Philip
It is inmaterial if the club paid Tillinghast or the PGA paid him...the point is he got paid. It is misleading to say the clubs did not pay him a penny. Jobs were not easy come by during the Depression, Tillinghast had a job advising clubs and the result was the removal of 10,000 bunkers. He didn't do it for free.

How many of the 200+ bunkers at Brook Hollow were duffer's headaches?

What was the difference between the bunkering scheme at Brook Hollow and Hollywood--weren't they both full of duffer's headaches?

Do you find it ironic that he was eliminating bunkers from coast to coast at the same time one of his most severely bunkered course was being completed? Wasn't the entire Bethpage-Black concieved as the ultimate duffer's headache?

Jeff
Did NYC ask Tillie to build one tough golf course (Moses wasn't a golfer)? Or was that Tillie's (and Burbeck's) idea? I believe the latter...his idea. And the Red course was heavily bunkered too. One tough golf course and one super tough golf course. Were the Bethpage courses his last designs?

Like MacKenzie, Tillignhast did what he had to do to find work...even if it meant rejecting their previous design principals and developing new ones. Call it what you want adapting or compromising. The difference MacKenzie developed his new design philosophy to attract new work and Tillie was designing bold course one day (in the heart of the Depression) and removing bunkers from his contemporaries design's the next day.  

Brook Hollow is in your backyard...do you thing he suspended his duffer's headache aversion when designing that golf course?

RTJ was a Stanley Thompson desciple, how does that fit in to your theory? Wasn't RTJ the father of Heroic design?

Personally, I think some of these interpretations of Tilly's design record are a little over the top.

Tilly wrote around 400 letters to George Jacobus summarizing his work for the PGA of America.  (We will try to get these up on the Tillinghast web site in the near future to engender more interpretation, or mis-interpretation.)

I think it is hard to say Tilly sold himself out to anyone.  First, he was an extremely strong willed person who could not be bought by anyone.  (Phil Young is writing the definitive biography on the man and probably has the best interpretation of his character from numerous first-hand and second-hand family sources.)  Second, even though it has been said that anyone can be bought, who was around in the depression with enough cash to buy him?

I think it is very fair to say that Tilly's design style evolved and that he was not afraid to experiment.  I think Rand Jerris has a book in the offing on Tilly's body of work and design style.  I would think that the natural terrain of the site probably was the largest determining factor in how much bunkering Tilly would use in his designs.  (i.e. allot of bunkering on a flat site and much less on a rugged site)  The project budget may have been the second biggest factor.

After reading and studying Tilly's PGA letters, it is safe to say that the so-called Duffer's Headaches (DHs) were bunkers that no longer were part of the design intent of the hole or were simply primitive and un-natural trenches -- mostly found on what Tilly called the "sporty courses," which certainly did not follow Tilly's principals of modern golf course design.   These DH's were not the great strategic diagonal hazards that Mike has put up on the screen.  These were crumy little fairway bunkers that were generally misplaced, poorly constructed and out of play.

An example of Tilly restoring lost design intent, and on a Tillinghast course to boot, was at Hermitage CC (now called Belmont) in Richmond, a circa 1916 design, Tilly wrote that he had to "take his own medicine" and recommended closing a number of side pits, for which he commented that,

   "it must be remembered that general play has lengthened out considerably in twenty years and that long ago we were much closer to another period of course conception."

Tilly recommended the most "DH" removal on the short and sporty courses with these un-natural or contrived features and misplaced bunkers -- most of these courses were designed at the turn of the century.  Most of these course were designed by the lesser known architects -- Bendelow, Douglas, Emmet to name a few.

Now, we can speculate and say, if Tilly came back from the beyond and visited some of these same courses, would he sell out to this DG and argue for a "total restoration" to the sporty old course of yesterday, or would he say what he believes.  Personally, my guess is that he would make a pitch for a "total redesign" contract to bulldoze the course and build a new one with his name on it.




 
 

I have a copy of AWT's "Gleanings from the Wayside" here and will quote from the book:
"It is a known fact that in the summer of 1935 Tillie commenced a tour of the country's golf courses as a consulting architect for the PGA of America.  Tillie's services were provided free of charge and only to golf courses where PGA members were retained.  Tillie's tour lasted two years through the summer of 1937.  He visited over 500 golf courses and has generally been credited with the elimination of thousands of sandtraps, which he called 'Duffer Headaches,' or DHs for short.  Tillie's DHs included obsolete bunkers, unnatural mounds (sometimes called chocolate drops) or other antiquated course features that hinder the higher handicap player, and are costly to maintain.  In fact, in the middle of his tour Tillie wrote, 'It is a matter of record that I have condemned nearly eight thousand sand traps.'"
    "However, few people are aware that Tillie's services were much more than the elimination of obsolete or 'useless' sand bunkers.  In fact, Tillie had significant design input into hundreds of the golf courses he visited.  There are dozens of well known golf courses with complete golf holes and greens designed by Tillinghast on which golfers play day in and day out thinking they are playing on an untouched Donald Ross course."
     Reading the author's commentary as well as Tillie's notes on DHs he removed (even from his own courses), it seems that he was motivated to remove poorly located and/or unnecessary bunkering, a plan which certainly would reduce maintenance costs at a time when budgets were threatened by the Depression.  Since he was on salary and not involved in the work actually done, it surely seems harsh to say he "sold out."

