Rock Spring Golf Club, West Orange, N.J.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

From aerials I have seen, it looks like significant bunker work was done to the Charles Banks course between 1995 and 2004. Anyone know what architect was involved?

[corey miller]

Strangely not listed on his voluminous recitation of his renovation work but I believe it to be Ken Dye. 


 

[Joe Bausch]

I think Kelly Blake Moran did work there.  His web page says so.

I recently played there.  Here is a pretty nice photo album:

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/RockSpring/index.html

[Kevin Neary]

Strangely not listed on his voluminous recitation of his renovation work but I believe it to be Ken Dye.

Finger Dye-Spann (regrettably) worked on the course in 2001. The majority of the bunker work done was falling apart only a few years after the work was done. Kelly Blake Moran did restoration work in the winter of 2006-2007. The work he did was the following (to the best of my memory):
3: Removed bunker to the right of the green and restored left greenside bunker.
4: Right greenside bunker restored.
5: Both greenside bunkers restored.
6: All three greenside bunkers restored, green expansion.
7: Left and right greenside bunkers redone (could not be fully restored due to drainage issues, but for the most part, restored).
8: Fairway bunkers restored as well as expansion of right greenside bunker.
9: Expansion of left greenside bunker and restoration of right greenside bunker.
10: Green expansion.
11: Restoration of left greenside bunker (may have been enlarged but was a great bunker).
12: Left and right greenside bunkers restored. Right fairway bunker was revetted so that the fairway didn't fall in on it. Originally two fairway bunkers on the right side from Finger Dye-Spann, but made into one.
15: Green expansion to the back left and restoration of two greenside bunkers (right greenside was as deep as they come).
16: Restoration of fairway bunkers (notable horseshoe bunker around the green).
17: Green expansion to the square-ish shape it has now.


All other bunkers (to my knowledge) are Ken Dye's work.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Thanks.


Lots of the existing bunkers do not fit the Banks style. A bunch of them have flashed-up sand and a nose from the high side. Obviously not Banks. Too bad.

[Eric LeFante]

How sure are folks here that this is a Banks design and not Raynor?

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Club was formed in '26, after Raynor was dead. To my eye the greens are Banks and not Raynor. There is magazine article on the opening of Tamarack that gives Banks design credit for Rock Spring.

[Sven Nilsen]

Club was formed in '26, after Raynor was dead. To my eye the greens are Banks and not Raynor. There is magazine article on the opening of Tamarack that gives Banks design credit for Rock Spring.

The club was very much an idea in early 1925.


April 1925 Golf Illustrated -

[Jeff Schley]

Really like that this place is public now.  They aren't shy about claiming Seth Raynor on their website.  No mention of Banks.
Rock Spring Golf Club at West Orange will feature one of only two public golf courses in the United States designed by legendary architect Seth Raynor, whose highly-ranked work includes Fisher’s Island in New York, Shoreacres on Chicago’s North Shore and Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda. Twelve of Raynor’s courses are on GOLF Magazine’s list of the Top 100 in the U.S.

[Kevin Neary]

Club was formed in '26, after Raynor was dead. To my eye the greens are Banks and not Raynor. There is magazine article on the opening of Tamarack that gives Banks design credit for Rock Spring.

The club was founded in 1925. I can confirm this next week when I have my hands on the club history book, but I’m fairly confident Raynor and Banks did the routing together, and Banks actually built the course. I believe the course was seeded and ready to play in either 1927 or 1928. Not positive, but fairly confident that’s the story.

[Sven Nilsen]

Kevin:

You can go back to late '24 for the first mention of the origins of the club.

Dec. 18, 1924 Courier-News -



Here's a quick timeline of press notations:

Feb. 27, 1925 Maplewood Record - Willard Wilkinson's plan for an 18 hole course is printed.

April 1925 Golf Illustrated notes plans to have 9 holes in commission soon. 

Jan. 4, 1926 The Sun notes Seth Raynor "building a circuit" for the club.   

March 12, 1926 Evening Post notes Charles Banks to lay out the course. 

Noted as under construction in a Feb. 1927 American Golfer Banks Ad. 

Feb. 1928 Golf Illustrated article by Banks describes the building of the course.

A careful read of all of these articles suggests that Raynor had been working on the design prior to his trip to Hawaii in late 1925 up until his death in early 1926.  When Banks took over his portfolio, most of his work involved taking the plans Raynor had previously developed and applying them to the land, or "laying them out."  Rock Spring is described in the same sort of way with respect to what Banks was doing as Fishers Island, Lookout Mountain and Camargo.

Sven

[Keith Phillips]

The Rock is a fantastic course and Neary the Younger has a good handle on its history.  Ken Dye and team are credited with ruining the bunkering at RS and Kelly Blake Moran (along with Super Mike Campbell) made some tremendous early strides at restoration.  My understanding had been that Raynor 'designed' the course and Banks built it after SR's death but I may be wrong.