great maxwell article by GCAer chris clouser!

[Jay Flemma]

http://www.usamateur.org/news/maxwell.html

enjoy!

[Phil_the_Author]

Chris,

Wonderful article! I especially liked the reference to BH! 

[Jay Flemma]

bump...one more time for chris

[PCCraig]

Job well done Chris!

[TEPaul]

"But perhaps the best known aspect of Maxwell’s work during this stage of his career was his prolific renovation work. He made notable contributions to several of the top courses around the country, including Pine Valley, Gulph Mills, Philadelphia Country Club, Brook Hollow, Colonial, Saucon Valley, the National Golf Links and, perhaps his best-known redesign, Augusta National."


Chris:

I certainly know what Maxwell did at Gulph Mills of course and I know what he did at Pine Valley, Philadelphia Country Club, Saucon Valley and Augusta National. I do not know what he did at Colonial and Brook Hollow but I've heard for years he did something at The National Golf Links (as you mention in your US Amateur article) but as much as I've asked I have never been able to figure out exactly what he did at NGLA. It seems to me sort of like noone around NGLA even wants to talk about it.

Do you know what Maxwell did at NGLA, and also when?

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Do you know what Maxwell did at NGLA, and also when?

I seem to remember from the book that Chris wrote on Maxwell that what work was done at NGLA was a mystery.  My copy is at home, but I think it was the mid 1930's.

[TEPaul]

Kyle:

Thanks but I have Chris's book here and I'll take a look. But since he mentioned Maxwell and NGLA in his recent article for the 2009 US Amateur I thought maybe he found something out since he wrote his book.

If Maxwell did do some redesign work or whatever in the mid-1930s that would seem sort of strange since Macdonald sure controlled that place into the mid-1930s and I wonder why Maxwell would've come in during the mid-1930s unless Macdonald asked him to.

However, there seems to be that story from the club or those who really knew it back around the very end of Macdonald's life (1939) about Macdonald basically getting ousted from his own club. I wonder if Maxwell came in then or if it was after Macdonald died. I always heard from lots of sources that he did something but trying to find out what ain't easy. Maybe it's just that noone today knows or remembers.

And then there is the transcription of that letter from Macdonald to Maxwell in the bio section of C&W's "The Architects of Golf" where Macdonald mentions to Maxwell he wouldn't walk around the block to see another project (Maxwell apparently asked him to look at something he was about to do). C&W refer to that letter as one of Macdonald's last pieces of correspondence so it must have been from 1938 or 1939.

[Chris_Clouser]

Tom,

I've been trying to find that out since the beginning of my Maxwell research and no one seems to know.  I think George Bahto might have some ideas as to what he may have done there, but I think even he is speculating on that.  But it appears that based on what he did at National, Macdonald referred him to several jobs in the New York area like Rockaway and the Links Club and possibly Maidstone and there is some evidence to back this up.  If it wasn't for that piece of information I would probably write it off as rumor and nothing more.  If I were to guess he probably came in and did some work for Macdonald under CB's supervision as a favor or something to pay him back for helping Maxwell out early on in his career.  My guess, in regards to that letter, is that Maxwell was asking him to look at his work at Rockaway after the 1938 hurricane and get his opinion.  Not sure what else it would have been.  I believe Maxwell viewed Macdonald more of a mentor than people think.  He was a friend and partner with Mackenzie, but Macdonald was the man that introduced him to golf architecture and design. 

A similar thing I found about Maxwell, which had no corroborating evidence, were some stray articles that attributed some renovation work at Merion to Maxwell, some of these articles were from the mid-1930s.  Those seem to have been items that have nothing behind them so I never refer to him working at Merion, even though several sources seem to do that.  And I doubt you or Wayne have found anything that substantiates any of those claims.  If you have though, please let me know.