Plan for South Course at Olympia Fields Passes

[Jeff Goldman]

I have the great pleasure to tell you that the membership of Olympia Fields Country Club overwhelmingly passed the plan for the South Course at Olympia Fields, drawn up by Steve Smyers Golf Course Architects.  There were only 22 votes against, out of a membership of around 500 (something like 200 voted in favor).

The plan in large part involves the restoration of lost green space, returning the bunkers to the original, dramatic grass-faced bunker style based on historic photos, and returning the strategic play of the course based on aerials we dug up.  

The key point in the process occurred when Steve Smyers, his no. 2 Patrick Andrews, me and my friend Andy Revell were touring the course last fall.  I had given Andy some historic pictures of the course I dug up, and he pulled one out as we got to the 14th, a short par 3 which used to have large, grass faced bunkers fronting the green, and now has a pond.  Up to then, no one (well, almost no one ) had thought of the renovation as any sort of restoration, and a prior plan passed in 1991 and never implemented called for 7 new greens and a bunch of other renovation.  Steve took one look at the photo and we spent the next 2 hours in the historical room looking at all of our photos and aerials.  That continued througout the process.

When it came time for Steve to present the ideas to the committee, he passed around the pic of the 14th and said "we want to build that."  Same thing for a number of the holes, and we were on our way.  Steve and Patrick have been terrific, and are clearly very, very gifted.  They have come up with fascinating ideas and excellent solutions to certain maintenance and drainage issues that have plagued the course for decades, without changing the nature of the course.

However, this is not a complete true restoration.  Many things were changed in the 1920s and 30s, often for the good.  Tom Bendelow is given credit as the course architect, but my educated guess is that some of the best features were done later by Jack Daray.  Our 9th hole, originally part of one of the other courses, is a Willie Watson original, and one of the best on the course.  2 holes were lost in 1946 when 2 of our original 4 courses were sold.  There will also be 2 new holes with new greens, neither replacing anything original.  Otherwise, basically what's in the old pix is what we hope to get, along with some way back and far forward tees.

This has been a fascinating process, and there is still a very long way to go.  I want to thank a number of folks on this site for helping guide me through the process, and for answering the phone and emails I have sent and will be sending out when the work starts.  Special thanks to Shelly Solow, for easing the minds of some members of our Board of Governors, as well as hashing stuff out with me over lunches in his office, and also to Pat Mucci, whose knowledge was and is invaluable to me.  Lots of other folks on the Board also have my thanks.

Most responsible for passage at the club are, among others, J. Michael Drew (our incoming President), Tony DiTommaso (our outgoing President), Mike Fagan (head of the South Course Committee), and committee members Lou Weber, Brandt Oosterbaan, Andy Revell, Dave Allard, Joe Tapanja, Millie Maddocks, Bill Elliot and Mike Mortell.

I'm going to try to post some pictures soon which are pretty cool, and hope to discuss the process and changes with you in more detail, though I may have to bug someone here to post the pix for me.

Jeff Goldman

[PThomas]

congrats Jeff!

the SOuth course is a fine course already, and it is going to get even better

I look forward to seeing the finished product

[RJ_Daley]

Congratulations Jeff, I know how long and hard you have worked with this process.  Thanks for sharing various photos and such with me because they are very educational insights into the evolution of GCA and what takes place over time.  The process you and your fellow members followed seems like the right way to go about such things.  But, it takes leadership and support, like you have offered to make such a project a success.

[A_Clay_Man]

Jeff, That is a wonderful turn of events and illustrates how important gca.com is and has been to the disemination of information through selfless people.

OF sure sounds like one of the more complicated histories to understand. So many chefs. Is that an accurate description?
 And if it is, how will these changes work with the golf course as a whole?

[wsmorrison]

Wonderful news, Jeff.  If the club allows, please document the work for us so we can follow the project.  Best of luck.  Sounds like you have the right team in place for that job.

[Geoffrey Childs]

Jeff

I'm happy to see that your sweat and tears (I don't know about the blood) were rewarded with a happy outcome for your South Course. It seems like a great plan.

CONGRATULATIONS!

[Jason Mandel]

Jeff,

It sounds like your getting yourself into a fun project for you and the club.  Congrats and make sure to keep us all updated.  Steve Smyers seems like a bright guy with some good design ideas so i'm sure you guys are in good shape.

You are a lucky man to have to great courses at Olympia.

Hope to see you at the KPIV or sooner if you get near Philly this summer!

Jason

[Philip Gawith]

I think you are a lucky man Jeff - what an interesting project to be involved in. Good luck. Come and see us in the UK sometime.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Jeff congrats on a fantastic effort.

[Mike Benham]

Jeff -

I ditto Mr. Childs comments.

