This past weekend during a trip to Indianapolis I had the chance to play Crooked Stick. I believe as of today they are 26 days away from the start of the U.S. Senior Open, and the tents were starting to come up, with (according to an assistant Pro) the USGA starting to take over the daily maintenance of the course.
My questions though with regards to Crooked Stick is that many, both on GCA and off, have said that the course used to be much better before Pete Dye started tinkering with it in order to either prepare the course for a major event, or to keep up with modern equipment. (The main example usually given within this period of Dye's work that has been left untouched is The Golf Club, which is highly regarded by most).
Can anyone who is familiar with the course and its changes give specific examples of changes over the years that have either negativly or positivly affected the course's design and playability?
Also when reading about the course, many mention that Dye used Ross, MacKensie, and Raynor as inspiration for the different holes. Call me crazy or unknowledgable of Golf Course Archetecture, but I'm not sure I can see any heavy influence in the design that shows those certain charectoristics.
Maybe the best example is the Par-3 17th, which is supposed to be a Redan, and is a very good long par-3 (1 of 4 awesome par-3's IMO). Correct me if I'm wrong, but older photos make the right side look far higher and more pronouced and make it looke more like a traditional redan. Is this an example of Dye's work over the years that has made his traditional features more subtle?
In anticipation of the Senior Open, does anyone have any general opinions of the course that they would like the share as I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about it!
P.S.- A good story during my visit. As I'm walking off the 18th tee and toward the fairway I notice a man in a cart with a white dog following him around the trees on the left. When I get closer I realize that it's Pete Dye and I introduce myself as a fan (total GCA-dork move) and say that I enjoy his work and had just played his new course in French Lick. After a 1-min conversation I start off down the hole and tell my 7th grader caddy that I just met Pete Dye, to which he responds "Oh you mean that guy in the cart that was just taking a wiz over there in the woods?"