[Paul Richards]

Here are the before/ after of the fifth hole at The Beverly Country Club in Chicago.


This is know as one of the best four pars in all of Chicago - 415 yards to a green planted on the plateau - don't be above the pin!!!!


Original design - Donald Ross
Restoration - Ron Prichard
Crew - EarthForce - Sid Prichard/Gordon Singer

 

   

[Paul Richards]

thanks in advance to brian gracely for his help in posting these photos!

 

[Brian_Gracely]

#5 Before


#5 After

[Paul Richards]

Things to notice:

recaptured green - especially notice the back left corner, which looks ready to accept a shot from the right-half of fairway

bunkering which resembles what Ross put here in the '20's

massive tree-removal - especially to the right of the photo - the only trees left between 5th and 8th green are oaks now

recontoured fairways - slight left to right dogleg now - as opposed to tree-lined-straight-as-an-arrow-hole

new bunkering emphasizes the slope that plays up to this green

 

[noonan]

Squared off tee boxes are different.

[Will E]

Paul,
Wonderful pictures! Five is an incredible hole, and now not having to walk single file down the fairway it looks even better. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the course.
The bunkering looks very similar to the work done at Skokie; and as I mentioned in the "other" thread, I'm still wondering if Prichard has developed his own Ross style bunkers. Do you know of any  other Ross courses he's worked on that have a different look to the bunkers? Please don't view this question as a criticism, obviously the improvement is evident.

[Paul Richards]

shooter

actually, i have.

i just played Exmoor, which had a different shaper doing the work.  

the bunkers there are much bigger, with big tongues, and have a totally different look and feel than these do.

and both were 'designed' by Prichard and the work completed last winter.

my feeling is that if you grab the Ross book, "Golf Has Never Failed Me" and looked through the photos, especially the two from Beverly and one I remember from Salem, the bunkering at Beverly today very much reminds me of those.  

 

[Paul Richards]

shooter:

>now not having to walk single file down the fairway it looks even better


The fifth hole has always been well-regarded in the Chicago area as a tough hole.  As you mentioned, it was almost ridiculous how straight it was - too many trees - in straight lines to boot.  Now it is more open, with a bit of bend to it, accepting of shots from the right-side, as it appears to be meant to be, and, almost to a man, everyone who has seen it in person this summer has remarked that this was the best "change" to the course that Prichard made.

My reply is that it's not a "change" but is how the hole was "meant to be played" - not as a dead-straight hole!

 

[Jeff_Mingay]

Paul,

Wow! Recapturing the back left corner of the green surface has really provided a dramatic look on approach. It really emphasizes the tilt of that putting surface - makes it look scary!

What a beautiful green.

[A_Clay_Man]

The re-capturing of fillpads was what was missing from Banff's supposed Ross hole, #6 green. No?

[Mike Hendren]

Paul and Brian,

Thanks for the pics.  Wow!  I am absolutely sick that I have had to change plans and will not be at Beverly in a couple of weeks.  My daughter's freshman class is building the homecoming parade float in my yard that week

Three questions:  Did Prichard restore Ross' bunkers on the hillside off the 7th tee as seen in Brad's book?  Did he leave the wild 8th green as is?  Does the course play tougher?

Mike

[michael j fay]

Paul:

Beverly is terrific. As I did not see Beverly before the work of Prichard I can only assume that it suffered from the same aging process that the other Ross courses in the midwest faced.

I had seen Exmoor and Skokie before the Prichard work and would say that both have been improved dramatically.

I think that Exmoor needed the large, dramatic bunkers that Ron Prichard built. When I played the course in 1998 I felt that it was going to be difficult to make the course relevant. It was dull and drab with little or no excitement in the overall walk. Prichard brought it to life and the bunkering fits the landscape. Exmoor had been rerouted and a couple of new greens had been built. Working around these problems, Ron revived the Ross feel. It is one of the most improved Ross courses I have seen.

Back to Beverly:

There is  nothing to dislike about Beverly. The original routing that took full advantage of the small movement in the land was pure genius. The use of the knoll on the backside for tees and greens is incredible. Never have I seen an Architect get more out of a 20+- foot rise in the land.

I was rather taken by the par four holes on the course. The variety, the options and the continuity are all very strong. The fives and the threes are also quite a collection. This course could hold any Championship.

I would like to see the tree left of 10 removed, but I can't bitch.

Great job at Beverly, kudos to Richards, Holland, Prichard and Ross.

[Paul Richards]

mike

thank you for the kind words.  the master plan committee, under mike floodstrand, worked for 5 years to get this done.  lots and lots of education of the membership was the key.

>I would like to see the tree left of 10 removed, but I can't bitch.

i think you'll get your wish  

>This course could hold any Championship.

as you know, Beverly offered to host the 2008 Senior Amatuer.  a few of the pro's that played in our pro-am (first time on the restored course) said that the Chicago Open should return here immediately, that Bev could host a PGA Tour event tomorrow, and one was convinced that the US Open should be brought here!  and soon!

 

[Paul Richards]

mike


>>I was rather taken by the par four holes on the course. The variety, the options and the continuity are all very strong. The fives and the threes are also quite a collection.


on top of the exquisite routing, your observation is spot-on about the strength and variety:

the par 5's are all very strong.

the 5-three pars range from 160 to 245 from the plates, and the four-pars play from 332 to about 477.

 

[Paul Richards]

mike h

>Wow!  I am absolutely sick that I have had to change plans and will not be at Beverly in a couple of weeks.  My daughter's freshman class is building the homecoming parade float in my yard that week


sorry you'll miss the 'convention'.

after the floats get built, perhaps a mid-october chi-town visit is in order!  

[Paul Richards]

mike h

>Three questions:  Did Prichard restore Ross' bunkers on the hillside off the 7th tee as seen in Brad's book?

actually, those were the 'string of pearl' bunkers in brad's book that were to the left of the fairway at the second hole's tee-shot-landing area.  those appeared in a 1932 topo by chick evans, but we were never quite sure if they were really there or not.  none of the photographs we have support their existence.  they were not kept in this restoration.  prichard felt that the hole made more sense with a bit more right-to-left dogleg, and the two fairway bunkers off the tee were repositioned to reflect today's technology.


>Did he leave the wild 8th green as is?

the front portion was left and the back 1/2 was raised and  reworked by prichard


>Does the course play tougher?

from lots of conversations, i have been able to gather that the higher handicaps view the changes positively because they feel the wider corridors make the course play easier for them and the larger greens are easier to hit.

the good players are challenged by the new bunkering and feel the course plays tougher due to the increased length, and greater emphasis on having to 'think' their way around the course - proper positioning of shots for drives, approaches and correct portions of greens to hit - instead of only being concerned about hitting a dead-straight ball.

additionally, the loss of trees has been more than compensated in actually growing rough - especially in spots that used to be dirt due to a canopy if trees.  this has challenged the low handicappers.

simply put, the high-handicappers feel it's easier and the low-handicappers find it tougher.

this is a pretty good combinatiin in my book.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

Thanks for putting the pictures up!  This really whets my appetite for Beverly and Skokie.  I just don't get enough of the classics out here in the Pac NW.  

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