Phil
That 140 yard bunker you refer to is the mathematical cop bunker or trench (that RW mentions)--that type of bunker was mentioned in the 1920 article. I may be mistaken but I do not believe he refers to these bunkers as duffers headaches.

It is my impression the cop bunker was pretty much extinct by 1936.

The DH is mentioned in the 1936 article and I don't believe he specified exactly what a DH was, except a bunker that penalized the duffer. RW mentions a couple of different possiblities.

Do you consider the bunkers short of the Redan at Somerset Hills DH's?

Do you think Tillignhast objected to the sandy waste areas fronting many of the tees at PVGC?

No one said Tilly got rich on his PGA tour, afterall it was during the Depression. There were successful folks jumping out windows, selling pencils on the corner and standing in soup lines. Having gameful employment beat the hell out of those other possiblities. If I were Tilly I'd probably would've done the same.

To keep claiming he was not paid a penny is a total distortion. He got paid, his job was to service the clubs of the PGA.

RW
The Tillinghast Assoc. lists a number of courses designed by Ross, MacKenzie, Fowler, Park, Travis, Barker as part of that PGA tour...were bunkers from these courses among the 7000+ he removed?

I agree Tilly's design style did change over the years, but this is more a change in philosophy. When exactly did he change his philosophy in your opinion (DH aversion). 1930 right after the crash? 1931? 1933? 1935? After Bethpage or before?

And what was the reasons or factors that sparked this change in philosophy?

Pat
Do you think the whole sale alteration Tilly made (from coast to coast) in those few years prior to WWII set the tone for the atleration in the 50's and 60's?

Tom MacWood,

It's quite possible.

Like the domino theory, once one alteration is made it can set in motion the environment for additional alterations to be made.

It would be interesting to read the minutes of clubs that altered their courses in the 30's, 50's and 60's.

It would be interesting to read the minutes of clubs that altered their courses in the 30's, 50's and 60's.

Pat,
  I have recently been reading the Winged Foot minutes from the 1930s.
   Survival is the theme. Other clubs are closing or desperate for members. Members are unable to pay their $200 (!) and are being given extensions. Staff is being regretfully reduced, and course conditioning is discussed with the goal of playability (not design principles.)
   In 1933 (I think, from memory) the club invested $7,500 (again, from memory) in maintennance equipment and labor. This is discussed as extraordinary, and justifiable. Numerous members testify that the club was the only one in the area to have playable grass all summer, and the membership committee reports new members joining for that reason.
   Regarding how long-lasting were the effects of the depression era and their contingent priorities, here is an interesting item. I recently read in the USGA Journal archives a letter written in 1955 from Oscar Carlson, the president of Siwanoy very near Winged Foot. He thanks the USGA for their very effective agronomic advice in 1954, and states

1954 was the first year summer rules were played at Siwanoy since 1939.

  Think about that. As late as 1954, at least, the priority is getting the grass to grow, and not design principles.

"It would be interesting to read the minutes of clubs that altered their courses in the 30's, 50's and 60's."

Pat;

The minutes of my club that're completely preserved are probably as representative as any club as to what happened and why in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. In the 1940s too.  
 
 

Selling out is too strong…compromising is more accurate in my opinion. I will acknowledge Tilly saved some clubs from the brink of extinction, unfortunately the eradication of 7000+ bunkers was not based upon each club’s financial predicament. Some no doubt were in bad shape, others I’m sure were more financially fit. But his philosophy was universal, he treated the Bel-Air and the Valley Club the same as he did Pontausuk Lake. Which makes sense -- for his mission to be successful he had to have a consistent message.

Thomas, MacKenzie and Tillinghast were all known for creating elaborate bunkering schemes which produced the maximum interest not only for the strong golfer but also the duffer. Many of these bunkers placed in the foreground of these holes and the general  randomness of their bunkering was designed to challenge and create excitement for every level of golfer. The removal of the bunkers at the Valley Club as an example, or Hollywood, or the recommendations at Bel-Air were unfortunate IMO, and ran contrary to Tillinghast’s career long design practices. It would have been interesting to see if he would have carried this new found philosophy into his new design work…..did he design anything after Bethpage?

Also Tillinghast’s systematic removal of these bunkers and the remodeling of hundreds of courses within a couple year period, may have opened the flood gates for what followed after the war. If you compare the old Oakland Hills with the remodeled RTJ Oakland Hills you can see a continuation of some of Tilly’s PGA mentality. The former course was beautifully bunkered with a random en echelon bunkering scheme. RTJ removed all of the fore-bunkers which effected play for the masses, and removed the en echelon quality and replaced it with a symmetrical scheme that pinched the landing area right and left from 240 to 270 yards for the Tiger. This was repeated at Firestone and elsewhere.

Were RTJ, Dick Wilson, RB Harris and others simply picking up the baton Tilly left them?

Rich
Surely not.

But like the Art Historians who claim Picasso's creative height occured in 1928 and from there he slid steadily down hill, it is useful (and interesting) to look at the entire career--good and bad.

Agreed, Tom, if, you also agree that what he did in his PGA role just might have improved those courses, not just financially, but also as golf courses.  Until I see specific arguments, I don;t know.

Mike

I don't know either.  I've only played two Tillie's, SFGC and Brook Hollow, and I thought the former had quite enough bunkers, thank you, and cannot imagine the latter in it's original guise--good way of separating holes in the days before there were trees in Texas, but surely not a sustainable design today.  At least 1/2 of the 10,000 bunkers removed must have come from that course alone!  Both are great tracks and experiences, regardless.......