The Old Town Club

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

Another hole the bunkering scheme reminds of is the 2nd at Southern Hills. The grouping of the bunkers and there relationship to the stream.

TE
I seem to recall reading that the course was built with a 'modern' irrigation system.

[Dunlop_White]

Hole 7:Commentary

I initially did not recognize what a great case study Hole 7 would be. And, of course, it is much easier for me both to analyze and observe, but the transgression of this hole is truly multi-faceted. I thank everyone for their informed opinions and interests.

The Middle Tree:

A classical method of design was to position hazards in the center of the fairway or in the direct line of play. Consequently, golfers faced the strategic choice of playing either to the right or to the left of these hazards. Fairways were typically wide to accommodate such lateral options. Typically, these central obstacles were bunkers; however, Maxwell apparently utilized a tree in the same fashion here at Old Town.

In 1939, I contend that similar options existed from this tee. Choices such as this created mystery, variety, and strategy and further encouraged thought, decision-making, shot making from this tee.

Likely, Tom Macwood is right. The desired route of the hole was probably to the left of the tree; however, this route required a forced carry of some 175 yards over three cross-bunkers. One of our senior members conveyed that he always chose to go to the right of the tree, because he lacked the necessary length to go left. Today, the forced carry from the tee is about 200 to 210 yards with no options to the right.

The tree died last year guarding the right side of the fairway; however, the strategic character of the hole all but died years ago with the loss of our fairway widths.

The Fairway:

The fairway here has dramatically been reduced in size and position. Why? We all realize that through the years, fairways had an expensive per-acre price tag. In order to lower maintenance budgets, clubs sacrificed total fairway acreage. We also know that the average golf course loses several square feet of fairway area per year just through normal mowing patterns. That’s difficult to notice at the time, but over 70 years or so, it can amount to acres. We also know that fairways have been reduced in width intentionally to help defend par. Universally, green committee's perceptions have certainly been fine-tuned by the USGA's work with Championship venues.

In my opinion though, the installation of single row irrigation lines down the length of the fairways at Old Town contributed most significantly to the current fairway position and width on Hole 7. Because the preferred line of play was likely to the left of the tree, the installation of these irrigation lines favored the left side of this fairway as well, without any regard to design intent or strategic merit of the hole. The position of the current fairway, therefore, took form to the outer extent of the water’s throw, as the grass was naturally greener in this area. This eliminated the fairway space to the right of the tree and essentially purged this optional route from the hole.

Please note though, even if the irrigation lines were constructed running the center of this fairway (basically from the tree to the green) giving proper deference toward Maxwell's design intent, the strategic value of the hole would have been diminished as well, because there would have been little, if any, room to go laterally off the tree. In this scenario, the club likely would have had to remove the tree much earlier to gain entrance to the narrowed fairway. Thus, the single row irrigation line, regardless of where it was placed, destroyed the strategic character of the hole. Its placement simply determined the fairway position and effectively determined the life of the tree.

Our fairways widths were reduced in size and contoured even further in 2001. Because we are updating our fairways to Tifsport Bermudagrass this year, we consulted Cupp and Fuller again to establish some permanent fairway lines for sprigging. Tom Paul, you are accurate in that they don't seem to fit. These fairway lines are awkward, forced, and unnatural. Cupp's extensive art school training reveals itself in the visual flare of these contours. Hopefully we will be able to reclaim our ultra-fairway widths and simple lines prior to the process.
 A wide fairway could still provide options on this hole, particularly since we currently have multi-row irrigation to support it. Because of the severe contours and slopes of the green on hole 7 and because of its diagonal shape, restoring the original fairway widths would prompt golfers to strategically play from different lateral positions to get the ball close to or to a particular side of a pin. As Chris Clouser mentions, the angle of approach in relation to the hump and the pin location is an important aspect to this hole.
As such, I wonder whether the tree was ever an integral facet of this hole to Maxwell afterall??

The Right Bunker:

This bunker was probably removed because it quickly became secondary and peripheral to the hole as the fairway evolved to the left of the tree. Memberships are often too ready to cover-up bunkers which are, in their minds, useless or "out-of-play".

Trees:

Please note the tree plantings to both the left and especially the right of the current fairway. As a matter of fact, the trees here encroach to the extent that the right green side bunker cannot be exposed, but it is still there. Most are silver maples or evergreens which were evidently planted to help define the fairway, frame the hole, and "beautify". If some are not removed, they will soon block vistas of the course and have an agronomic impact on the turfgrass. They have already contributed in transforming a hole with width and lateral angles into another vertical target hole where a good shot is restricted to the center and recovery options are limited.

