[Ed Oden]

Here is what Ran says in his course profile on Plainfield about the history of the tunnel holes, the old 17th and 18th holes and the range:

"The three hole stretch of the thirteenth through fifteenth (referred to by the members as the tunnel holes) has never quite fit in with the rest of the holes, until now that is, at least for the fifteenth. The story of these three holes is somewhat convoluted but goes like this: Ross’s original 1921 routing of the course was from the par 4/par 3 that is now the twelfth hole to today’s sixteenth hole. The original seventeenth and eighteenth holes approximately occupied the land of today’s driving range. Appreciating the need for a practice area, the Club acquired the land in the 1930s where the tunnel holes now reside and Ross routed these three holes from a topography map."

If you go to  http://www.historicaerials.com/default.aspx  and type in "Plainfield Country Club, Plainfield, NJ" you can pull up a series of aerial photos of the course.  The earliest is from 1931 and you can see that the new tunnel holes had already been constructed on the far SE portion of the course.  You can also see that the old 17th and 18th holes still existed on the far NW part of the property S of the road (be careful not to confuse this with the muni course across the street).  Interestingly, if you click on the next two aerials (1940 and 1947), the old 17th and 18th appear to remain as fully maintained holes.  They aren't replaced by the range until the 1956 photo.  So, did Plainfield really keep the old holes for at least 16 years?  If so, why and what were they used for?  Anyone know?

Ed

[Patrick_Mucci_Jr]

Ed,

It's a great question.

Plainfield's history might reveal the answer.
A member used to post on GCA.com, maybe he knows or can find the answer.

Thanks for relocating the historical aerial link

[Ed Oden]

Just thought I would give this a one-time bump on the odd chance someone has info.

[Ed Oden]

I'm bubbling this question up again just in case someone with info might be checking in this week.

[Morgan Clawson]

Ed -

This appears to be quite a mystery!

No answers or even speculation from the treehouse.

Very rare indeed...

[Joe Bausch]

In 1990 Plainfield CC published a centennial history book:

The first hundred years.
Corp Author: Plainfield Country Club (Plainfield, N.J.)
Publication: [Plainfield, N.J.? : The Club?, 1990
Document: English : Book

[Noel Freeman]

Ed/All

John Lovito is a plainfield member and can answer all of these questions.. He's at the Barclays today.. IM him..

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