Manufacturers - rays of hope

[mark chalfant]

    I recently drank a few  ales with  Old Tom Morris at a dive in Trenton  and he whispered to me that this club's  Flynn design was about to

be  restored  by Ron Forse and  Jim  Nagle.

Can anyone out there confirm this  or was Old Tom just pulling my leg  ??

[Mike_Cirba]

That would be a wonderful thing.  

Hopefully, they'll be allowed to clear cut.  

[SPDB]

what happened to Fazio?

[mike_malone]

 There are some layups on that course that can help the membership see the benefits of tree removal and restoration.I am glad to see Forse building his Flynn resume.IF TRUE!!

[Mike_Cirba]

Sean;

Was Fazio's organization slated to work at Manny's?  

After seeing Forse's (largely with inhouse work through Mike McNulty) work at Philly Country Club and Lehigh, compared against the "restoration" efforts by Fazio at...oh, let's say Riviera to avoid the obvious local comparison, I have to applaud the club.  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Me too!

SPDB, How many new bunkers is Tom Marzaltovich going to find that never existed?

[mark chalfant]

    Theres good news from  Oreland....

I spoke with  Todd and Ron  of  Ron Forse Design and they comfimed

that Manufacturers has chosen Ron's   firm to  restore this Flynn course.


Based  on the firms efforts at  Peninsula, Salem, Spring Mill, and

Lawsonia this  is an exciting development.

[DPL11]

I was the superintendent at Mannys when Ron & Jim came to do their first walk through. Forse was one of the firms that I recommended along with a few others. I was very impressed with Ron & Jim, and after leaving in '01 had hoped that they would get the job.

There are about 3 times as many bunkers and 5,000 more trees than when the club opened in 1925. I am sitting here looking at an aerial from a month before the club opened, and as you can imagine, it isn't the same track.

It is a very nice golf course that could be wonderful if the club follows the recomendations and spends the coin.
Fazio was never slated to do any work at Mannys. He was the childhood friend of a board member, and would come to the club almost every year for an unofficial walk-through. It was never contracted, and was conducted solely as a courtesy to his friend.

Hopefully the club does the right thing. Time will tell.

[Rob_Waldron]

DPL11

Any chance that you could post that aerial of Manny's???

[DPL11]

I will have to see if I can get it scanned. I don't have one here. Any suggestions would help.

[SMay]

Gentlemen,
First time in the discussion group.  I am the present superintendent at MGCC and have been here since DPL departed.  If there is any confusion or rumors, I will help clear them up.
MGCC is very excited to have Forse Design, Inc. contracted and currently working on our Master Plan. We interviewed three architects and Forse Design was the easy selection when all was said and done.
The first site visit has been conducted and the second visit is fast approaching with a few projects slated for this fall.
Personally, I am excited to be working with Ron, Jim and Todd and am confident this will be the best decision MGCC ever made.

Scott May

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

SMay-
 Good to see you and DPL on GCA.
 Great news and good luck with everthing. IMHO your going to work with one of the best. Please keep us posted on progress. Being the Superintendent at near by Green Valley, also Flynn, I will be very interested to see how things progress. I hope that eventually my club will be prepared to take the nessasary steps to make our course reflect it's true heritage.
 I really enjoyed your course at our meeting last month.

SBR

[wsmorrison]

Scott,

Glad to see you posting here.  Tommy Paul and I visited you nearly a year ago with some of the original drawings of the course.  Pleased to see that all is falling into place and that Ron, Jim, and Todd are on the job.  I look forward to coming out and watching the work progress.  Best of luck (you won't need it).  You've got great architecture there and with you, the membership, and the team contracted to do the work, I am sure the results will bring out the best.  Perhaps you could keep us posted on the work from time to time so that those away from the Land of Flynn can have an idea of what's going on.


Sean,

Greetings.  It'll be fun to watch the transformation at Manufacturers.  Let's stay in touch and keep the ideas flowing.  I hope GVCC takes the required steps to make the course shine as well.

[SMay]

Wayne
I certainly will keep you informed. I'll try some before and after pictures in the near future.  Hopefully, you and Tommy Paul will be able to make a site visit one day.  Keep in touch.


Sean
Sorry I did not see you at the meeting.  We finally got all of Isabella's mess cleaned up.  Talk to you soon.

Scott

[TEPaul]

Scott et al;

Glad to see Ron & Co. doing your plan and how much you all are into it. I was talking to some of your Manny guys somewhere recently, George May, Biff Kidell and Jim McAllister, I think, and they're all excited.

I was just wondering about the back shelf on #9 and if that got softened recently. Along those lines I got a call from Tosh Bellsinger of the Fazio company some months ago and he wanted to know what I knew about the original Flynn bunkering around that green. I didn't know much. But he impressed me and he was clearly trying to do some serious research on that hole. I know you guys are probably going to soften that green some, if you haven't already, because it is without question one of the scariest green sections on any green in the Philly area I know of. Last time I was there I hit a really good 60 degree wedge behind that pin and to my amazement the next thing I knew it was on its way off the front of the green!

Good luck with Ron & Jim and we'd love to come over and see you all sometime. Also just remember pine trees are not your friends--unless they happen to live on the borders of the property!  

[DPL11]

Scott,
The place looked great last week aside from Isabel's mess. I'm glad to hear that things are finally happening at MGCC. I think that you and the club made the right decision going with Forse & Co.. Keep up the good work, and hopefully I'll see you soon.
Doug

[Bill_McBride]

Did Hurricane Isabel help with deforestation efforts?

Ron Forse did some really good work at Mobile CC which I visited earlier this year.  The members there are very happy with their course.

[DPL11]

NOT NEARLY ENOUGH!  

[SMay]

Doug hit on the head - only 4 full trees came down although many significant limbs fell and will have to come down this winter.  Anyway, its a start.

Tom-
Glad to hear all is well.  Regarding the ninth green:  this is to be "rebuilt, softened" to today's version of what Flynn had designed.  The left green bunker will be removed, in its place a bentgrass chipping area that will feed balls to the pin.  The two right green bunkers will become one larger, deep bunker.  The green itself will add about 2,000 square feet and recapture the original green shape, complete with a few feet of a false front.  The fairway will also run through the green and prevent poor shots from holding near the green.  Forse made these recommendations consistent with our overhead pictures from 1925 through 1939.  The contouring will have cuppable areas anywhere from 1.5 to 3.3% back to front and left to right over both tiers with the exception of the very back left.  When complete and open we should have a still very tricky shot if you are above the pin - but not so scary that great putters cannot hold the green.
I'll be sharing before and after pictures soon.  But dont be surprised if I need some help getting them to the site.

Scott