[Jason Thurman]

I snuck up to Urbana CC Friday afternoon. Famously, Paul F. “Pink” Dye designed the original 9 holes and Pete Dye grew up playing the course. PB Dye lives along the second hole and added a second 9 some years ago. I don’t know the whole history but hopefully some people who do will add some details.
 
It’s no secret that I love Pete Dye’s work. Going in to a round at Urbana, I expected to feel that certain immediate nostalgia that comes with visiting any place that carries a history that feels personally special. That feeling that Paul Simon sings about on Graceland, you know.
 
But Graceland’s lyrics never mention architecture. It’s unclear after listening whether the house is well designed or laid out. Only clear that it’s a special place worthy of a pilgrimage for a person in need of one.
 
If arriving at Urbana felt like arriving at “a place where it all started,” then leaving Urbana felt like leaving a place that I can’t wait to see again. I’ve always enjoyed what I’ve seen of PB’s work, but the front 9 at Urbana has an adventurous quirkiness that I didn’t recognize from previous rounds on his courses. Watching Bill Steele work his approach down the huge backstop at the first green to feed it within 6 feet or so of the pin was delightful. The boldly contoured second green might have been even better. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to come up with 9 holes of more interesting greensites off the top of my head. The volcano 3^rd. The huge swale fronting the 4^th. The 5^th benched into a hillside and protected by a fortress of railroad ties. The bizarre and totally scary tabletop 6^th. The 7^th that feels like hitting to the edge of a cliff. The funky angled 8^th. And where the sites of greens aren’t especially noteworthy, like 1 and 9, the slopes within them certainly are. It’s a sportingly tough 9 holes and just a ton of fun to play.
 
Candidly, I expected Pink’s back 9 might just be some holes staked out in a field, but again, damn if I didn’t find myself taken aback at the greensites and delightful playing qualities. The hanging lie-blind approach 11^th is really unlike any other hole I’ve seen. 13 and 14 were a standout duo of shortish but treacherous par 4s. The drop-shot 15^th is an obvious thrill, and a trio of sporty, nuanced, and discerning greensites finishes the round.
 
I don’t want to try to figure out where the course lands on a ranking list. I just want to appreciate it. It’s where a legend began, yes, and for that reason it was always going to be a place I was happy to have visited. But 99 years later, this course continues to deliver tons of fun and challenge in a lovely setting. I live 90 minutes away, but had never realized I had been really missing something until I played it. That, to me, means the course doesn’t get nearly enough accolades for being more than just a part of golf course architecture history.
 
And the fact that most of that challenge, at its core, comes from how the course requires traversal of bold slopes from tee to green with a handful of shots that look impossible despite being merely very difficult in reality… well, I guess the idea that the course that nurtured a young visionary would be anything less might have been a little stupid on my part, in retrospect.

[David_Tepper]

I thought you might be posting about the joy of this Urbana:

https://urbananow.com/

 

[Josh Bills]

Wonderful to have you visit Jason.  Here is a link to the History on the course website. 


http://urbanacc.net/history/


I grew up in Urbana, but played Woodland Golf Club, a Jack Kidwell design which is nearby.  I joined Urbana CC a few years back as it is close to my office and I always loved playing the course.   Jason and Bill both played extremely well and if you ever need someone to read Dye Greens, I would highly recommend employing Jason, his putting was spectacular. 


I have plenty of photos of the course and will try to share a few of the more interesting holes.   

[Jason Thurman]

David, as I'm sure you know, Urbana's products pair beautifully with Dye courses.


Josh is too kind. I'm usually pretty confident with the flatstick, and was happy with my undulation-traversing lag at the second hole, my downslope-navigating babytap at 5, and my just-for-fun effort from above the hole on 9 after I closed the hole out with a sand save to an inch... for bogey. But I thought this was a really confounding set of greens.


At the very least, it's the kind of place where I think I'd have to play a year's worth of rounds to start to feel comfortable in knowing the right places to miss around the greens, and where to attempt to leave approaches to different pins. Starting on the PB nine, I knew I was playing holes designed by a professional GCA. Even so, I was surprised at the quality of the holes and just how wonderfully funky they got. That 5-7 stretch in particular is a really surprising trio that I just don't expect to see on courses that don't get a lot of buzz. But it's the original nine that stood out as being really surprising, because it just doesn't feel like a set of holes routed by an amateur architect who was virtually new to golf. The holes just flow over the land beautifully, and use it in really unconventional and interesting ways, and the greens are constantly in just the right spot and blessed with all kinds of surrounding interest and challenge. For a first-and-only attempt at course design by an amateur in the 1920s, it's unexpectedly excellent stuff.