Mounding:

Look carefully at the right side of the fairway! Can you see the bold row of containment mounding? Cupp added this lovely touch in 1996,   as he has the propensity to contrive creative landforms. At many of his other courses, Cupp champions the use of mounding to create light and shadow effects for the golfer. Designed to redirect wayward shots or visually frame the landing area in either case is undesirable. Such artificial and manufactured landforms totally divorce themselves from the naturalness of the terrain which Maxwell took great pride in preserving.

[TEPaul]

Dunlop:

You mentioned that you've wondered if the tree was ever an integral facet of #7 to Maxwell after all.

I would say the tree was very much an integral facet of the hole to Maxwell. However, the way he used that tree sort of indicates the overall interchangeability of a number of "features" that an architect can use to basically achieve the same purpose and in this case the same "strategic purpose".

I'm sure it may have been so that Maxwell intended some of the best and most interesting risk/reward strategies of playing #7 would be to play to the "lateral" parts of the old fairway--the far left or right sides of it as you and Chris Clouser imply. It sounds that Maxwell very much matched his green and it's internal meaning for just those lateral tee shot options.

So Maxwell used the tree to force the player out of the center of that fairway to a large degree. However, he didn't exactly take the center option away from the player as he could have with other interchangeable features like bunkers or mounds in the middle of the old fairway to absolutely dictate a choice to the right or the left.

The tree was integral in this way, I think, but much more subtle than a penal feature in the center of the fairway (to force the player to choose either side) because presumably a player could cut the ball around the tree, hook it around the tree or even hit it over the tree. Basically these are more options than absolutely forcing the golfer to either side and they are probably slightly more sophisticated options with the use of a single centered tree! But to a lesser degree Maxwell was taking some of the center away from the golfer with the tree which was integral to all the options on that hole originally.

Now it's all changed strategically (because the old lateral fairway space is gone), and directed into the center where Maxwell may not have ever intended the golfer to seriously consider! And it's also possible that all this happened little by little for various reasons without anyone really realizing what they were doing to Maxwell's original and possibly very sophisticated strategies!

This is all great stuff you're offering us with Old Town, Dunlop. It's probably as much of a hole specific strategic discussion as we've ever had on Golfclubatlas, and the fact that so much of it revolves around understood or misunderstood evolution on a great old classic golf course makes it all the more interesting!

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

Dunlop
Thanks for your analysis. I agree with Tom Paul this has been one very informative thread on may levels. Old Town may have been one of the last designs of the so called Golden Age which adds to the courses imporatance. I seem to recall reading about a double green, does it still exist?

[Dunlop_White]

Tom,

Yes, we restored the double green in 1996. The left portion constitutes Hole 8 green, while the right portion contains Hole 17 green. My very first post on this thread explains the history of the double green, and how Perry Maxwell found his way to Winston-Salem, NC to design the course at Old Town. It is interesting because of the Augusta National connection to the Reynolds family in W-S.

I feel sure that Chris Clouser will include this information in his Perry Maxwell book since Maxwell was particularly fascinated with St. Andrews. For we have other distinct St Andrew's type features as well, such as Valley of Sin like depressions which are unique to the two courses and have been preserved. This Maxwell book is long overdue!

Perhaps, Jeff Mingay will include these issues in his upcoming book on the elements of restoration. We will see? Jeff is dropping by later this month on his way back to Canada. Perhaps he will bring this thread back up to the top after he visits. It was great to hear that Jeff may include a view of restoration from a maintenance perspective. This is long overdue as well.

Dunlop

[Brad Klein]

I had the pleasure of a visit to Old Town Club in Oct. 2001 ans was stunned with the strength of the basic layout. I also conveyed then to Dunlop and to the membership in a talk that night how easy it would be to bring back many of its strategic elements witrh some judicious tree removal.

The greens reconstruction would require far more work - a coring out and regrading of the green surfaces to 50-100 feet out beyond their present fillpad in order to get the softened ground contours to flow out properly while allowing for the ground game. There are a number of qualified designers/architects who could do this with the required sensitivity, but I would caution GCA posters that an open public Web site is not the place to be naming names of who can/should/can't do a certain job.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to the club until late afternoon and we had less than two hours to buzz the field in a cart. It took a ride around the opening three-hole loop to come away impressed, and then a glance along the stretch 5-6-7-8 to realize that this was one extraordinary piece of land. The impression was confirmed on the back nine, though I must say some considerable work on 14-15 had weakened those holes considerably, and both nines ended up on tough, demanding uphill holes where the strategy had gotten lost in the trees.

