Torresdale- Frankford (Ross) news...

[Jim_Coleman]

Joe:  Not to USGA spec, right?  Meaning - dig them out, put in stone, dirt, sand mix, etc.  Merion "softened" 12 and 15, but didn't rebuild the greens.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe:  Not to USGA spec, right?  Meaning - dig them out, put in stone, dirt, sand mix, etc.  Merion "softened" 12 and 15, but didn't rebuild the greens.

TFCC is not going to do the 'usga spec' greens on 1 and 3.  AFAIK, they won't be rebuilding them, just "softening".

[mike_malone]

1 green is just a tilted disk so I can see the need to reduce the slope. But 3 is a special green where care must be taken to preserve the internal contours. It's just a tough, unrelenting golf hole that I love. Remove the trees right and left and bring back the recovery shot.
T/F members would be in their glory if that course played as designed for recovery shots.  I don't think I have seen another course where trees cover up great golfing ground as at this place.

[archie_struthers]

  

Love Torresdale , such a fun golf course.  Never forget playing the first thirty years ago and fully imagining the possibilities. It would be a great place for a nature walk this fall to discuss the architecture .  Wonder how much has morphed over  the years .

Remember guys putting off the green on 1 in a qualifier , they knew something was up pretty quick ,

[Bill Shotzbarger]

1 green is just a tilted disk so I can see the need to reduce the slope. But 3 is a special green where care must be taken to preserve the internal contours. It's just a tough, unrelenting golf hole that I love. Remove the trees right and left and bring back the recovery shot.
T/F members would be in their glory if that course played as designed for recovery shots.  I don't think I have seen another course where trees cover up great golfing ground as at this place.

I couldn't agree more!

[Joe Bausch]

I listened to Stephen Kay's presentation concerning the work at TFCC, now officially known as the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale.  The 'sympathetic restoration' starts in earnest in a couple of days, with the completion of phase 1 by May of next year, weather permitting.  At least a couple of hundred trees will be removed, bunkers redone with a few new ones added, a couple of greens softened, etc.  Here is a 'clickable' plan for the work:



I heard a number around 3 mill for the work on the course.  The renovation of the clubhouse is going pretty full tilt right now, with the price tag around 4 mill.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is a nice 1939 aerial of Torresdale.  Gosh how nice it would be to go back to that width!

(it is clickable to a larger size)

[Mark McKeever]

Here is a nice 1939 aerial of Torresdale.  Gosh how nice it would be to go back to that width!

(it is clickable to a larger size)

 

Wow, I've never seen that old aerial before.  It looks phenomenal!

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Joe Logan visits T-F and interviews Stephen Kay:

http://myphillygolf.com/detail.asp?id=15927&pid=20

[mike_malone]

Look at that serial for the use of creeks. 11 is a great diagonal use fronting a par three. 8 has the creek right in back and that is a blind shot to the green. I don't know any examples like that. The other uses of the creek are the classic variety where the creek is not penal.

I just noticed the old 17 had a creek that required a carry at the green. That hole isn't there anymore because of road widening.

[Mark McKeever]

8 has the creek right in back and that is a blind shot to the green. I don't know any examples like that
 

Mayday,
CC Of Scranton, hole 10 has a creek immediately behind the green on a potentially blind second shot down the hill.  Anything on the back fringe with any roll will trickle all the way down and into the creek as it's all shaved down nicely.  JWB and I dropped a ball on the back fringe that ended up wet about 20 seconds later.  Awesome green site!

MM

[Jim Sherma]

8 has the creek right in back and that is a blind shot to the green. I don't know any examples like that
 

Mayday,
CC Of Scranton, hole 10 has a creek immediately behind the green on a potentially blind second shot down the hill.  Anything on the back fringe with any roll will trickle all the way down and into the creek as it's all shaved down nicely.  JWB and I dropped a ball on the back fringe that ended up wet about 20 seconds later.  Awesome green site!

MM

Scranton #10 is a wonderful green. trying to figure out the best shot into that green is a puzzle that would be fun day after day for many years.

[Mark McKeever]

Jim, I think that statement is true of MANY of the greens at CC of Scranton.  If not all of them.  

Top 5 set of greens I have ever seen IMO.

Mark


****END OF THREAD HIJACK****

[Jim Sherma]

Agree wholly that the set is as good an anything that I've seen. The only green that really didn't do it for me was #5's. The pin was frontish right and just sat on a broad slope that was really too steep to be pinned at the speed they had the greens at. The green in general was just kind of blah compared to the rest. I'm sure it is one of the few that are not original Travis. Admittedly a minor quibble though.

7-8-9 and 10 is a crazy good stretch of greens.

[Mark McKeever]

Jim,  I agree with you that 5 was mostly slope and not undulations.  But if you're stringing the stretch together you have to add 6 green.  



****END of THREAD JACK***

[Bill Shotzbarger]

Here is a nice 1939 aerial of Torresdale.  Gosh how nice it would be to go back to that width!

(it is clickable to a larger size)

Love the shared fairway on Holes 12/16.

Course will be reopening on Thursday, May 28. Clubhouse looking like late summer.

[Joe Bausch]

Love that pic, Bill.

A few weeks ago I took many pics of the ongoing work at Torresdale.  I'll try to put them into a photo album soon and make them available.

[Joe Bausch]

On April 6 I took a tour of the ongoing work at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale.  Here are the pics I gathered (note:  the greens were being punched and sanded this day):

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/ULatT_Construction/

[Joe Bausch]

And today I was fortunate to play the golf course to see the work done by Stephen Kay.  Here is a new photo album:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/ULGCatT