[paul cowley]

I have been travelling a bit this week, but logged in while passing through Atlanta and thought I saw that Clyde was the newest member....when I just got home now, it seems we have an even newer member!

....not that that is a concern, but I do want to take the time to shout out Clyde....who is an accomplished GCA with an impressive family tree....and a past president of the ASGCA to boot.

Welcome aboard!

[TEPaul]

I don't know Clyde, you may want to rethink registration and participation on this website unless you actually enjoy participating in an atmosfear that is every day and all day like a barroom brawl on a Friday night in Dodge City. You should do fine on here though particularly if you disagree with pretty much everything Mucci says.

[JMorgan]

Welcome, Clyde.  

Too bad you live in SC because all the hot air on this site really helps keeps down the cost of heating during the winter months.

[Clyde Johnston]

Paul: Thanks! I've enjoyed getting to know you at our ASGCA meetings. Hello to Dawn for me.

Tommy Paul: I look forward to meeting you one day. I've enjoyed our conference calls on the USGA Museum committee. While I don't like bar room brawls, you learn quickly as a golf architect, you have to have thick skin in this business or you'll never make it. I do like listening to what everyone has to say on this site (with some exceptions). I tend to listen twice as much as I talk - isn't that why we have two ears and one mouth?

JMorgan: Thanks also for your welcome!

Clyde

[Jeff_Brauer]

Clyde,


Did the ASGCA take me off the "internet control committee" without me knowing it, and replace me with another past Prez?

Free at last, free at last, thank god, I am free at last.....

Oh, and if you are just here for the fun of it, then welcome.

[Clyde Johnston]

Jeff:

Thanks for the welcome. But you of all people should know that once ASGCA finds out who cares and will work for free, you'll never be lonely again.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Clyde,

Shall we tell Paul and Ian the "secret" to be elected President - just leave the room for five minutes, and you are in, baby!

Cheers.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Welcome Clyde,

Good to get some more South Carolinians on here.

I have enjoyed many of your courses living down this way.  I count Glen Dornoch and Shaftesbury among my favorites at Myrtle Beach.  I always tell everyone who asks me for a hidden gem in MB to go to Shaftesbury, a fantastic course that most have never even heard of.

I was surprised in looking at your website that you did Chestnut Hill that I played in IN last year.  That was a fun course as well.

Ironically enough many of the ones I havent played are right there in your back yard of HHI area.  I hope to get down to do that one of these days.

Welcome again.

[TEPaul]

Clyde:

Seriously, having professional architects participate on this website is the best of it. Supers and others actually in the business too. It's a unique opportunity that way for the rest of us to discuss and argue with you all about things in a world-wide context that generally only happen in smaller and local ways.

By the way guys, Clyde is really into the history of golf course architecture.

That's true, isn't it Clyde?  

[Clyde Johnston]

Daryl: Thanks for your comments. If you get this way, give me a call.

TEPaul: The history of golf and golf course design is one of my favorite topics and it's the reason I joined this site! I also like to play with and collect hickory shaft golf clubs - any other hickory players out there?

[Jordan Wall]

Clyde:

You have 5 posts in just over one day.
My advice would be to tell your wife this is your new business site.
It could make things a bit easier when she wonders what you've been doing...
 

Welcome,
Jordan

[Adam Clayman]

Plenty of Hickory players here.

I'm not one, Although I have hit them and even carried one club for a few months. I did just play with a couple of players using them at Ballyneal.

One gentleman was debuting his brand new custom set, only to realize on the second tee that his driving iron had a crack in it, well down on the shaft. It was such a sad moment. The other gentleman tried to console him with the reality that it's happened to him on more than one occasion. I felt so bad for him that I asked him about the ball he had used. He showed me the new ProV. I then produced two old Titleist Balatas from my bag and for the rest of the round he was like a kid in a candy store.

Welcome!

[George Pazin]

Welcome, we can't have too many architects on board, imho.

[Eric Smith]

I too am a big fan Clyde and it's great that you're on this site.  When I lived on HHI I always enjoyed playing Old South, I think we played it the first week it opened.  

One of the really nice things about Old South is the Head Professional, Jim Uremovich. He and I started out as cart jockeys at PD back in the day, what a dude!

Best,

Eric

[A.G._Crockett]

Speaking for all the laymen here, it is always nice to see another professional come along.  Thanks for being willing to participate and enlighten.  It makes me especially happy to have a new member be a professional whose work I have been able to play and enjoy for many years now.

Like Daryl Boe, I've seen and enjoyed a lot of your work, from the stuff at Myrtle to Wilmington Muni to Pine Lakes at Jekyll to Hampton here in Atlanta.  The Pine Lakes renovation had to be one of the really interesting jobs you've had; any plans to do the same sort of raising of Oleander (I hope...)?  I'm also a huge fan of Shaftesbury, but my absolute favorite at Myrtle was Ocean Harbour;  still haven't forgiven the owners for letting that one die.  I always felt that with a decent maintenance budget and staff, that course would have been a match for anything on the SE coast.

So welcome to GCA.com; hope you enjoy it.  Now, I'd like to talk to you about those two uphill par fours at the Hampton Club...

