Wee Burn - Not found in search?

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Finished the Darien Cup on Saturday in weather that brought to mind:  "Do we put mosquitos or GCA posters on the Ark this time?

Wee Burn is a classic D. Emmet course is undergoing great change.

Not one comment about Wee Burn old or new on a search of this site.  Pity.

I caddied there for many years at this Darien, CT course.

Any comments about Wee Burn.  We've given the mosquitos a free pass this time (The Sand Gnats have been uninvited...)

JWK

[Mike Nuzzo]

Look harder....  

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=3257
 

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Mike _

Thanks for the find.

I used the Site Search as opposed to the Advanced.

Nonetheless, not much disection. Just Phylogeny.

I really loved the original.  Any comments on the on the revisions?

JWK

[Phil_the_Author]

Wee Burn recently discovered that the 2nd, 10th & 11th holes were designed by Tillinghast in 1936. They are now taking this into consideration in their efforts to restore the course to it's early 20th century roots. They are very proud of Emmet's work & well should be.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Philip -

#2 was the most over par hole at their most recently held Ct. Open, which is a testament to a short par 4 (JC-S, are you reading this?)

The 11th hole there is their best and most emblematic hole on the course.

For unacquainted others, the 11th hole at Wee Burn is a very slightly downhill, 390 yard par 4 that has a tiny turn to the left.  Tree removal on this hole gives the impression of a wide open hole, but it is imperative to hit the fairway on this little lurking terror.  One's second shot, if not hit far enough incolves a carry over the snaking Wee Burn that may be hidden from view.  The unbunkered green, while ample, needs to be brought back to its original surrounds of whimsical mounding.  The green has more slopre than first appearances due to the calmingly distractiveness of the babling burn.  Miss the green back right to avoid the trouble is a tough up and down.

11 at WBCC comes at a perfect time in the round, immediately after the short downhill par 5 #10.  Your score on this hole will most likely be indicative of your final tally, and the hole sets up the rest of the second nine by introducing you to the Wee Burn which will come into play on #12, #13 and the island green #16.

The facing of their new bunkering (They are also adding 20 bunkers), along with the tree removal is quite dramatic.  From what I understand, they have grappled with the Restoration vs. Renovation question and are close to a finished project.

It will be interesting to compare and contrast the work that is also nearing completion at Stanwich.

JWK

[Geoffrey Childs]

James

I know that I've posted a few times more about Wee Burn in the past.  The search engine is archaic.

One of my favorite and non-obvious features at Wee Burn is the large "muffin" or mound in the green on #9 that makes it critical to locate your ball on the correct part of the green or face a putt of monumantal difficulty. #9 is a shortish uphill par four with a deep front left bunker that looks very much like the worst place to miss.  It is not. It is features like that which make Wee Burn a thinking man's golf course. The hazards are well utilized and the island greens were the or among the first used.

What is being done to Wee Burn and who is doing it?  I hesitate to ask since the head of the former "restoration -not" committe at Yale is a member.

[Peter_Herreid]

Hi Jim!

I have found this a pretty useful way to look for things in the GCA archives:

1)  Go to Google
2)  In the search window, enter this:  "site:golfclubatlas.com" (don't put the quotation marks around it--I just did that for emphasis)
3)  Right after the above, put whatever you would like to search for in quotes.
4)  Using your example, enter site:golfclubatlas.com "wee burn"

I came up with quite a few responses.

Of course, I have had pretty good success with the advanced search function too

Peter

[Chris_Blakely]

Phillip,

What was Tillinghast's role in the redesign of the 2nd, 10th and 11th.  I knew the 2nd was not Emmet; however, that green does not strike me in the least bit as being a Tilly green.  What work did he do on the 10th and 11th holes.  If you look at the aerial, he could not have changed the routing much to at all.  I did not get the feeling that these greens were not Emmet???

Thanks,

[John Chilver-Stainer]

LHN

This is a very apt name for a golf course for the saturnine LHN to be playing.

An interesting looking routing

Watching from my elevated position in the clouds and with a bit of help from Mike Nuzzo’s Aerial it looks as though the brakes could be put on the Long Hitting Neanderthals.


