Joe Sponcia's IMO piece on Dick Wilson

[Ran Morrissett]

Joe Sponcia has penned another fine In My Opinion article, this time on Dick Wilson and his legacy. Here it is:
 
 https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/sponcia-joe-unraveling-the-much-maligned-dick-wilson/
 
For both Joe and me, Dick Wilson’s body of work is easy to support. Yes, he had some personal peccadilloes but don’t we all? I am talking about his legacy, his designs; the headliner being Pine Tree. Surely, that remains one of his purest creations and for me still holds a top 5 place in the Sunshine State, nearly 60 years after it opened. Other career highlights include NCR, Bidermann, Doral, Meadow Brook and Deepdale on Long Island. My buddy Joe Andriole is a member at Bay Hill and though Arnold loved to tinker, the core of the course remains Wilson. All these courses were built in a tight time frame between 1954 and 1965 and all have stood the test of time, effortlessly, if you ask me. I vividly remember coming down the first fairway at Meadow Brook and seeing its monster 55-yard deep green like it was yesterday - but it was in 1985.
 
Wilson learned this craft under Flynn & Toomey. After WWII, he set up his own shop but the influence of Flynn, especially the need to skirt past a bunker to gain a better shot into an angled green, remained paramount throughout his relatively brief career. He died in 1965 at the age of 61 years. I doubt that he ever heard any of the glowing accolades that would be slathered on Pine Tree. As a preeminent architect, he was often employed to remodel courses from another era. He did not seek to restore but update and depending on your point of view, his successes varied. Certainly, one star example of where his work elevated a course is Seminole.
 
I give the man credit for having his own vision and beliefs – and sticking with them. He didn’t pander, courtesy in part I suppose of his strong personality.  His main rival for plum assignments was, of course, Robert Trent Jones Sr. While Trent Jones expanded into a global brand, was more prolific and ended with a more diverse portfolio, you can argue that Wilson’s top 10 works in the Americas have stood the test of time better than RTJ’s top 10. At least, it is debatable. Worse case, Wilson was one of the two or three best at his profession in the world for a sustained period of over a decade.  I can’t say the same, can you?!

Hence, we are proud to publish Joe Sponcia’s piece as it is rightful to shine the design spotlight on Wilson’s design accomplishments.
 
 Best,

[Paul Jones]

I am a huge Dick Wilson fan and my home club (Oakbourne) in Louisiana is a Wilson design from 1955.  I have been seeking out more of his courses to play, with Meadow Brook on my wish list this year. My favorite is Bidermann, but still remember playing Pine Tree with Tony Nysse and walking away overly impressed.


Funny story... Quite few years ago, I am with Mickle having drinks at Ran house and tell Ran I got an invite to play Oakmont, but only going if I can play Laurel Valley. Ran almost spit out his drink and laughed telling me I should post that on GCA. 


Ron Forse mentioned to me one time about starting a Wilson Society, I would love to see that happen.

[Theresa Stotler]

I enjoyed reading the article,

[Kyle Harris]

Dick Wilson suffered from being good-to-excellent at what amounted to third generation original architecture but relatively bad at what amounted to second generation renovation work. The problem being that the first generation of renovation work was driven by advances in golf equipment while the second generation was driven by advances in construction equipment.


In this TED Talk I will...

In all seriousness, it's good to see the pendulum swing the other way on a good number of the mid-century architects. I've never played something of the Dick Wilson/Joe Lee pedigree that I wouldn't want to play again.

Lone Palm in Lakeland just went through a wonderful resto-reno and was great fun yesterday in the gusting Central Florida sirocco.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Joe, is the picture of Wilson at Coldstream's second hole?

[Jason Topp]

 I think this era is fertile ground for freshly reviewing the philosophy of the day and why implementation of that philosophy worked or did not work.  As Wilson seems to be the most celebrated architect of that era, at least here, documenting his career is a vital link in US design history. 

[Joe Sponcia]

Tommy


It’s the 16th at Bay Hill.

Joe, is the picture of Wilson at Coldstream's second hole?

[Joe Sponcia]

Paul


How much Wilson is left at Oakbourne?  The work Mr. Forse has done at Pine Tree, Hole in the Wall, and my National Club, Cypress Lake Golf club, is nothing short of spectacular.

