Thanks for those pictures of Shawnee, David. I've never seen pictures of "alpinization" before.  Surely they prove that the "golden age" architects were just as capable as the "victorian" ones in creating GCA monstrosities. It's also hard to see any A&C influences in those hideous manufactured mounds.  Can anybody say (or even spell) Loxahatchetee(sic)?

Rich
Tillie claimed he had no knowledge of the mounds at Mid-Surrey when he designed Shawnee, he arrived at those on his own. In fact they may predate RMS's Alpinisation. They don't look anything like the huge mounds Taylor and Lees built at RMS. Ironically Tillie would hook up with Lees later and the two built some very attractive mounds at Somerset Hills, Quaker Ridge and few others.

The original mounds (mountains) at Mid-Surrey were a big hit, I think there were a few reasons for that. First they replaced the most rigid Victorian bunkers I have ever seen.....and the Alpininization was done pretty well, naturalistic. Second the site was dead flat and the earthworks created some interest. And last the scale of these things was impressive.

With all the positive press, understandibly there were a number of imitators. These did not go over so well, mostly becasue they couldn't match the size of the originals. Commenting on the trend Darwin said, "We see little groups of grassy 'pimples' looking like a dog's cemetery plumped down on flat ground." It was a very short lived trend, and eventually even RMS was revised, I believe by Hawtree and Taylor.

Pat,

Yes, that is a pohoto of the original 10th at Shawnee. You can see a reproduction of the American Golfer phot that Dave used on page 90 in Reminscinces of the Links.

Unfortuanetly, a lot of what Tilly created at Shawnee is now gone.

Phil Young,

With respect to Tillinghast, are you and others confusing "alpinization" with "dolomites" ?

Craig,

I couldn't answer that question.

But, the land across the river, on both sides, elevates a good 100 feet above the island, which is relatively flat.

Phil Young & TEPaul,

If you'll look at Somerset Hill's 4th and 6th holes, and perhaps
# 9, you'll see Tillinghast's dolomites.

It may be that the 5th hole represents his intent to incorporate a dolomite into the internal contouring of the green, whereas the dolomites were external features on
# 4 and # 6.

TEPaul,

I think you made an excellent point a while back when you suggested that, IF SH could maintain the mound in the 5th green, GCGC should be able to maintain the mounds in the
12th green.  Again, it's proof positive that these things CAN be done and adequately maintained if the will to do so is there.

Craig,

Does this help identify the hole . . .

Pat,

You asked, "With respect to Tillinghast, are you and others confusing "alpinization" with "dolomites" ?

No Pat, for myself I can say that I'm not. I'm using the exact phrase and terms that Tilly did. His terms and not mine. If you disagree with his interpretation and usage of these, take it up with him!  

There's a routing map of Shawnee in The Course Beautiful which corresponds to the 1938-39 aerials. The mounds shown in the photos don't appear anywhere around the 10th - but it's possible they were removed at some point.



However, at AWT's 14th hole are some strange looking features that may be what was left of the irregular mounds.



Both these photos have north at the bottom. If the camera in the American Golfer photos is facing towards the green, the Delaware River and the heights in NJ are in the background.

There's little if any AWT left at Shawnee.

PhilY said;

"TE, who knows the course and its history as well as anyone, has stated that, "Pine Valley's 3rd had alpinization around the right and back right of the green but it was removed pretty quickly. Tillinghast would basically be wrong about "alpinization" that had to be carried over in front of the green. He wrote that in March of 1913 and at that point the first four holes were probably in a state of what architects call "roughed in"."

I must disagree with your analysis on this. In December of 1913, Tilly wrote, "December, 1913 – “It is quite impossible now to describe Pine Valley as a completed course, for many of the holes are in the embryo. Those which have been played are entirely satisfying. Not long ago the discoverer and developer of Pine Valley, Mr. George A. Crump, accompanied by Mr. Howard W. Perrin, Mr. Richard Mott and A.W. Tillinghast, played golf there for the first time… Mr. Tillinghast secured the first par, a 4 on the first hole played and likewise the first bird, a 2 on the third. To the same player must be given the rather doubtful distinction of slapping first into the lake in front of the fifth teeing ground, which he did to his great disgust on this history-making day.

Just a few months after writing of the alpinization of the hole, he records the first Birdie on it.These are finished holes at this time. Are you stating that between March & November the hole was radically changed to remove whatever "Alps" like obstacle was in front of the green? That might have happened, but without offer of concrete proof that it did in this time period, to state that "Tillinghast would basically be wrong about "alpinization" that had to be carried over in front of the green..." is at best a stretch that lacks all foundation. I'm not saying it didn't happen, just that it appears unlikely to have occurred at that time.

If this is the case, then the idea that "Alpinization" on the early courses of America required mounding to obscure the front of the green is incorrect!”

Phil:

I’m not questioning Tillie’s veracity----it’s just that some of these accounts have to be looked at in a pretty detailed “Time-line” sense, if you know what I mean. When Tillie was writing these original accounts he couldn’t have been looking at the creation of PVGC in any “Time line” sense, if you know what I mean. He was just reporting what he saw at any particular time as the project went along. This overall account we’re referring to was written or “prefaced” by Tillie in the 1930s and he obviously just included his earlier articles of his observations of the progress of PVGC right from the beginning as references to his 1930s preface.

