Chicago GCA Dinner with Ron Forse and Jim Nagle at Bryn Mawr CC May 14th

[Dan Moore]

Ron and Jim will be in town doing some field work on the Master Plan they are are preparing for Bryn Mawr CC in Lincolnwood.  They have agreed to attend a dinner with the local GCA crew on Thursday May 14th at 7:00 pm.  It works best for them if we do it at the Club.  BMCC is not far from the Touhy exit of the Edens.  Bryn Mawr Superintendent Brian Bossert will be our host. 

Bryn Mawr is an early Langford Moreau design on a very compact, pancake flat piece of property.  Despite the limitations of the site, L/M came up with a fairly clever routing and some artistic bunkering very unlike what we know and love at Lawsonia.  The original course plan had 6 par 5's, 6 par 4's, and 6 par 3's.  At some point the 3rd and 11th holes were converted to par 4's. 

This should be an enjoyable and interesting evening of drinks, dinner and of course plenty of discussion about golf course architecture.  I hope to you will be able to join us.

Here are the details.

Date:  Thursday May 14th

Where:  Byrn Mawr Country Club 
              6600 N Crawford Avenue
              Lincolnwood, IL 
           
Cocktails:  6:45 to 7:15 pm

Dinner:     7:15  pm

Map and Directions:  www.memberstatements.com/tour/tours.cfm?ClubID=12406&tourID=28886

Please let me know if you will be able to attend.


Forse Design

 www.forsedesign.net/


Here is a copy of Langford Moreau's Original Course Plan. 

[PThomas]

thanks Dan, i'll check my calendar

[PCCraig]

Interesting! Depending on work I could make it.

[Phil McDade]

Bumping, since this was first posted pre-redesign and may have gotten lost in the shuffle of the down time. I've heard Ron talk and he has some wonderful insights into the engineered look and design of Langford courses.

[Dan Moore]

Hi Folks,

Dinner is still on.  I have about nine confirmed so far, mostly friends from Chicago area clubs who are not participants on GCA.  Should be an interesting evening. 

I need to have a final headcount on Tuesday, so please let me know by then if you be able to attend. 

[Terry Lavin]

I played Bryn Mawr last week and the work is eye-popping good. The course always had good bones, but they were covered with trees, altered by misbegotten added bunkers of odd shapes and distorted by greens changed by maintenance practices. There is more tree removal rumored but people need to get out and see Jim Nagle's superlative work!  I'd be happy to arrange access, especially if somebody could help with photography.

[Andrew Buck]

I played Bryn Mawr last week and the work is eye-popping good. The course always had good bones, but they were covered with trees, altered by misbegotten added bunkers of odd shapes and distorted by greens changed by maintenance practices. There is more tree removal rumored but people need to get out and see Jim Nagle's superlative work!  I'd be happy to arrange access, especially if somebody could help with photography.

Terry,

I always liked Bryn Mawr's bones as well.  A very fun course that provides an ample mix of birdie opportunities and tough pars.

Glad to hear the renovation went well and I look forward to seeing it in the future.   

[Terry Lavin]

I have seen re-do's where the earlier iteration of the golf course was already so good that the new work didn't really stand out, even if it was well done.  I've seen others where the architect gets carried away and imposes his own vision even if it dramatically conflicts with the historical bona fides of the golf course.  Nagle's work at Bryn Mawr is that rare beast of a restoration that takes a golf course that has casually, insidiously but seemingly purposely has become dull, tame and botanical-gardenlike and turned it into a good looking, fun AND challenging golf course.  The old Bryn was dull, over-treed and easy.  The new Bryn has teeth in the form of well placed (but not huge and yawning and impossible to get out of) bunkers that really define the look of every hole from the tee box.  The positioning puts thoughts into a player's head about which option he wants to take off the tee, inviting risk and reward.  There was also some green expansion and apparently a few that were made smaller, in both instances to the benefit of the experience. 

Hat's off to Jim Nagle!  Bryn is now back in the player's rotation in Chicagoland and, with its great proximity to downtown, I really think the club could see some positive changes in terms of membership.  It's all good!

Now, I need some help with a photo tour.  My buddy at Bryn has a bunch of photos that can be "drop-boxed" so we can get a fresh thread on the site and put this old one back to bed.