Chic Adams

[BCrosby]

Does anyone have any information on Charles "Chic" Adams?

He designed several courses in Georgia and the surrounding states in the late 50's and 60's. I don't know much more than that.

Bob

[Mike_Cirba]

Bob,

I've played Pinetree, which I liked quite a bit.   Some very good lay-of-the-land stuff and I believe I started a thread here about it some time back.

[BCrosby]

Thanks Mike. Some think Adams was involved with my course (Cherokee) in Atlanta, but no one is sure and there aren't any records. But his name pops up here and there.

BTW, I think Pinetree is a pretty good course. I think Larry Nelson is still a member.

Adams is one of those 60's architects - another is George Cobb - that had a moment in the sun and then seemed to disappear. Strange.

Bob

[Pete_Pittock]

He passed away late last year, Dec. 8th in Myrtle Beach, SC. I will try to find and post an obituary.

[BCrosby]

Peter - I would love to see what you find.  Thanks.

[Pete_Pittock]

I'm deadending. All I can find on-line is a death notice saying that Lee Funeral Home and Crematory of Little River would announce arrangements.

He was a 1946 graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Sounds like you need to hie on down to Bogeys to Birdies Golf Shop in North Myrtle Beach:

Sun News
15 December, 2007
Charles Henry "Chic" Adams of Little River died on Dec. 8 at the age of 83, and Claude "Buster" Bennett Reed Jr. of Murrells Inlet died on Dec. 9 at 79.

Adams was a golf course designer and builder who had a hand in more than 100 courses in and out of the U.S., including a pair on the Grand Strand. He did the site work on Black Bear Golf Club, designed by Tom Jackson, and Oyster Bay Golf Links, designed by Dan Maples.

He's acknowledged in the book about golf course architecture "The Golf Course," written by Geoffery S. Cornish and Ronald E. Whitten.

He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and served in the U.S. Air Force in WWII. He majored in agronomy at Iowa State and the University of Nebraska, became the superintendent and head pro at Sioux City Country Club, was a member of both the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, and played on the PGA Tour for a few years in the 1950s before devoting himself to building and designing courses.

He is credited for work on courses including Seminole Lake in St. Petersburg, Fla., Forest Hills in St. Louis and Valleybrook in Hixson, Tenn. He did much of his work as CA Earthmovers Inc., with offices in Atlanta then Florida, and moved to Little River four years ago. He spent most days over the past two years hanging out at Bogeys to Birdies Golf Shop in North Myrtle Beach.

"We really we had a gem here, we just didn't know it," said Bogeys to Birdies master clubmaker Alvin Cloyd. "He was just a super, super nice guy. An unbelievable fella."

Cloyd was going to take Adams to Thanksgiving lunch but Adams fell and broke his hip that morning. He died on the eve of his 84th birthday. Adams' family gave Cloyd this week the blueprints for many of his courses. Cloyd said he hoped to build a course consisting of his 18 favorite holes he was involved with, but never got around to it.

Mark

[Pete_Pittock]

Mark,
Thank you for finding that. Now I certainly can return to finishing my taxes.

[Mike_Cirba]

Bob,

It sounds like you may want to contact Mr. Cloyd to see if a blueprint for your course exists.

[BCrosby]

Thanks guys. I'll give Mr. Cloyd a call. Great name, btw.

Bob

[George_Williams]

Bob-
I believe Chic Adams worked with my friend Garrett Gill''s father Dave Gill on one of the courses at Cherokee in Atlanta, along with several others.  The way I heard the stories, Adams secured the work (marketing?), much like some of the celebrity architects of today, and Dave did most of the actual design work.  From what I heard, he was quite a guy whom Mr. Gill liked a lot...

[Keith Williams]

Yup,

Chic Adams did do Pinetree, though it is now closed for a renovation by Bill Bergin.  I hope he doesn't mess too much with the greens (except maybe expand them back to their original size).

Keith.

[BCrosby]

George - Do you know how I might contact Mr. Gill?

Thanks, Bob

[Keith Williams]

Bob,

Who is generally regarded as the original designer for Cherokee T&CC?  I have seen conflicting reports of Joe Lee and Willard Byrd.  The reason I ask is that Willard Byrd is also often wrongly attributed with the design for Pinetree (opened as O.B. Keeler GC).  I don't know if there is any relationship between Chic Adams and Willard Byrd, or not.  Byrd's archives are kept at the NC State University library and a quick browse of the inventory (lots of interesting stuff to see:  http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00356/

does show documents for both Pinetree (though dated 1984, and nothing on OB Keeler GC) and Cherokee T&CC.  I know that Byrd also did a lot of community master planning, so some the documents may have nothing to do with course design.

Keith.

[BCrosby]

Keith -

That's the mystery. I've heard various attributions. Byrd was involved. Lee was involved and probably Adams. But who did what is still an open question. The problem is that Cherokee has 36 holes. It is possible that each 9 was designed by a different architect or a different combination of architects, though we think the original "North" course was done by one firm.

I'm just beginning to dig into it. Let me know if you run across anything.

Bob