Well Kyle & Doug, I am always jealous whenever someone gets to play a course at Bethpage & I couldn't be there! I am very glad that you both enjoyed it.
You asked for some input into your observation of noticing, "that the Tillinghast greens on the Yellow were more integrated with the bunkers and surrounding features than those on the Red, and this may provide some guidance for green expansion on the Red (Phil Young, your input here would be most welcome)."
I am actually in the middle of writing an article about the greens at Bethpage. It was inspired by a late afternoon visit several weeks back, to Winged Foot and Neil Regan. He shared with me the program that WF has been implementing for several years, that is to fully recover their green footage.
Most people are unaware, as was I, that during the late years of the Depression and through WW I, money was so tight that the club had to choose between closing the East Course down and letting it go fallow or dramatically lessening the green sizes on both courses in order to save enough in maintenance costs to keep both open. Thankfully they chose the latter.
Neil took me up to the "Historians Den" in the attic and showed me all sorts of wonderful old photos of how the greens used to look. There is one dramatic photo of a golf cart parked several feet from the back left of the 18th green just a few years ago and then a matching photo of the same green from the 20's. The cart was sitting where the putting green used to be.
After seeing a few of these examples, a thought jumped out at me which I was able to confirm (at least to my own satisfaction) that this same thing had to have occurred at Bethpage.
After studying numerous photos of Tilly's greens from courses built in the 20's the typical green extends all the way to the bunkers and then some. Many times they actually came to the very edge of where the rough would begin dropping down dramatically. For years now, whenever an architect would describe a Tillinghast bunker, usually he would say that Tilly would tuck the bunkers into the greens. I am now of the opinion that he did the opposite. I think that he brought the greens into the bunkers and rough. Yes, in a sense, both opinions provide for the same design characteristics, but the long-term outcomes differ.
Consider this, at times when a renovation is done to a course, the architect will sometimes move the bunkers in closer to the green because there are cases where bunkers shift and move away. This is what Rees Jones did when renovating the Black and because the bunkers were so far from the edges of the putting surface. He had a sound basis for this reasoning, and in fact, most everyone agreed with this assessment. I now believe they were wrong.
There are very few extent photos of the greens on the Black dating back from the 30's. If there were, I contend that they would show much larger greens, with the putting surfaces extended all the way to the edges, just as he did at WF & others. And yet there is one that shows what I am refering to on page 152 of "Reminiscences of the Links." It is the green of the 8th hole of the Black course shot during the first Sam Snead exhibition match played in 1938. Notice the spectators watching the match and you suddenly realize that they are actually standing on the front portion of the green. In fact, the green extends beyond them and comes to the very edge of where it drops dramatically down into the pond. Now on the opposite page there is another photo of this same green, this one shot in 1956. Even though it is taken from the back side, the front edge of the putting surface can be clearly seen. It is now at least 10 feet, if not more, from where the edge used to be.
If you take a careful look at the greens at Bethpage Black, Red & old Blue courses, you will see that they all are of the same basic design where the boundaries of the complexes are defined by anchoring mounds. Three very fine examples of this can be seen in the book, "Gleanings from the Wayside." On p.79, in the photo of the 11th green at Essex, notice how Tilly tied the green dimensions into the swales and tops of the moundings on the edges of the green. Another clear example of this is on p.85, this time it is the fourth green of the West Course at Ridgewood. Again, on p.96, it also can be clearly seen on the sixth green of the Dallas CC.
In each instance the edges of the greens are defined by the raised mounds and their crests with little, if no, fringe.
Now, consider the courses at Bethpage and in particular the Black. Almost every green is structured in this same fashion. It can be safely shown that the green dimensions typically would flow to these points just as they did on many a typical Tillinghast green found on a number of his other designs. What is most interesting about this is how, if I am correct, then the greens can no longer be called "flat!" The undulations in most of these areas range from strong to downright severe.
I was able to go over this theory with Craig Currier in May for a few minutes and we will be meeting to discuss it in great detail in August.
The ramifications of this idea, if correct, range from the idea that the Black's greens being flat are now answered, to this being another proof that Tilly designed these courses since the style is most definitely his, to will they consider recovering these areas in time for the 2009 Open.
Frankly, I have not finished this study, and have no problem in accepting that I might be incorrect in my reasoning, but right now it seems to be standing up to every argument.
Forgive me guys if this turns your discussion in another direction for that was not my intent. I just felt that Kyle's asking for help could not be ignored.