I am a huge Dick Wilson fan and my home club (Oakbourne) in Louisiana is a Wilson design from 1955.  I have been seeking out more of his courses to play, with Meadow Brook on my wish list this year. My favorite is Bidermann, but still remember playing Pine Tree with Tony Nysse and walking away overly impressed.


Funny story... Quite few years ago, I am with Mickle having drinks at Ran house and tell Ran I got an invite to play Oakmont, but only going if I can play Laurel Valley. Ran almost spit out his drink and laughed telling me I should post that on GCA. 


Ron Forse mentioned to me one time about starting a Wilson Society, I would love to see that happen.

[Paul Jones]

Paul


How much Wilson is left at Oakbourne?  The work Mr. Forse has done at Pine Tree, Hole in the Wall, and my National Club, Cypress Lake Golf club, is nothing short of spectacular.

Joe,


Dick Wilson left 3 different designs.  The "best" design was not taken because of cost, mostly had to do with longer road and the location of clubhouse. However, his routing is still intact with a few minor tweaks.  Like most courses, we have too many trees, but good news is the club has started removing some of the biggest offenders.  All the greens were redone in the 1980s and we are about to complete installing new irrigation and then will a drainage project.

[Tim Gavrich]

Great piece, Joe!


Wilson's design philosophy seems to be very clear-eyed about the direction the playing of the game was moving in the middle 20th century. He knew that the aerial game was here to stay, and he accounted for it thoroughly. I played a couple of college tournaments at Callaway Gardens and always loved it as a test of ball-striking, with greens that had just enough going on to keep you on your toes. Pine Tree is one of my three favorite courses in Florida. Hole-in-the-Wall, Cypress Lake and Lone Palm are all high on my list to see before too long.


One out-of-the-way Wilson course I'm intrigued by, in part because they have an amateur tournament there (the Appalachian Amateur) every summer, is Fincastle, in Bluefield, VA. I'd be curious to learn about it from those who have played it. It looks terrific.

[Tim Martin]

Joe-I really enjoyed the piece and it seems that if Wilson wasn’t or hasn’t been duly recognized it’s mainly a result of his not excelling on the marketing component as well as too many hands tinkering with his work after he was gone. I got a chance a while back to play a bunch of rounds at Tequesta CC which was a 1959 Wilson effort with little in the way of original features remaining. The land felt incredibly similar to Pine Tree but currently devoid of what Wilson accomplished there. Would have loved to have seen it in its original form.

[Joe Sponcia]

Tim


Open invite to Cypress Lake if I’m in town.  Please feel free to DM me.  Hole-in-the-wall is very under the radar.  I wouldn’t pass on an invite.  I am hoping to see Deepdale and Bidermann this summer.  It would be interesting to see if more clubs would embrace their Wilson heritage the way Cypress clearly has.  It’s a shame much of his work has been covered up…but so was much of Raynor’s…

Great piece, Joe!


Wilson's design philosophy seems to be very clear-eyed about the direction the playing of the game was moving in the middle 20th century. He knew that the aerial game was here to stay, and he accounted for it thoroughly. I played a couple of college tournaments at Callaway Gardens and always loved it as a test of ball-striking, with greens that had just enough going on to keep you on your toes. Pine Tree is one of my three favorite courses in Florida. Hole-in-the-Wall, Cypress Lake and Lone Palm are all high on my list to see before too long.


One out-of-the-way Wilson course I'm intrigued by, in part because they have an amateur tournament there (the Appalachian Amateur) every summer, is Fincastle, in Bluefield, VA. I'd be curious to learn about it from those who have played it. It looks terrific.

[Tom Dunne]

One out-of-the-way Wilson course I'm intrigued by, in part because they have an amateur tournament there (the Appalachian Amateur) every summer, is Fincastle, in Bluefield, VA. I'd be curious to learn about it from those who have played it. It looks terrific.

Tim, one interesting fact about Fincastle: Deepdale's renowned pro, Darrell Kestner, grew up playing there.


We had a local Wilson course flip to the NLE category recently and without much fanfare. The Garrison, in the Hudson Highlands across the river from West Point, closed its '61 Wilson last year. I hadn't been there in years but there was a period where I'd try to go out once in peak fall foliage season as there were places on that property that very much rivaled Sleepy Hollow and Hudson National for river views. It was a steep site and not an easy walk, but the scale of the place was exciting. It had some plain holes on the flat side of the site near the main road, but it also had its fair share of good golf on the edge of the ridge and the slopes below.