The best part of all this is the enthusiasm you have for club and courses.   I can picture the broad smile you must be wearing, but just wait until it is completed, you'll be one proud papa ...

Mike

[Bill_McBride]

Jeff, glad to hear this all worked out to everyone's satisfaction.  I remember you were a bit nervous about the choice of Steve Smyers and recall telling you how much I have enjoyed playing Southern Dunes, my only Smyers course.  The bunkering there is terrific.  I know you are very happy this is put to bed!  Great stuff about the photos.

When do you start, how long will it take?  

We have starting grassing at Pensacola CC and hope to be playing in late fall.

Hope to see you at KPV.

[Jeff Goldman]

Wow; I think I may have done it.  The images below are two of those guiding the work of Steve and Patrick.  The top one is the 14th hole of the South Course (then it was course 1) circa 1921.  It is a short par 3, now fronted only by a pond that isn't in play, with round disc bunkers on both sides.  This picture has the bunker style that Steve wants to restore to the course.  Pretty dramatic and quite a contrast to the partially sand-faced bunkers on the North Course.  You can see from my "My home course" writeup that what's there now, and it isn't exactly what we want.

The second photo is of the first hole, from the cover of "Golfer's Magazine" circa 1918.  Again, the pretty neat bunker short left, which we think is blasted into the side of an upslope, though it's not clear.  If this works, I'll post a couple more.

[Mike_Cirba]

Jeff,

This looks really good and I'm very happy to hear the direction the club is moving in.

Congratulations are certainly in order and please keep us posted on the project.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how Smyers duplicates those bunkers because they look rather distinctive and perplexing.

Mike

[Jeff Goldman]

Jeff, That is a wonderful turn of events and illustrates how important gca.com is and has been to the disemination of information through selfless people.

OF sure sounds like one of the more complicated histories to understand. So many chefs. Is that an accurate description?
 And if it is, how will these changes work with the golf course as a whole?

Adam,

That's part of the reason why it was a bit of a puzzlement as to what to do.  Not even I wanted to restore the course to anything like it was when it opened in 1916, but by 1924 it had gotten really interesting, with the dramatic bunkers and better use of available landforms.  In the 50s and 60s bunkers were added that block lines of play, and greenspace was lost, and they are being restored.

Still, there are a few weak holes on the flatter parts of the property, and Steve came up with a couple great ideas.  For example, the first par-3 was originally completely blind with the green set behind a big hill.  In 1923 it was moved away from the hill, as described in the pic below, from the August 1923 Olympian Magazine (the tee was directly behind the hill, a little left of where the picture shows.



However, they've never been able to grow grass on the green because it floods when it rains, and it has been moved and rebuilt several times without success, and we can't put it back behind the hill.   Steve came up with the idea of putting the green ON the big hill in the left of the picture, out of the floodway.  It fits the style of the course, and should be a cool shot, changing the weakest hole on the course, and nothing original, into something much better.

Bill,

Not clear when the work will start, but Steve and Patrick will probably supervise preliminary stuff this fall, and probably the major work sometime next year.  

[Evan Fleisher]

Jeff,

After our January meeting this year (and the BBQ dinner that ensued), I knew you guys had a winner on your hand.

Having toured the South course with you a couple of falls back, and knowing what efforts and lengths you (and others) at O.F. had gone through to pursue the right person for the right restoration effort, it was nothing but a victory for all involved.

Your enthusiasm, dedication, and passion for the game on YOUR fields of play showed me that you and others truly had the best interests of the club in mind as you went down this path.  The old photos you showed me that day and the general plans for the restoration seemed weel though out and carefully planned, and I'm glad your membership saw it that way as well.

Can't wait for the call (in the near future) when you invite me over for a FRESH LOOK at the newly restored gem...I very much look forward to that day, my friend!

CONGRATULATIONS again for all the hard work that is finally going to pay off.

[Will E]

Jeff,
Wonderful news, and really cool pictures. Look forward to a home and home match with you this summer.
W

[Mark Leo]

Jeff,
Congratulations.
I had the opportunity to play both courses at Olympia Fields last month.  What a blast the South was to play. Exciting plans for number 3.  I thought #6 was one of the best holes on the course; any changes planned there?
Can't wait to see the finished product.  
Mark

[Jeff Goldman]

Mark,

On 6, the great variation of a Knoll hole, Steve is restoring the green in the back, moving the fairway slightly right to where it used to be, and putting back the original bunker pattern.  It's interesting that he used that hole to illustrate his view on fairway bunker depth.  The original fairway bunkers on 6 were quite shallow, and he wanted to keep them that way, giving players the option to either pitch out, hit it 50 yards to clear the creek, or go for the green, a risky shot that brings the Kitchen into play (and a 12).

Jeff

[A_Clay_Man]

Jeff, Fascinating stuff, really.

