[MCirba]

I've been to Shawnee (on the Delaware) many times and never fail to bemoan what was lost over time as much of Tillinghast's original design has been completely lost when the course went from 18 to 27 holes in the 1960s.   Very few of the holes are original although a few of the most memorable are still there, and all of the best greens on the property are indeed originals.

What is today's 8th hole on the "Blue nine" was the original Tillinghast 17th, although today's is a truncated version playing as a medium length par four from a tee to the right of the original "Binnikill" green, the famous par three which required a shot over part of the Delaware River.   

However, the original tee played from left of that green, back behind it, such that a drive on 17 required a tee shot right over the Binnikill.   Here is a picture taken from one of Rick and Stu Wolffe and Bob Trebus's books on Tilly, "The Course Beautiful". 

Yesterday my wife and I had a little time to kill before dinner so we went in search of the original tee, which during the season is usually covered in thick growth.   We were surprised to find that it still looked so intact, and in fact, even playable today. 

Some time back there was talk that Tom Doak might be hired to restore the course but I believe the owner had some setbacks so I'm not sure if that is still possible.   It certainly has potential based on the original routing and what still survives gives a good idea of the original grand scale of the course.

[Richard Hetzel]

So they used to actually tee off over the 7th green (par 3) correct? Interesting. I could not see any of that former tee box when I was there. I just played there back in September 2015 and had a nice time there. (our second round the next day was Skytop). It also looks like there was a deeper trench/small ravine on the other side of the green too that is not present today.

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:


Thanks for the picture.  I don't remember finding that tee box when we were looking at what we could restore.  I knew the hole was listed at quite a bit longer than its present yardage, but thought the tee must have been buried by the condos developed behind the par-3 green.


We have not heard from the owners of Shawnee for three or four years, so I suspect the project is dead in the water. 


Actually, though, I always thought that the only time it would make sense to restore the course would be after a big flood year, when they'd have to close the course anyway.  [You sure as hell wouldn't want to close it and restore everything the year BEFORE a big flood.]  So, we will continue to hope for no floods for several more years, so that the client will have the funds available to pursue a restoration if and when he has to.


P.S.  One of the biggest expenses of all in the plan was to build a bridge over to the island that would meet Federal standards and clearance for the river.  The preliminary concept was so high in the air that I thought it would ruin the 2nd and 7th holes.  For now, they get by with a temporary bridge that they pull away every winter ... but to me the ultimate solution would be to go back to some sort of ferry like in the old days.  Management did not seem to share this point of view, since it would mean ferrying workers back and forth, too ... but it would be a bunch of years before the cost of that would exceed principal and interest on the bridge!

[MCirba]

Richard,

Yes, the original played right over the Binnikill green.   I've been there any number of times and never spotted that tee prior.  I can only imagine that was due to heavy undergrowth during the playing season, but would mention that the tee is still quite invisible from the Binnikill green and normal playing areas.   We took a walk along the access trail above it starting at the condos and it was only from well above that we spotted it down there clear as day.   

We basically took a bit of a hazardous descent to get to it so you can imagine how appreciative I am of my wife's understanding of my golf course obsessions.   

As far as the ridge on the far side of the green, I'm not sure and think perhaps that area may have been kept a bit more unkempt in the past.

Tom,

Your insights are interesting for a number of reasons.   Before yesterday I had no idea that the bridge was taken down every winter.   Yesterday before dinner we went for a walk with the intention to go over to the island and back only to find no discernible way to get to the island as the bridge was out.   

It appears that the crew also takes this time to shore up the bridge, as it lay in pieces along the left side of the next hole (you can see it to the left of the cart path going up along the hole) and various planks had been replaced with new boards, presumably ones that had become weaker or water-weathered.   It makes me wonder if this isn't a viable permanent solution to the situation you described as well as the cost of a Fed standard replacement?   Since this seems to be a standard practice, perhaps it makes cost-effective sense to simply continue?

The flooding issues that the course experiences on a fairly regular basis seem to me a bigger problem facing any possible restoration efforts.   Interesting to me in that regard is that the Tillinghast features that still exist closest to the river seem to have been built anticipating some of those issues, as they are generally elevated above surrounding terrain.     

[Phil Young]

Mike,

Great photographs and comparison to the original photo. You mentioned, "Interesting to me in that regard is that the Tillinghast features that still exist closest to the river seem to have been built anticipating some of those issues, as they are generally elevated above surrounding terrain."

There's no way to say if Tilly designed features such as the 17th tee for that reason, but it wouldn't surprise me if some thought along that line had been put in. The reason for my saying this is because Tilly had been summering at Shawnee since at least as far back the early early 1900s if not a bit earlier. He owned a summer house there  and so would have been quite aware of potential flooding problems in that area.

It was his summers spent there that most likely brought about his close friendship with C.C. Worthington and his sons. I have a photograph of the Lillian Tillinghast, Mrs. Worthington and several other family members sitting on a bluff on one of the mountains overlooking the Shawnee valley. It was taken by Tilly and is from the summer of 1904.  Tilly played on Worthington's private course and club that met in the front parlor of his home. This close relationship explains why Worthington hired Tilly to design Shawnee.

Tilly sold his house to Mrs. Worthington in 1910. She turned it into a pottery school for the local native-Americans and a store from which these were sold. The house is still there and was turned into a bed and breakfast a number of years ago.     

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