Old Town's Perry Maxwell Room: Art by Michael G. Miller

[Dunlop_White]

Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has dedicated a room to commemorate their golf course architect, Perry Duke Maxwell. While the hallways throughout the club are already outfitted with historic visual displays, including dated newspaper articles and black and white photography, Old Town went a step further and commissioned Michael G. Miller to paint oil landscapes of Maxwell's well-known courses and some golf holes which he was charged with redesigning. These paintings will encase the pine walls of the downstairs bar creating a museam/gallery-type atmosphere for their members and guests to enjoy.

Under The "Art and Architecture" section of this website, please scroll to the bottom of the third page to view the compositions of "Old Town's Twelfth" and "Augusta National's Tenth". Additionally, please stay tuned for a "Maxwell Bunker Study" painting that will be posted next week.

There is really no better way to stimulate a sense of pride and appreciation for your architectural heritage....also is an excellent way to cultivate membership support for all restoration work to your golf course.
 

[T_MacWood]

Dunlop
Great idea.

Miller really does a wonderful job of depicting vinatge images.

[TEPaul]

"There is really no better way to stimulate a sense of pride and appreciation for your architectural heritage....also is an excellent way to cultivate membership support for all restoration work to your golf course."

Dunlop:

Actually there is. The club could produce a comprehensive design evolution report/architectural history of the golf course hole by hole from the year it was built until today. You'd be surprised how that can effect the membership and their interest in the architecture of the course---eg hopefully Perry Maxwell.

Who should write it? Is there any question? You're nominated!

[Dunlop_White]

Tom Paul,

You're absolutely right. I continue to prescribe this very type of exercise in the Donald Ross Society's "Restoration Guidelines" for green committees, but the downside is that it's not as effective with memberships. (See below)

"II. Cultivate Membership Support    
    a. Transformation of Architectural Features: offer before-and-after comparisons that reveal the natural deterioration and transformation of architectural features, especially bunkers, tees, and greens.  
    b. Hole-by-Hole Modifications: offer an historical account of all man-made hole modifications.  
    c. Overall Course Evolution: provide a chronological sequence of historical aerial photography that reveals the overall course evolution, namely with tree plantings and cross-bunker abandonment."

But anytime you push written material -- however sound -- on a membership, they sometimes feel overwhelmed and recoil, especially when drafted from a self-contained perspective. First of all, you and/or the architect does have an agenda, and they tend to know it.

Instead, have an artist, like Michael G. Miller, paint a beautiful oil composition of an original scene to hang in a prominent area of the club, which reveals an original bunker style with a treeless backdrop, for instance. Then the membership can look and feel the difference themselves. They'll start asking questions, like whay don't we have those types of bunkers today? And how did all those trees get around our green? etc.

[Dunlop_White]

Hole 14 .... 1939

Tall stalks of broom sedge and other native grasses encase Maxwell's original bunker pattern on Hole 14 at Old Town as captured in this 12 x 16 inch oil painting by Michael G. Miller. Maxwell had a penchant for rugged looking bunkers with jagged edges and unkempt surroundings. Their sprawling shapes and weathered facade transform them into visually imposing obstacles that demand a golfer's full attention.

[Dunlop_White]

Looming Weather at Old Town's Twelfth

·   In 1938, Charlie and Mary Reynolds Babcock donated 165 acres of rolling farmland to help establish a golf club next to their historic estate, now showcased as The Reynolda House and Gardens. At that time, Babcock's investment firm - Reynolds & Company - had just hired Clifford Roberts, co-founder of the Augusta National Golf Club, who retained Perry Maxwell to reconstruct many of Alister MacKenzie's' original green sites for The Masters Tournament. Delighted with the results, Roberts recommended that Babcock also retain Maxwell to design his employer's prospective course in Winston-Salem. Upon completion, Maxwell pronounced "the Old Town Links should immediately take rank among the seven finest in the nation," according to the Winston-Salem Journal. Michael G. Miller's 32 x 40 inch, oil on canvas depicts looming weather on the 451 yard par 4 from a cross-course perspective.