It sounds as though you and your club are in very capable hands. Having played a couple of Smeyers' I know he can make it very interesting.

Thanx

[Scott_Burroughs]

The top one is the 14th hole of the South Course (then it
was course 1) circa 1921.  It is a short par 3, now fronted
only by a pond that isn't in play, with round disc bunkers on
both sides.  This picture has the bunker style that Steve
wants to restore to the course.  Pretty dramatic and quite a
contrast to the partially sand-faced bunkers on the North
Course.  You can see from my "My home course" writeup that
what's there now, and it isn't exactly what we want.

Tough to compare from this angle, but this is the current #14 from left of the green:

[tlavin]

I want to congratulate Jeff Goldman AND GCA.  Jeff did a terrific job in shepherding this project to its passage by overwhelming margins.  And he did it even though he has only been a member for three years.  It was about four years ago that Jeff and I met on this website.  He was interested in finding a club in Chicago.  We got to know each other and I sponsored him.  He immediately threw himself into historical work for the club.  He got appointed to a committee.  Then he got appointed to this Master Plan committee and really took the laboring oars.  HE got it done.  And the only reason we at OFCC had the benefit of his labor was because of this website.  The people who play the restored/renovated South Course will all enjoy the fruits of Jeff's labor.  And it all started here on golfclubatlas.com  Pretty cool stuff.

I should also mention that Jeff was a unanimous choice to join our Board of Governors.  That's a meteoric rise for such an old-line club.  Congratulations, Jeff.

[Evan Fleisher]

I guess even further CONGRATS are in order for you Jeff!  Let's make sure to celebrate while in Palm Springs with the treehouse...

[SL_Solow]

Now Jeff learns the truth of the axiom "no good deed goes unpunished."  He'll balance the great experience of working with Steve Smyers on a labor of love with the pain of having to listen to members' complaints about the pace/shape of the project.  On top of that, he'll have the dubious pleasure of sitting through interminable board meetings so that he can listen to fascinating reports on the selection of pool furniture and the color scheme in the ladies' card room.  All in a good cause and those of us who have endured similar situations are none the worse for the wear.

Jeff was very gracious in thanking me for the little help and support I provided to him.  Having observed the process and having been a leader in a similar project at Briarwood I believe a cautionary note is warranted.  While Jeff is more than deserving of all the kudos posted here, we should be careful not to overestimate our role.  While dedicated members like Jeff are crucial in providing goals and selecting professionals, in the end the input of the professionals, including the architect and his staff, the greenkeeper, and the construction company will be the determining factor in the ultimate success of the project.  I have a great deal of confidence in Steve Smyers and the new greenkeeper at Olympia Fields comes highly recommended and appears to be headed in the right direction on their existing issues.  But there is a lot of hard work ahead, most of which will be done without much input from Jeff and his committee other than the all important role of kibitzers.  This is not to denigrate Jeff's work; I have been involved as a friend from the start and his efforts have been extraordinary.  Rather, based on experience, it is to caution against an ivory tower view that somehow our role as critics and researchers is more important than the roles of those who translate our dreams into the reality on the ground and then maintain that vision going forward.

[Jeff Goldman]

Folks,

I tendered my resignation from the Board during the first meeting I was invited to attend as an incoming board member.  One hour and twenty minutes into a discussion of pool furniture (which Shelly alludes to), I scribbled it out and passed it around.  I have no freakin' idea where to store the lounge cushions when it rains.  My resignation was not accepted.  

Shelly is also absolutely correct that my role, as well as that of the other committee members, was and is far more limited than has been described.  Basically, what we did is choose the architect, and supply him with information; the rest was up to Steve Smyers and Patrick Andrews.  We gave them some guidance on certain issues, such as the love the membership has for the greens on the South Course, the fact that we would like to preserve them as much as possible, and the idea that the South Course is our family golf course.  We also commented on their drawings and ideas, but the ideas are theirs, and every stroke of the pen on the plan is theirs.

When the work starts, they will run the project, with the assistance and under the watch of our Director of Grounds, Sam Mackenzie.  We will watch and learn. We have already learned a lot, about drainage, flood plains, fill needs, seeding, sodding, and many other things.  There is still a very, very long way to go, but we are hopeful of a good result.

I should also have thanked Terry Lavin, who led the grounds committee during the Open, and, true, was instrumental in me joining the club.  He was also instrumental in much of what has happened.  He is also certainly correct that without my exposure to GCA none of this would have happened.  Without GCA, no one at Olympia Fields would have considered any sort of restoration of the original style of the course, or would have even thought of looking to see what was there and what had been lost.  Now we just need to get the phrase on Terry's license plate reversed.  

Jeff

[ed_getka]

Jeff,
   Kudos for getting the ball rolling. I look forward to hearing more about it next month at KP V.