Here's a fun time-capsule of a NY Post article from the summer before the financial crisis:


https://nypost.com/2008/06/01/garrisons-mojo-is-back/

I found the back story as a 1980s "party club" to be pretty interesting. I think I first played it around 1993 and I never got that feeling. Definitely no Madonna sightings. In fact, it was almost always empty, which I naturally enjoyed but maybe isn't a sign of good health for a $50 public course not that far from NYC.

[Stewart Abramson]

We had a local Wilson course flip to the NLE category recently and without much fanfare. The Garrison, in the Hudson Highlands across the river from West Point, closed its '61 Wilson last year. I hadn't been there in years but there was a period where I'd try to go out once in peak fall foliage season as there were places on that property that very much rivaled Sleepy Hollow and Hudson National for river views. It was a steep site and not an easy walk, but the scale of the place was exciting. It had some plain holes on the flat side of the site near the main road, but it also had its fair share of good golf on the edge of the ridge and the slopes below.


I found the back story as a 1980s "party club" to be pretty interesting. I think I first played it around 1993 and I never got that feeling. Definitely no Madonna sightings. In fact, it was almost always empty, which I naturally enjoyed but maybe isn't a sign of good health for a $50 public course not that far from NYC.

I was never a big fan of Garrison. I played it about a dozen times between 1995 and 2020.  Here's a link to photos from 2018


https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157698228919324  Garrison GC Photos

[Charlie Goerges]

We had a local Wilson course flip to the NLE category recently and without much fanfare. The Garrison, in the Hudson Highlands across the river from West Point, closed its '61 Wilson last year. I hadn't been there in years but there was a period where I'd try to go out once in peak fall foliage season as there were places on that property that very much rivaled Sleepy Hollow and Hudson National for river views. It was a steep site and not an easy walk, but the scale of the place was exciting. It had some plain holes on the flat side of the site near the main road, but it also had its fair share of good golf on the edge of the ridge and the slopes below.


I found the back story as a 1980s "party club" to be pretty interesting. I think I first played it around 1993 and I never got that feeling. Definitely no Madonna sightings. In fact, it was almost always empty, which I naturally enjoyed but maybe isn't a sign of good health for a $50 public course not that far from NYC.

I was never a big fan of Garrison. I played it about a dozen times between 1995 and 2020.  Here's a link to photos from 2018


https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157698228919324  Garrison GC Photos

I thought the photos showed a decent course, if a little claustrophobic. Surprising that it is closed, is it to be turned into housing? It did show my pet peeve of architects always wanting to "get the blindness out of the way" on the tee shots, rather than use it in defense of the greens once in a while (or even the second shot on a par 5).

[Tom Dunne]

We had a local Wilson course flip to the NLE category recently and without much fanfare. The Garrison, in the Hudson Highlands across the river from West Point, closed its '61 Wilson last year. I hadn't been there in years but there was a period where I'd try to go out once in peak fall foliage season as there were places on that property that very much rivaled Sleepy Hollow and Hudson National for river views. It was a steep site and not an easy walk, but the scale of the place was exciting. It had some plain holes on the flat side of the site near the main road, but it also had its fair share of good golf on the edge of the ridge and the slopes below.


I found the back story as a 1980s "party club" to be pretty interesting. I think I first played it around 1993 and I never got that feeling. Definitely no Madonna sightings. In fact, it was almost always empty, which I naturally enjoyed but maybe isn't a sign of good health for a $50 public course not that far from NYC.

I was never a big fan of Garrison. I played it about a dozen times between 1995 and 2020.  Here's a link to photos from 2018


https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157698228919324  Garrison GC Photos

I thought the photos showed a decent course, if a little claustrophobic. Surprising that it is closed, is it to be turned into housing? It did show my pet peeve of architects always wanting to "get the blindness out of the way" on the tee shots, rather than use it in defense of the greens once in a while (or even the second shot on a par 5).

