OFCC selects Andy Staples do do their Master Plan for both courses

[Jeff Schley]

Just announced to the membership and happy with the decision.  I think TD was in earlier and certainly would have liked to seen that happen, but I am very happy with Andy as the replacement for Keith Foster.  Here is the announcement:

We are excited to announce that last night the Golf Course Master Master Plan Committee and the Board of Governors met with Golf Architect Andy Staples, one of the Golf Architects initially interviewed by the Committee. After receiving Andy’s presentation and listening to his answers to various questions the Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Governors move forward with Andy as our Golf Architect for the North and South Courses. The Board of Governors voted unanimously to accept this recommendation. Andy has a background which is well suited to work on our courses. He has restored a Willie Park, Jr. course outside of Detroit and is currently restoring a Tom Bendelow course outside of Milwaukee. He has also restored a William Watson course in California. This is interesting since Watson was the architect on the two courses at OFCC that are no longer in existence and collaborated with Bendelow on the current South Course.
 
 As explained before, this is a first step. Andy’s status as our Golf Architect must be voted on by the Members and the timing and financing of any work would also need approval. Andy will initially focus on the South Course and intends to solicit Member input in developing his plan.

[Mike Bodo]

Is the membership at OFCC seeking a return of the North course to many of the design elements and features from the original WPJ layout?

[Paul OConnor]

Jeff,
Thanks for sharing a private country clubs private communication with their membership.  Maybe you could post your monthly statement too.

Mike,
Do you think that the OFCC Membership has any idea what " the design elements and features from the original WPJ layout" are? 

Can any WPJ expert tell us a few things that characterize a WPJ design? 

And maybe some specific WPJ feature that was removed at some point from OFCC North, and whose recreation would be beneficial to the course while also being relevant to a course preparing to host a PGA Tour event?

[Ian Andrew]

I know Andy very well.
This is an excellent choice.

[Jeff Schley]

Jeff,
Thanks for sharing a private country clubs private communication with their membership.  Maybe you could post your monthly statement too.

Mike,
Do you think that the OFCC Membership has any idea what " the design elements and features from the original WPJ layout" are? 

Can any WPJ expert tell us a few things that characterize a WPJ design? 

And maybe some specific WPJ feature that was removed at some point from OFCC North, and whose recreation would be beneficial to the course while also being relevant to a course preparing to host a PGA Tour event?

Paul,
If I do, will you paypal me the amount?
Pretty big leap in sarcasm there.
This is something to celebrate as kudos to the board and committee after the Foster setback to get back on schedule for the project. There are other documents released which are proprietary. This is the first step and we shall see what the committee and Andy come up with.

Also don't forget to include the the yearly range fee Paul.  Much appreciated. 

[Mike Bodo]

Mike,
Do you think that the OFCC Membership has any idea what " the design elements and features from the original WPJ layout" are? 

Good question! Do we know if any architectural plans exist at the club or in the public domain of the original WPJ North Course design? That would be good to know, as perhaps this was the basis for the membership hiring Keith Foster originally and now Andy Staples. Both are renowned for their course restoration work and I am guessing were originally interviewed by OFCC because of it. It would be great if there were photos of the original WPJ North Course holes that we could look at and compare to what is there now and have a discussion on the design elements we would like to see back in a restoration effort.

[Mike_DeVries]

I know Andy very well.
This is an excellent choice.

Ditto.


Congrats, Andy!

[Paul OConnor]

Here's Ran's exuberant course review:

http://golfclubatlas.com/olympia-fields-country-club-north-course-pg-ii/

All the old aerials are there.  Maybe you can find some design features that should be reincorporated that 20 years of Greens Committee's have somehow missed. 

Ran's big complaint is that you have to walk 180 yards back to the seventh tee from the sixth green.  I think the walk back is probably only 150 yards, but even with the original green site the walk is 80 yards.  I'm not sure where the cutoff is on "acceptable walk back lengths for golden age golf courses."  Maybe that's written down somewhere.

[Ari Techner]

This is a home run hire for OFCC.  Congrats to Andy and the club!

[SL_Solow]

I think Andy is a great hire.  But I agree that there does not appear to be much that has changed on the North Course except for certain features that the USGA insisted Mark Mungem change for the Open (see the softening of the 3rd green).  The South Course is a different issue where Smyers retained the greens but made significant changes, almost all of which were met with near universal approval (mounds on 1 fairway an obvious exception).  I'll be interested to see what Andy recommends.

[Terry Lavin]

He has two terrific golf courses to work with, that’s for sure. The North is a Tour caliber course that is already significantly improved visually from the US Open version but im guessing there will be a concerted effort to make it longer and more difficult. The South is on better land, with smaller and more sporty greens but the routing is a little “off”, not that the members or guests complain. It’s a phenomenal 36 hole club that can surely look and play even better, so we Chicagoans will anxiously await the new OFCC.