Tamarack CC ( 1929, Banks) in Greenwich,CT- Reno

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Tamarack reopens following Golden Age-inspired renovation by Brian Schneider...In a nine-month project, the architect has focused on restoring the layout’s Golden Age style, as designed by Charles Banks in 1929. He referenced historic aerial photographs and other materials to restore features to Banks’ original specifications.
The project included restoring green surrounds, removing non-original bunkers, introducing new bunkers, rebuilding tee complexes, adding new tees, adding berms and mounding, and executing a tree management program to open sight lines as well as to improve turf quality and playability.
Banks was the architect who followed Raynor and MacDonald with the use of " template holes" with names like Biarritz, Long,Short, Drive&Pitch, Road Hole, Punch Bowl, Moat, Redan. You will see them when you take the course tour...



https://www.tamarackcountryclub.com/golf/course-tour
https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/tamarack-reopens-following-golden-age-inspired-renovation

[Bill Brightly]

Banks was the architect who followed Raynor and MacKenzie.  Macdonald...

[Craig Sweet]

The white sand is a tad jarring.

[Bret Lawrence]

Craig,


My understanding is that Tamarack saved a lot of money on their renovation by cleaning the sand they already had, rather than replacing it.  They did this by using a technology developed in the  fracking industry. 


Bret

[Simon Barrington]

The white sand is a tad jarring.

I have yet to see a course where it is not visually jarring (excepting those few which are actually built on white sand).

Blame Clifford Roberts at Augusta, and the use of China Clay "Sand" is exploding across the UK and Ireland just now.

I believe darker is more visually threatening and appropriate for hazards than incandescent light/white.

Embracing locally-sourced sands also shows more empathy with vernacular and historic designs, and the huge "sand miles" in shipping heavy loads across the country cannot be good for the environment.

[Simon Barrington]

The white sand is a tad jarring.

I have yet to see a course where it is not visually jarring (excepting those few which are actually built on white sand).
Blame Clifford Roberts at Augusta, and the use of China Clay "Sand" is exploding across the UK and Ireland just now.
I believe darker is more visually threatening and appropriate for hazards than incandescent light/white.
Embracing locally-sourced sands also shows more empathy with vernacular and historic designs, and the huge "sand miles" in shipping heavy loads across the country cannot be good for the environment.

Having said that the work by Brian and crew is truly incredible, and inspiring. Bringing back the shaping and character in a striking and wholly appropriate way.

The sand choice may be the Club's, it often is (& Instagram click chasing doesn't help!)

[Tom_Doak]

The sand choice is pretty much always the club's, and we often bite our tongues about it.  But there is no use in arguing with them.  I never used to even get into the conversation unless they asked me specifically.


I remember many years ago a meeting at Garden City Golf Club where we were discussing sand for the bunkers and they wanted it to be more playable and I just said, "Walter Travis would be rolling over in his grave if he heard you discussing making the bunkers more playable."  It staved off a change for a while.

[Bret Lawrence]

Not too far from Hotchkiss, in the northwest hills of Connecticut we have limestone quarries that produce a local sand that is as white as sugar.  Because it’s crushed limestone, it is a little more silty than sandy, but it was the closest sand producer I could find when I installed a back yard chipping green.  Just because the sand is white doesn’t always mean it’s not locally sourced.  I don’t know if Tamarack used the same local quarry whenever they originally bought their sand, but the sand they have in their bunkers today is the same sand they had in their bunkers before the restoration, it’s just cleaner now.  I am guessing the members liked it. The sand will probably dirty up again over time.  I can’t wait to play Tamarack and see the work Brian and his team accomplished.

[Simon Barrington]

Not too far from Hotchkiss, in the northwest hills of Connecticut we have limestone quarries that produce a local sand that is as white as sugar.  Because it’s crushed limestone, it is a little more silty than sandy, but it was the closest sand producer I could find when I installed a back yard chipping green.  Just because the sand is white doesn’t always mean it’s not locally sourced.  I don’t know if Tamarack used the same local quarry whenever they originally bought their sand, but the sand they have in their bunkers today is the same sand they had in their bunkers before the restoration, it’s just cleaner now.  I am guessing the members liked it. The sand will probably dirty up again over time.  I can’t wait to play Tamarack and see the work Brian and his team accomplished.

EDIT: I don't want my feelings re. White Sand and UK Bunker "improvement" to cloud what is really great work by Brian S.
(So I deleted my old man shouting at clouds sections)

Good to hear the sand may be local, and/or recycled/cleaned in this case.

The point, that I failed to make clearly enough, is this affectation of white incandescent sand in bunkers is all over the UK now and is a wholly imported phenomena.

It jars because it is not vernacular (at least over here in the UK) and because it is aesthetically blatant.

These are the "plastic surgery" of GCA as in "Impressively beautiful, but in an obvious sort of way"
It is the replacing of St Pauls' Catherdral's beautiful Stained Glass windows with white UPVC Double Glazing.

Importantly IMHO, the older (early "Golden Age") extracted styles (with local sand) strike golfers with greater terror; because the dark shadowy pits are more subtle, threatening and seed more doubt in the player's mind, than these more obvious modern raised white shiny traps.

This is especially the case if there is a clever mix of sand and grass hazards across a course, so the doubt is created if going towards one of these gathering hazards "am I in sand or grass" (and the difficulty of recovery will vary from both, pending the next stroke required; as less spin from grass can make the recovery down slopes considerably harder).

We now have a multitude of UK courses that are becoming visibly indistinguishable from their location, setting, and original designer as so many of these cloned white rorshach ink-blots are being imposed upon them, and they all become undifferentiated homogenised "global" designs. That is a trend, fad and fashion that hopefully will fade over time...but considerable damage has already been done IMHO.

Let's make hazards, deeper & darker again!

[Bret Lawrence]

Simon,


I really appreciate your well thought out response.  I failed to mention that I do agree with many of your original sentiments.  In the US and Connecticut (more specifically) just about every bunker, on every course is artificial. As a Connecticut native, I have come to accept white as one of the colors courses use in their artificial bunkers.  I can understand and agree with you that courses in the UK should not follow this trend. 


I wanted to highlight one of the technologies Tamarack used to save their club a boat load of money.  I didn’t mean to say I love clean white bunkers that jar the senses of many.  I absolutely understand why people are turned off by stark white when we are trying to duplicate nature.


Bret

[SPDB]

To be clear, the "course tour" in the original post does not depict the post-Schneider work, but rather the course that existed after the Silva work and before Brian got there.

[Tim Martin]

Brian Schneider knocked it out of the park as the course is a joy to play. I can’t remember a more fun day in recent memory with so many compelling shots to hit. They are working on installing areas of native grass which should provide a nice aesthetic contrast and I’m looking forward to going back when completed.