 1, 14, and 6) seem to be Maxwell greens.
Melville Curtis (chairman of the golf committee for the 1939 US Open) wrote in a July 7, 1938 letter to the club VP about the club and plans to implement for the Open:
"This (PCC) was designed by Mr. Flynn and then remodeled under Mr. Clark by a Mr. Maxwell. The changes were made because the greens that were built up by filled dirt began to settle a little which threw the ball to one side. Also to make the course easier for the average player. They left the long teees (sic) and drives and then eased up the approach shots. This is contrary to the theory of golf course design that has been accepted for a number of years, which is to tighten the approach to the green and then for the average player to shorten the drive so he can have as easy a shot with a 200 yard drive as the professional has with a 275 yard drive."
The letter goes on to say:
"to lengthen some holes a little to make up for the tremendous distance that the professionals now drive and shoft (sic) the back tee at the 6th hole which Mr. Maxwell changed from a right hand to a left hand hole and on which he should have changed the tee."
Maxwell may have moved the 10th (old 6th) tee a bit from the original Flynn plan. The tee is clearly different than Flynn's original design on the materials I have on hand. However, Flynn's drawing seems to match the hole today as regards the fairway and green location. There was no pond in between this hole and the present 6th (former 12th); it was a creek that was dammed at some point. This makes it difficult to be certain...I'll have to show it to Tom Paul and we'll figure it out with careful measurements.
As to the greens that Maxwell changed, Curtis writes on page 2 of the letter:
"There are two other things I would like to do; (a) There are three or four greens that were rebuilt by Mr. Maxwell. These do not drain because he did not make the proper foundation. If we have a heavy rain, they have large puddles, some of which do not drain for a day or more. I would dislike to have this happen next June, but should we have heavy rain at that time, we could rent a compressed air drill which would remedy the defect for the tournament."
"Some time these greens should be plowed up and rebuilt but it is a big job."
"Incidently, we have placed tile drains in some of these but the clay prevents the drainage to the tile."
The second thing Curtis wanted to do was have a foreward tee on the 2nd (current 15th) a long uphill par 3 to make it more in line with typical member ability.
In a July 12 letter to Mr. Curtis, Wm Flynn wrote about his suggestions for changes to the course for the upcoming Open. This is a fascinating letter that will most certainly be in our book. The archives at PCC are quite interesting and informative. Mike McNulty did a great job of preserving and recording the club's documents and made them available to Tom and myself.