Did you manage to drive the water on the 6th and 10th and did your big fade help you out on the 2nd and 12th or did you have to club down – be honest now.

[Phil_the_Author]

Chris, you asked, "What was Tillinghast's role in the redesign of the 2nd, 10th and 11th.  I knew the 2nd was not Emmet; however, that green does not strike me in the least bit as being a Tilly green.  What work did he do on the 10th and 11th holes.  If you look at the aerial, he could not have changed the routing much to at all.  I did not get the feeling that these greens were not Emmet???"

On July 2, 1936, Tilly visited the club as part of his PGA Course Consultation Tour. He spent the entire day at the club, doing a complete examination of all holes and, as he wrote in his letter to george Jacobus that evening, "Designed new holes for the 2nd, 10th & 11th, & new green around lake."

He included a detailed report for this work that, along with all of the others from this tour, no one has seen in many years. They are buried in a "set of boxes" at the PGA of America's executive offices. I have plans to visit there in July/August to locate and copy them. Since my Tilly bio has come out I've received numerous calls asking questions about the extent of work that Tilly did for a number of courses at this time. Some I've been able to help & others are waiting patiently for me to find these "reports."

In the case of Wee Burn, all we know of Tilly's involvement is that he made these recommendations and that they were followed out. Interestingly, in speaking with a member of Wee Burn's Board of Directors about this topic, he told me that those three holes have always perplexed many of the members there because they "are so different in character and obvious design than the rest of the course." They are really pleased to be able to say that their course has a bit of Tilly in it and want to protect it for the future.

What they are really interested in, as am I, is identifying Tilly's "new green around the lake." We are hoping the report will give the specifics of that.

I'll keep you informed when I learn something on it.

[Chris_Blakely]

Philip

I was aware of the fact that the second green was not Emmet.  The original Emmet green was back and to the left of the present second.  While I am not a Tily expert by any means that green always struck me as both being more modern and out of place from the rest.  I will need to go look at my photos of the 10th and 11th holes.  I will also need to look at some of the plans I have of the course and see the dates on them.

Thanks,

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

JC-S -

Please come out of the clouds, you are losing your distance perspective.

I usually try to place 3 wood on #6.  The water on the right is rachaable.  It takes two fine shots of more than 380 yards to clear the water on the leftside and 350 to clear on the right.

To miy knowledge, no one has ever cleared the stream on #10 with their tee shot from the tips.

#2 and #12 are sucker plays.  Their is talk of moving the fairway closer to the water on #12 and removing the trees.  I would like to see this change as I think that it will challenge the player with the stream.  The last time that i played Wee Burn in the fall of last year, I hit driver on #2 and had a 20 yard chip and a tap-in birdie.  Not a percentage play, but we were playing a team member-guest game.

Driver is going to be challenged a lot more on #1 and #3 with additional bunkering.  I look forward to seeing the end result.

Peter - Glad to hear from you!  I'll try your suggestion.  Coming out east this fall?  I promiose to wear my red rain gear!

Geoff -

The Dead President's mound on #9 is an interesting feature.  It is readibly viewable from the practice green before you tee off, so hitting an uphill shot to that green with its non apparent mound (From the fairway), is mitigated by pre-round scouting.  We would pray that our players would make the green so that we could drop the bags and bring just the drivers.  

I've been told that Fazio's group is doing the work.

[mark chalfant]

Hi  Jim, glad to hear your son is enjoying the game. I feel Wee Burn is an excellent routing that nicely/gracefully uses
natural contours. Its been many years since Ive seen all 18.
5 and 6 are fine long holes that nicely use elevation changE.
14-16 is a great strech . I especially like the 215 yd #14
which features  a long shot  over a gully. Use of brook is good but not as stellar as a nearby Park course !

best  wishes  Mark

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Mark -

Nice to hear from you!  I enjoyed our time together earlier this year at WCC.

#1, 3, 5 & 6 are killer holes that you can dig quite a hole for yourself, especially if you mess up #2 and 4 (Quite easily to do).  #2 was actually the most over par in the most recent CT Open - Unusual for a 370 yard dogleg par 4.

#15 is the par 3 that is quite a picture perfect hole.

Hope that you are well!

JWK