From a blurb in the recent Golf World.

How that money is put to use for both of those activities (especially the "improvements") ought to be a lively topic around here for a good while.  At least I hope it is - what a great opportunity for either goat or glory.

Does Tom MacWood or anyone else have any insights at this early stage?

Is there another Yale in the making or will Geoff Childs ride in and save the day?

there is only one Yale

They way I hear it, the endowment was originally intended to pay to import foriegn basketball players and for Maurice Clarett's legal fees.  Now that Clarett is gone and O'Brien is gone, they are retasking it for the golf course.  

Touche' Shel.  

Go Big Blew

$10m.  Approximately the amount of Gary Moeller's bar tab one infamous night!

For better or worse, I think the Weiskoff team has this job - at least that's been the rumor for years. The other firm that has always been involved with the courses is Hurdzan/Fry -- however, Dr. Mike has always been adimant that the courses don't need to be overhauled.

Originally the course was slated for a $5 Million renovation several years ago - but, our brilliant athletic director, Andy Geiger, overspent our stadium renovation budget by some $60 Million - so the Scarlet renovation was then put on hold indefinately.

For those of you that don't know the significance of the Scarlet Course, it was one of Mackenzie's last - he died shortly after he routed it, and the work was carried on by his wife and partner at the time, Perry Maxwell. Though the routing is solid, probably one of the best in the midwest, the bunkering and green contouring is anything but Mackenzie-like. It'd be my guess whomever gets the work won't be - "restoring" bunkers and greens - instead the decison will either be to "faithfully restore" greens and bunkers ala Mackenzie's style - or - to simply fix the agronomic problems and preserve Maxwell's work.

Go Bucks!

-JJ  

JJ,

What are the source documents which show Maxwell to have been involved at Scarlet?  From what Tom MacWood shared with us on this site, I was under the impression that Maxwell was never brought on to do the work.

It still amazes me that those Depression-era clay based greens survived this long with all the play and lack of care the course receives.  Personally, I don't have a problem at all with the greens design.  When they are firm and fast they can be extremely difficult to putt.  I still remember the snake I made from the back left on #13 to a front right pin position in the club championship in 1977.  Not so rosy are my memories of a three putt on the out-of-character 17th green in 1978 which led to my demise in OT.

Jack,
   Comparing Maxwell's work at other university courses, his greens at Veenker Memorial, Iowa State's former home course, were anything but flat.  The few originals left are quite small with one large "maxwell roll" (sometimes a coule of smaller ones) placed at varying angles to the approach to really make finding the pins difficult, and putting to them from the wrong side even worse!  
http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/veenker/
The picture of the green on their homepage illustrates this nicely
His bunkers that remain are well placed but visually featureless
and boring.


Cheers,
Brad Swanson