Anyone who saw Castle Course the first time and wrote about it as I did could see the course needed "fixing" right away. Makes you wonder why the architect didn't. Then Tetherow had to be fixed and softened immediately after opening. Isn't that the architects job the first time?
As I understand it, most Doak 10s in the U.S. got reworked, over and over, for years, starting shortly after they opened. This includes Merion, Pine Valley, NGLA, Crystal Downs and Pinehurst #2. Why is this a problem if Kidd or other modern archies do it?
Jim,
Crystal Downs has not been reworked, at all. Have the grassing lines changed? Yes. Have bunkers grown in over time and then been reclaimed? Yes.
Just a correction to your generalization.
Cheers,
Mike
My sum knowledge of this comes from Ran's profile of Crystal Downs, where he says, "This kind of sophistication in and around the green complexes only results when the architect lives on site and can take the time to get it right. And, of course, that is exactly what Maxwell did at Crystal Downs (and guess what? It is also what Henry and William Fownes did at Oakmont)."
I took that to mean Maxwell lived on or near Crystal Downs and spent years tweaking/tinkering/perfecting the greens. Yes?
Jim,
I am starting a new thread on your question, due to the expanded nature of the other thread. I am responding because I want to make sure that an inaccuracy is hopefully nipped in the bud.
Maxwell was on site during the building season (spring-fall) for 1929 (front nine) and 1930 (back nine) for the construction of the course. MacKenzie did revisit the course and although the specific timing of that is unknown by me (although I trust it is correct as I spoke many years ago with one of the crew members of the course from 1937-1978 and his cousin helped build the course and was superintendent from 1961-1978, emeritus after that). I think what Ran is referring to is the fact that Maxwell was on-site throughout the construction process and not popping in only occasionally to get it approved. This is an important aspect to any construction process, new or old. It is not the same as Ross living on the course for 40+ years and changing things to accommodate changes in the game or grassing (sand to turf conversion), etc.
Does that make CD more a Maxwell course? No, I don't think so, as MacKenzie was the teacher and leading the design. Certainly, Maxwell is a genius in his own right and deserving of credit for what he accomplished at CD and many other places, but the initial concept and design falls on the Good Doctor.
Maxwell did provide many wonderful attributes to the process and, most importantly, his time on the site to get the green complexes just right is a major one. According to my source, he also shifted the 18th green to its location at the end of the valley instead of up the hillside near the old cart barn, which would have made for a blind final approach. And, supposedly the famous 7th green was to be a boomerang to the right valley, not to the left back portion that Maxwell built. These two changes apparently upset MacKenzie when he visited, but it sounded like they were already built and finished – so this makes me surmise that MacKenzie visited in 1931 or 1932, possibly when he came to the University of Michigan for the project there. The Ann Arbor railroad had a train line to Frankfort-Elberta, where they loaded rail cars onto ferries to cross to Wisconsin (this is also the organization that donated a large parcel of land on Crystal Lake to a church organization to encourage development and, thus, enhance use of its trains to get people there) so MacKenzie would have an easy way to get to the Downs from Ann Arbor.
Another note of interest – it is rumored that Maxwell had a lady friend in the area and that is one of the reasons that he liked spending the summers on the job. Not sure of all the details, but seems likely.
Best,
Mike