Josh, you may know: How much has the original 9 changed over the last 99 years or so? I'm sure things like the railroad ties on 13 are new, but is the routing pretty true to original? Holes like 11, 13, 14, and 15 feel awfully fresh to me. Even 17. That hole feels like it was made to intimidate players who want to reach short par 5s in two.

[Josh Bills]

Jason,


The UCC is now on the Register of Historic Places and the application submitted in 2018 does a nice job of setting forth the Course history.  Here is an excerpt from that application submitted:



 "Golf Course
 The Urbana Country Club’s original nine-hole golf course was constructed in the early 1920s.  It is a contributing site to the nominated historic district. Weaving through rolling hills, trees, and over ravines, the golf course remains intact and largely as it was designed by Paul F. Dye in 1922-23.  The 1923 nine-hole course is in the same location and of the same design.  The original holes were renumbered, when the course was integrated with the new links that were built in the 1990s.  For example, the original hole #1 is now hole #13. Bunkers at the greens are original although the railroad ties were replaced as needed, circa 1990.  An irrigation system was added to the course in 1968.

The UCC Course Guide describes the individual greens in the following manner (numbers in parenthesis are the current number):
#1 (13): This short Par 4 has a wide landing area off the tee, featuring an elevated green surrounded with bunkers on each side.
#2 (14): A dogleg to the left, the Par 4 demands a precise approach.
#3 (15): This beautiful Par 3 challenges the golfer with a large pond to the left.
#4 (16): A picturesque Par 4 that requires most golfers to add an extra 15 yards for their approach.
#5 (17): This downhill Par 5 is one you won’t forget, featuring a slick green set on top of a steep hill with more beautiful views.
#6 (18): The finishing hole is a Par 4 that demands an accurate tee shot and approach.
#7 (10): The first hole on the old course, the Par 4 has a small landing area and usually a blind approach shot to a fair green.
#8 (11): A Par 5 with challenginghills thatlead thewayto agreen surrounded bybunkers onthree sides. \
#9 (12): Make it over the large ravine and this Par 3 will reward you with a welcoming green.
Although the Dye-designed course remains intact, a few minor alterations have occurred to some of the original greens.  Technological advances in golf ball and golf club design made the ball travel farther. This advancement in technology created a challenge for many older courses in the late 20th century, and the solution at the Urbana Country Club was to install additional tee boxes in the 1990s, thereby lengthening the course.  Additional tees were added to five of the original holes, including the following:
·       #7 (10): added a black tee box
·       #2 (14): added a black tee box
·       #3 (15): added a blue and silver tee box. Additionally, the front of this green was expanded and a left pot bunker was added.
·       #4 (16): added a black tee box, plus the left side of the green was expanded.
·       #6 (18): added a black tee box, plus the left side of the green was expanded. (from Josh: And PB flattened the front right this past winter)

None of the original tee boxes were removed for the addition of the new championship tee boxes. The three greens expansions only added to the original surfaces, without further alteration to them.  When the site was chosen in 1922, the UCC’s board of directors consulted with a golf expert for advice on the course’s construction.  Mr. Nichols, of Dayton, declared the land ideal and said to the board, “…look no farther for land. The natural sod covering the entire acreage gives a foundation that only time could give on cultivated land made over into a golf course.  The naturally hilly topography lends itself admirably to the constructions of hazards in addition to a number of natural hazards.”   The quality of the soil and the natural contours have stood the test of time, resulting in a golf course design that has changed little during its existence."

Jason, I have some of the articles when the original course was constructed, but this description is consistent with those articles.  Hopes this gives a little more insight into the course. I'll try to post some pictures of the course to help other see the interesting land this course sits on.


Josh

[Buck Wolter]

I once drove through Urbana while in Ohio for work -- I remember seeing the course from the highway and being smitten. Wish I would have made time to stop in.

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