There is way too much overgrowth on the course - easily cleared, though, if the membership only takes to heart the arguments of its thoughtful member, Mr. Dunlop White. During my talk, it became obvious to me that his considerable analytical talents were unappreciated by his own membership -a phenomenon we are all accustomed to. I referred to his "Under the Trees" brochure as a crucial piece of "Samidzat literature" that was having powerful effects elsewhere. I think they got the point.

My impression is that the initial Perry Maxwell genius of ground game strategy at Old Town had been compromised by removed bunkers (7th hole), trees at the inside elbow of trees (5th hole) or narrow tree corridors such as 9,12, and 18. I also think that many purists who believe in fundamentalist classic architecture forget that most goflers are more concerned with good agrnomics than with classical shot-making. In the matter of trees, sound management (i.e. removal) contributes to both playability and agronomy, but it would probably be good politics within the club to emphasize the ability to grow good turf.

Back to Old Town. Great piece of land. Wonderful returning routing. Amazing set of greens that are a bit abrupt for the contours and shots. And way too many trees. I should also add that the club has a knowledgeable, thoughtful membership that appreciates what they have - though I don't know whether they know and care how really much stronger the layout could be. Wasn't there long enough to discern, and in these matters, club sentiments count for a lot. Definitely a sleeper for top-100 rating, if the right changes are made. It now stands no.8 overall in the Golfweek rankings for N.C., with 9 raters giving it an average vote of 5.83.
  

[brad_miller]

Dunlop, your work, efforts are much appreciated here! As is the generous sharing of information about Old Town. Continued good luck.

[Dunlop_White]

Brad Klein and Brad Miller:

I enjoyed reading your comments, and I thank you for the kind remarks!

Dunlop

[Sven Nilsen]

Forsyth CC

Will Reynolds (see Tanglewood) donated a portion of the land where Forsyth CC is situated today. I believe it was originally affiliated with the Twin City Club, a downtown club in Winston-Salem, and the 9 hole golfing grounds were where Forsyth CC is now located. It was designed by Donald Ross (1923). Tillinghast was originally involved with the 9 hole design in 1912 according to a newspaper. Noone knows the details of his involvement.

Apparently, in the early 1950's, a couple of gentlemen by the names of "Floyd" and "Ricibonni" ?, who I have been told were not actually architects per se, but instead were seed salesmen who had some architectural experience, were hired to renovate the course. During the process, they apparently went bankrupt and left the job unfinished, so L. A. Reynolds, Inc., who basically built roads, was hired to complete the job. Notably, many bunkers were covered-up and abandoned, particularly numerous of Ross' carry-bunkers and cross-bunkers located merely some 120 yards from the tees and some 50 yards short of the greens . The 1939 aerial photo as shown below exposes a heavily bunkered back nine.



 A rough count reveals that 23 of these fairway bunkers have been covered-up as they do not exist today. And this is visible on the back 9 alone! Another rough count reveals that 11 greenside bunkers have been added sometime since this aerial was taken. Again, on the back 9 alone.

The course, including the greens and bunkers, have since been completely remodeled by Dan Maples.(1990?) The bunkers all have tremendous flashes today. Modern looking mounds have also been constructed throughout. Trees are also a problem, and their maintenance practice of growing rough in close proximity of the green should be reviewed.

The course and the club are as nice as you will find, it is enjoyable to play and always in fine condition; however, it simply has little resemblence to a Ross design.

Didn't know where else to tack this on, and this is just about the only mention of Tillinghast and Forsyth I could find on the site.

First, a March 20, 1915 Twin-City Daily Sentinel article discussing the lay out of the first 9 hole course by Robert Moir.



A year and a half later the same paper reported on the engagement of Tillinghast to expand the course (Oct. 6, 1916). 



Ross would arrive in late 1921 to start planning for an 18 hole course.  It would be interesting to have enough information to see if Ross incorporated any of Tillie's design in his layout.

[Sven Nilsen]

A Winston-Salem Journal article from April 7, 1918 discusses the opening of the Tillinghast 9 hole course, but doesn't go into much detail on its characteristics.