As I told you on the phone, thank God for all Tillie’s accounts of PVGC from the very beginning onward. If we didn’t have those constant written accounts of his creating a “Time-line” today on various holes and frankly the entire project would be really hard to impossible to do. The most valuable aspect of Tillie’s written accounts of the progress of the project of PVGC is he makes it possible to really do a before and after regarding Harry Colt because Tillie was reporting on PVGC from the very beginning to the end of Crump life.

The fact that Colt never saw the place until late May or early June is obviously significant as Tillie’s accounts can document what Crump had done before Colt ever got there. And to a lesser degree things that came after Colt left can be quite accurately assigned as Colt was only there for a week or so and he never again returned. So when I plug in all of what Colt left with PVGC in a design sense, the blue/red topo, the hole-by-hole Colt booklet and now this heretofore Colt whole course drawing we picked up off eBay it’s possible to assign to others what departs from what Colt offered.

If Harry Colt had come and gone constantly throughout those 5+ years while Crump and others worked on the place this type of fairly precise “timelining” would be really hard to do, and again, without Tillie’s constant written accounts as the project progressed it would be virtually impossible because other than Smith and Carr no one I know of kept much of a record of the architectural progress of the place from the very beginning to near the end.

So in this sense all I can say is thank God for Tillie and his constant written record.  

Craig,  

I have little doubt that the alpinization hole they are talking about was the 10th at the time of the articles.  American Golfer mentions it many times and in a few issues.  If Tillie was Hazard, then even he calls it the 10th.  Of course I have no idea whether this corresponds to the current 10th hole or not.  

But isnt it possible the hole you picture is this hole.  
Take a look at the sketch above and compare it your aerial . . . is it possible that some remnants of the Alpinization is visible around the first fairway bunker on the right and perhaps even the second.  At least the first fairway bunker seems to be in the same location as the "alpinization" in the sketch above.   I've blown up the photo and circled the parts I am referencing . . .



Here is a further description of the hole, from Dec 1912 American Golfer, by "Hazard" . . . (Wasnt Hazard Tillinghast himself??) which describes the hole in a little more detail . . .

"In developing the 10th hole at
Shawnee, Mr. A. W. Tillinghast, the
architect of the course, has worked
out a teeing ground which is very
unique. It is built into the side of a
ridge and extends diagonally across
the line of play. Owing to the length
—90 feet—the tee-plates can be shifted
with reference to the wind in such a
manner as to make the carry of the
"Alps" as difficult or as easy as may
be desired. It will be observed from
the sketch that the moving of the
plates not only changes the distance
but the direction as well. The distances
marked from B-B roughly indicate
the carries of various sections of
the "Alps." Obviously the shot from
A-A would be easier and from C-C,
much more difficult. The way around
the "Alps" is quite open but a sliced
ball renders a second shot to the green
a particularly trying one. The hole
measures 339 yards and owing to the
throw of the ground the green should
be approached dead-on or slightly
from the left. A straight carry of the
"Alps" is the keystone of success.
The teeing ground has been shaped to
naturally conform with the slopes on
every side and the severe lines of a
terrace have been carefully avoided."

"NGLA Alps greensite from the Plaster Model."

Incredible photo find there David;

Jeeesus, and that's a plaster mold from the guy who got so upset with the shocking look of the old "geometric" era he said; "It makes the very soul of golf shriek"?!

I'll tell you right now to truly understand American golf architecture as to how or when it evolved into a far more "natural" looking style you've just got to understand precisely where American architecture was at particular times that way.

Macdonald's NGLA was pretty early but even being the great course it was and is obviously neither he nor it had quite gotten there yet in naturalism. To a certain degree he never did. If anyone actually wants to say all of NGLA's architecture looked natural I'd say they're as blind as Stevie Wonder.

Did it matter? That's the ultimate question, isn't it?  

(I wonder if that was a reason Macdonald changed some of his greens later.)

". . . (Wasnt Hazard Tillinghast himself??)"

Yes, "Hazard" was Tillie and it was pretty funny when "Hazard" wrote about Tillinghast in the complete third person almost as he didn't know the guy.  

"TEPaul,

If your theory is correct, from what vantage point and elevation is the photo taken from ?

It would appear to be taken from the left side of the rise in the hill fronting the 3rd green.

In addition, take a close look at the contour of the green with the lower plateau leading back to the upper right plateau.
Does that look familiar to you?"

Pat:

I don't know, that's what confused me so much. I kept looking at it and looking at it and I couldn't figure out where it was or where the photo was taken from. But the caption certainly did say the old 2nd green (Sahara) and I believe it even said before Macdonald moved it. The old original 2nd was pretty short and we know where the old 2nd tee was so I figure that green was maybe not all that far over the Sahara bunker, maybe somewhere on the present fairway (left) before that fairway downslope to the green. The best I could figure is the photo was taken from over on the left of the hole (maybe pretty near the maintenance road) looking back up that ridgeline in the distance which is very close to where Sebonack's 1st tee is now.

Phillip,

Here are a few photographs of the Alpinization at Shawnee . . .  Note the golfer in the right side of the photo for perspective.  

TE
Are you joking? Those are some ugly mounds...I've seen a ton of old photos of the Mid-Surrey mounds and they didn't look like these. There is a good photo of them in Golf Architecture Magazine volume 7.