Charles River CC - Ross Changes

[Sven Nilsen]

In a couple of old threads one can find some brief discussion of the changes Donald Ross made to the 18th hole at Charles River shortly after the course opened.  The hole was altered from a hard dog leg left (as seen in the original Ross plan below) to a longer straighter hole (what exists today).

What isn't discussed is whether or not at that time the 17th hole was altered as well, shortening it from the par 4 noted on the plan to the par 3 that exists now, and whether any of the par 4's on the course were lengthened into a par 5 to get the course back to a par of 72, or if that was a change that came about later.

If anyone has any insight on these alterations, please share.

[Brad Tufts]

Hi Sven,


This is the first time I've ever seen the original plan that has #18 as a dogleg.  My guess is that 17 became a long par three around the same time.  The original 17 must have been quite a rugged hole, as the land continues uphill quite a bit behind the current green.


Looks like #2 was 446 on the Plan above...today that hole is a par five at 520ish.  Looks like all the other holes are similar length, although #8 is now 440+, #10 today is more like 470 (and plays straight-on with no slight bend), and #15 is around 500.


Charles River has always been wishy-washy about par, as the tournament card always plays to a par 70 with #7 and #10 as par fours where they are par 5s on the member card.  The lengths of the holes make sense to do this, but 7/10 both have dynamic greens that make way more sense at the end of a par five.

[Cob Carlson]

This from a historian at Charles River C.C.


"The 17th is the same now as it was in June 1922 when the club first opened for play. Ross didn’t build it to his drawing because of all the ledge."

[Sven Nilsen]

Cob:


Seems a little strange that on what is pretty much otherwise a perfectly routed golf course, Ross (or Hatch and/or McGovern who were both on site) would have allowed for an approximately 200 yard walk between the 17th green and the 18th tee.  I can understand how that could happen, and perhaps it was another reason (in addition to the flooding of the area around the pond on 18) for altering the closing hole so soon after the opening of the course.


Sven

[Adam G]

Not sure if this is in fact correct, but was told a few things by a member when I played CRCC about the changes that were made.


What I was told is that about 10 years after opening after seeing how it played Ross wanted to make some changes. 11 green was to be moved to the left into where a house is now and shortened a bit. 17 was then to be lengthened into a short par 4 with a risk-reward over the pond with the tee back near the left corer of the existing 17 green. Finally, 18 was originally a dogleg left although not as extreme as on the routing image above. Instead, the tee was closer to 17 green down the hill to the left of where it is today making it a very long par 4 with a blind tee shot. The members said Ross drew up plans for all 3 changes (and the club still has them), but only the 18th tee was moved up the hill to straighten the hole before they ran out of budget in the Depression.


Based on this description, the historian is right that this is how the course was built aside form 18 tee being closer to 17 green. But Ross did want to return 17 to a short par 4 and did originally have 18 as a slight dogleg left.

[Tim Martin]

Not sure if this is in fact correct, but was told a few things by a member when I played CRCC about the changes that were made.


What I was told is that about 10 years after opening after seeing how it played Ross wanted to make some changes. 11 green was to be moved to the left into where a house is now and shortened a bit. 17 was then to be lengthened into a short par 4 with a risk-reward over the pond with the tee back near the left corer of the existing 17 green. Finally, 18 was originally a dogleg left although not as extreme as on the routing image above. Instead, the tee was closer to 17 green down the hill to the left of where it is today making it a very long par 4 with a blind tee shot. The members said Ross drew up plans for all 3 changes (and the club still has them), but only the 18th tee was moved up the hill to straighten the hole before they ran out of budget in the Depression.


Based on this description, the historian is right that this is how the course was built aside form 18 tee being closer to 17 green. But Ross did want to return 17 to a short par 4 and did originally have 18 as a slight dogleg left.

Adam-Did they finish a restoration project last year?

[Adam G]

I could not tell what got done recently versus for the 2013 US Amateur. It seems like the restoration has been continual over the last several decade or more. They did say a lot of trees had been taken out since the Amateur, so maybe that is what you are referring to?