Lengthening Shadows at Augusta's Tenth

·   Perry Maxwell - more than any other architect - left his imprint on the Augusta National Golf Club by rebuilding seven of their original greens, which today are considered among the most charismatic collections in the world. It all started in 1937, when Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones, Jr. and Clifford Roberts set out to bolster The Masters Tournament as the preeminent invitational for the game's elite golfers. Afraid that Augusta was losing its bite, Jones and Roberts retained Maxwell, one of Alister MacKenzie's disciples, to fine-tune his mentor's craftsmanship. Michael G. Miller's 24 x 30 inch, oil on canvas portrays lengthening shadows across the tenth green - which Maxwell relocated to a knoll more than one hundred yards beyond MacKenzie's original greenside bunker -- positioned in the foreground. This new green location transformed the downhill dogleg into the game's longest and most demanding par 4's.

[Craig_Rokke]

Every time I see an internet copy of Miller's work I think "interesting subject matter.....nicely depicted........old-time feel rendered well."
I also think "I could by a new car for the cost of many of his originals."

For those who have actually seen his originals, what do you think of  them? Is it excellent artwork, or are the prices fueled in part by well-to-do private club members who appreciate the history of their golf clubs?

[HamiltonBHearst]

Mr. Rokke

Since your asking, I think you should purchase the new car.  Now if you care about Mr. Miller's work it is excellent.  Isn't most all art prices determined by the well to do?

Doesn't seem fair that the price of Mr. Miller's fine works should be inflated by those that might have an interest in the subject matter  

Why don't you e-mail him and tell him what you are willing to pay?

[Craig_Rokke]

Hamilton-

How did I guess you'd chime in on the expensive art post!

[David_Madison]

Dunlop,

A classy addition to one of the classiest courses in North Carolina. Can't wait to see it, hopefully this coming fall.

[Dunlop_White]

We have two more paintings which will go in our Maxwell room.

Prairie Dunes and Crystal Downs.

If anyone can find a good vintage photograph of a revealing scene at Southern Hills, Michael and I could certainly use it. Currently, we have not found a Southern Hills' image worthy of an oil rendering.

Thanks to all!

[Nathan Cashwell]

Dunlop,

Awesome paintings, should be a great addition to the classic feel of the entire Old Town Club.  Looking at those pics the one thing I noticed besides the style of the original bunkers was...THE TREES!  The existing photo of the 14th would look so much better if you could see up the fairway of that hole in the background and see those bunkers etc.  Those white pines sit right where one of Maxwell's bunkers was, at least that's how it appears in the photo.  And the lack of trees right along the rough line/ hole corridor on the painting of the 12th really opens up and allows you to see the increible character of the property.  But that's just my opinion.  Of course knowing you, you probably already have a plan for those trees.

[Dunlop_White]

Bobby Weed visited in 2002, and after looking at the old black-and-whites, he too said that golfers "should be able to see through the hole" without having the framework of pines. If we in fact ever remove these trees, it will be for aesthtic reasons only and to create a visual as intended by the original architect. Our superintendent really doesn't have any agronomic difficulties in this area to make the justification for their removal that much more compelling.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Sean, I agree and would enjoy that as well.

[Bill_McBride]

Every time I see an internet copy of Miller's work I think "interesting subject matter.....nicely depicted........old-time feel rendered well."
I also think "I could by a new car for the cost of many of his originals."

For those who have actually seen his originals, what do you think of  them? Is it excellent artwork, or are the prices fueled in part by well-to-do private club members who appreciate the history of their golf clubs?

I bought one of Michael Miller's prints, beautifully framed, and it wasn't too expensive at all.  Maybe $250 and it's about 2'x3' and really a wonderful piece of golf art.

[Dunlop_White]

This wall contains the Maxwell Index, the Augusta Painting and The Maxwell portrait.


This view contains the Maxwell Bunker Study, Crystal Downs, Prairie Dunes, and Pine Valley.


We hung Old Towns' Twelfth over the fireplace.


This is a sample of our gold leaf title plates which are hand enscribed on wood.

[Dunlop_White]

Here's a portrait of Perry Maxwell done in pencil sketch ... modeled after those done of the founding members at the Augusta National G. C. hanging throughout the clubhouse stairway.

[james soper]

dunlop, thanks for sharing these fantastic paintings. they really seem to add to the feel and history of the club.

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