[Clyde Johnston]

A.G.:

Thanks for your welcome! Pine Lakes was fun but tough due to the restrictions on developable area on the island and a no-burn policy. The course was practically overgrown. I had to find old aerials when the course was new and prove to them that the vegetation has encroached into the course so I could open it back up for decent sunlight to the playing surfaces. When we cleared out the underbrush inside most of the treed areas (so thick with palmettos that you could not walk in) we found thousands and thousands of old golf balls. You should have seen all of the seniors out there picking up balls.

I had prepared an overall renovation plan for all 63 holes and the original plan at Jekyll was to continue on to the next course as each one was redone. Unfortunately, since the State of Georgia owns the place, the funding had to be approved each year, which didn't happen. I was really looking forward to doing the Oceanside (Walter Travis) nine hole course and restoring all of the dunes areas.

Since you've played Oleander you know how low and poorly drained it is, but did you know that at one point there may have been a Ross course under part of that big lake? I have a routing plan from their archives that an engineer drew referencing notes from D.J. Ross. I also saw an accounting entry for when they paid Ross for his visit.

That's a cheeky little hole no. 6 at Hampton, uphill par 4 at 325 yards from the tips! But I bet you had fun going downhill on the 7th!

[Doug Ralston]

Welcome to GCA Mr Johnson.

I have played and enjoyed your effort at Cherry Blossom. Golfweek may have raised the expectations a little unreasonably, but it is a very nice track. For far better pix and a nice analysis see golfkentuckylinks.com

Looking forward to your S Indiana courses, which are on my 'to play' list.

Doug

[A.G._Crockett]

Clyde,
I have absolutely NOT ever heard that about the possibility of a Ross involvement at Jekyll.  I would love to know more about it if you ever come across anything else.

I'm sure there were thousands of balls in the brush at Pine Lakes; without question some were mine!  I've been coming down there every March for a Georgia high school coaches' convention and golf tournament, and played many, many rounds on the old Pine Lakes; it was my least favorite of the three because of the tree lines, but is a gem now.  In fact, this past year the Georgia AAAAA HS golf tournament was played on Pine Lakes for the first time; it had been on Oleander for as long as I can remember.  Oleander needs exactly the same treatment that you gave PL; the chutes off some of the tees have become terribly restrictive, and the entire place now is boggy almost no matter what the weather is.

What I'd really like to see down there, though, is a fantastic set of green complexes done on the Indian Mounds course.  I love the scenery of that course, but the greens are so weird that it takes a lot of the fun out of a very cool routing.

I mentioned Ocean Harbour; the sign is still out by the road.  Do you think there is any chance that the course will ever reopen?  It was a unique layout in that both sides went along water, but different bodies!  I just loved that course, despite the poor conditioning that the owners seemed to insist on.  (I also heard a rumor down there about a possible Trump involvement in the property at one point, but didn't know what to believe; you don't have to comment on that one!)

[Clyde Johnston]

A.G.

Ocean Harbour was built inexpensively by the owner, Odell Williamson. Although he was very, very wealthy, he refused to spend the money to maintain it properly or to market it properly. When he fell ill, his daughter came in to run the place but I think her financial hands were tied by Odell. She's the one who made the decision to close the place. I made quite a few trips up there to meet with her to get it back going again to no avail.

I've heard many rumors about the place, even talk with potential buyers from time to time but I doubt anything will happen with it for some time. I think Odell is leaving most of his wealth to his grandchildren.

It's a real shame because it's a great tract of land with wonderful views. I alway keep my fingers crossed that it will be brought back to life someday. It can't just sit there forever. What I fear is that it will all become development.

[Jonathan Cummings]

Tommy Paul (?)  GO TO YOUR ROOM!  

[Dunlop_White]

Clyde,

I too like to read and listen on this site. I've been a regular for 8 years now with only 500+ posts. Welcome!

I've enjoyed our discussions on the USGA Architectural Archive Committee. Perhaps someday we'll meet in person.

Dunlop

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Welcome Clyde!

It was nice meeting you at the show!

[Willie_Dow]

Indeed, welcome Clyde !

Sounds like one of your courses might be especially able to conduct a game with hickories and gutta percha balls.

Is this the case ?

Willie

[Clyde Johnston]

Dunlop and Tommy: Thanks for your welcomes!

Willie: I play most of my hickory golf here at Spanish Wells Golf Club on Hilton Head. It's a private 9 holer originally designed by George Cobb that plays a little over 3000 yards. No forced carries but deep, narrow greens and lots of old live oak trees. It's also very walkable. The only downside with the experience is that it (like all the courses on HHI) has homesites on 1 or both sides of many of the holes.

The other course I like to play near here with the hickories is the Oceanside course at Jekyll Island. No housing - just golf.

[Mike Hendren]

Welcome Clyde.   Glald to see you frequent the Oceanside course at Jekyl Island.  The Mae West / Alps 5th hole there is one of my all time favorites.  Sorry to hear the dunes restoration there was planned but not funded.  That would have turned the little course from a gem into a treasure.

I enjoyed the photographs in the shop.  Please post a few if you have access to them.

Mike

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