Stewart, I guess I wasn't, either, as I don't think I played a dozen rounds there over a similar time period. I vastly prefer walking golf and I needed the right set of motivating circumstances--namely, cool weather and a lot of energy--to take on the hike that was The Garrison. I remember the walk from #2 tee to the fairway was particularly convoluted. The severity of the terrain was never going to place this course in the top tier of Wilson's work, but he was an important architect and I'm sorry it's gone.

[Stewart Abramson]

 Surprising that it is closed, is it to be turned into housing?

I'm only mildly surprised it closed since I thought the Covid golf boom might help save the place.  Prior to the pandemic it was one of the few courses you could almost always find open weekend tee times in the area.


The owner sold or donated the land that was 9 holes to a local theater company. He had planned to keep 9 holes open, but that plan fell through. It's not clear what will happen with the remainder of the property. The linked article discusses status as of April 2021


https://clubandresortbusiness.com/the-garrison-announces-golf-course-closing/


PS apologies for threadjacking the Dick Wilson/Joe Sponcia thread

[Joe Andriole]

Regarding the photos in Joe Sponcia's excellent piece regarding the underrated  Dick Wilson:

The first photo of Wilson is photoshopped and has his image superimposed over a relative recent version of the 18th green at Bay Hill. (I'm sure - my recently demolished home is in photo). This is at least the third version of the green complex and far from the one Wilson created. Wilson died not long after Bay Hill opened. Here is a link to a photo of a photo of Wilson's 18th


https://i.postimg.cc/KvZqyJqk/IMG-4523-HEIC.jpg


Bay Hill originally had a much rougher, more natural appearance.  It was "sanitized" over the years to accommodate galleries etc.

[Joe Andriole]

A photo of Bay Hill's 18th near opening day


https://i.postimg.cc/7h1WnRBD/IMG-4524-HEIC-jpeg.png

[Jeff_Brauer]

I remember my early days at Killian and Nugent, where they told me that when they opened their firm in 1964, they felt they had to have a different style than their mentor/employer Robert Bruce Harris.  They felt they had a choice of mimicking Wilson or Jones, and picked Wilson. I think that influence probably carried through to my work, even as I felt I had to move myself away from their style when I departed to start my own firm.  I mean, good stuff is good stuff.

[Ed Brzezowski]

Was out at Bidermann yesterday doing some course rating for their new championship tees. The more you get to see it the more you can appreciate the great layout work Wilson did on the property.


Club refreshing the bunkers and adding cap con also. Just a beautiful course and piece of property. Flies under the radar.


Just a nice place to visit.

[JNagle]

Last Thursday I spent the evening walking the back 9 at Pine Tree.  Had the place to myself and was focused solely on bunkers as I begin thinking about an upcoming project.  Bunker shapes and horizon lines, the axis of the body of the bunkers, depths, groupings, placement...... the list goes on.  The golf course is good on so many levels starting with the routing.  The routing is complimented wonderfully with the length, variety, greens, and strategies .  Having spent so much time working on Flynn courses lately the walk and study was extra meaningful as I was wrapping my head around how the game was changing when Wilson built PT and also how he was evolving as a designer to meet the needs of the changing game.  The place oozes of Flynn design philosophies but also has a distinctly different (modern) feel about it. 

[Tim Gavrich]

More runway tees, please. I think they set the table for looking at a golf hole in a way that the typical staggered ovals or boxes or the en-vogue wandering amoeba tees don't quite accomplish. They establish a sense of formality that I find very appealing. The 147-yard tee box on 16 at Pine Tree is one of the coolest golf features I've seen anywhere.

[Chris Hughes]

A photo of Bay Hill's 18th near opening day


https://i.postimg.cc/7h1WnRBD/IMG-4524-HEIC-jpeg.png

WOW!!!

[Philippe Binette]

I've played both courses at Royal Montreal, a Dick Wilson design.


The original Blue course, before Rees Jones completely ruined it for the previous Presidents Cup.
Rees only ruined the bunkers, the topography, the angles, the greens.


The original Blue was a beast in 1997, with its small greens flanked by deep intimidating bunkers... some of them 6-8 feet deep. Players call it a mini Winged Foot that year, at barely 6800 yards.


The Red course is still there and a great course. The holes 4-5-6 are beautiful and tough parkland holes. the par-3 10th is great and tough too. the Red is the best course on the property now