Mike DeVries at Siwanoy CC - Bronxville, NY (Ross, Hills)

[Michael J. Moss]

Mike and Joe Hancock are due back in Bronxville soon (when this snow finally goes away) to finish their truly excellent work at this very intimate, very cool club. I can't speak to how much paint had to be removed to make the course sparkle again. My guess...it has been significant. But Siwanoy club members are now in the home stretch of regaining full access to a course transformed into what I believe will once again be regarded as a Met area gem.

I took these images in the fall of some front nine work...

The first few images (below) show the results of some really out of the box thinking: the adding of a creek (one that did not exist before), which was totally shaped out by Mike and Joe that involved some significant tree removal. The result: the addition of an attractive strategic element along with improved drainage on the adjacent holes where the water table has dropped. I love when the activities of an architect can fool the eye into believing that some brand new feature has always been there…in this case, just covered up by some trees.







The first green from the right side. This is the first pic that more or less typifies the green expansion work along with the attractiveness in the decision to maintain many of the runoff areas with fairway length turf.


View from behind the first green. The closely mown area continues to the back teeing area on the second hole and the third green (I think it’s the third…could be the fourth).


Behind the 1st green looking at the back tee on the 2nd and either the 3rd or 4th green.


Hard to capture here, but this is the back of the par-5, 5th green (on the right) that Mike tied into the teeing area on the par-3, 6th.

Perhaps better described here: the 5th green with newly laid sod and the 6th tee in the foreground.


View of the 5th green, again, looking towards the 6th green.


The stunning 6th green! This was a total redesign. I think it's going to work out well.


View from the 7th tee looking back towards 5th green and 6th tee.


View of the 7th hole from the tee.


The creek exits the property from the 7th fairway. You look at it and you do have to remind yourself that it wasn’t there.


The 7th green from the right side.


9th green –  at the time, a work in progress. These photos give you an idea of process.


Looking down the 9th fairway.



I'm not sure the exact number of holes Mike has to address this spring, but come July 4th, you will want to come by to see this beauty.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

I love to see photos of work in prgress like that and imagining what the finished product will look like, trying to play shots in my mind.
And then seeing the finished article when you post it Michael, thanks for your time.

[jeffwarne]

MET PGA at Siwanoy to celebrate first PGA Championship which was held in 1916 at Siwanoy
Looking forward to it
2015 no slouch either at Fenway

[Sven Nilsen]

To add to the color of the thread, some old photos of the course:

Nov. 1915 Golf Illustrated -

[Jud_T]

Between this and U of M Mike is building up a nice side business in restoring courses that Art Hills worked on...

[Adam Clayman]

Thanx Michael for keeping us up on Mike and Joe's works in progress.
It ain't even throwback Thursday, but this is how I fondly recall the fledgling days of gca.com

[Eric Smith]

Wow this place looks cool. The creek work looks to be very well done. Thanks for posting, Michael.

[Michael J. Moss]

I meant to include this one...
Mike has moved the teeing area back towards the clubhouse. It will be tied into a practice putting green that you can see in the corner right outside the dining area. I'm not encouraging comparison's to Merion's first tee but playing away will be, without question, a more intimate experience.

[Joe Hancock]

Mike Moss,

Thanks for the nice words. You're always generous and kind.

The creek was a fun departure. It has always existed, but at some point(we don't know an exact date) it was piped to a culvert that goes under California Rd. and exits the property there. What we did (I note here that Robert Nelson, a California guy himself, was the main man on the creek. Very knowledgeable about such things as well as all golf design) was to build the creek where Mike wanted it, in order to create some strategy on #'s 5 and 7. We worked the creek until we were to tie into the existing open portion of the creek, then diverted it to the new creek once could.

The single-most important part of this project has been the club leadership. They had the plan confidently and adequately sold to their membership. They buffered us from any negativity or criticism(which there has been very little). The superintendent, Steven McGlone, has been on his game throughout, and he deserves a lot of attention for his project management.

I'm looking forward to getting back there next week. Thanks for pictures to stoke the fire!

Joe

[V. Kmetz]

Hello

First a correction:

SN: The Golf Illustrated caption is incorrect. It is the 12th green that is depicted, from a photo taken from the left side of the fairway, about 140-150 yards out. The contemporaneous captioner is readily forgiven, because the 8th and 12th holes are nearly mirrored cousins, that take a nearly-parallel course to one another and only vary substantially by the elevation of the green, the 12th is sunken, the 8th a raised promontory. This was especially true in the era of the photo which captures the feature of the "thin creek" which like #8 does (still), bisects the fairway 35 yards in front of the green. The feature was changed on the 12th, first on paper in Jan 1995 as a small creek widening, then "as built" sculpted into a full, oval pond that goes within yards of the green's front edge.

Then a contention:

One poster mentioned Arthur Hills; and in a private message to me back when I posted a Siwanoy course tour (in many parts) four years ago, Mike DeVries also made incorrect attributions to Arthur Hills. I wanted to set the record as straight (as I am able) for I was there directly from 1992 - 1997, and was witness to that era just before and after then...

1. Stephen Kay is the architect who had implemented the major "visible" changes that were extant when the recent project was inaugurated (2007). Those Kay designs, like the ones being completed now, contained elements that were/are:

a. faithful to the original Ross design and routing (which itself has a bit of conjecture as to how much influence Tom Winton had in the first iteration)...true restoration
b. that were apt modern accommodations...true renovation-rejuvenation
c. but also were drawn out of whole cloth...true new design.

I know this is true because not only did I see most of them get done, but I have this item:

I'll be happy to post more from inside this booklet if there's interest.

2. Arthur Hills DID have involvement in the course, but it was in 1992, my first year. Hills' work was limited to renovating the 16th green (which was UNBELIEVABLE in its original state, owing perhaps to the fact that the original card yardage was 270-80 yards)...but that was it.

More if you want it...

cheers

vk