- Pinehurst No. 4 - A great, great piece of property wasted. There is a wonderful Ross course in there somewhere.
Bob

The old course was much, much better than the new version. I used to love the old second par 3. It's a shame they destroyed that course. Just some better maintenance and more fairway around the greens and the old #4 would have been great.

Sharp Park
The Eden (St. Andrews)
the old 9-hole Struie at Dornoch (1946-1985)
The Lido (bring it on, CBM!)
The Old Course (St. Andrews) c. 1840

All right, Huck--I'll substitute Stanford for Sharp Park.  The former was probably miles better than the latter, at their peak, anyway.

As for TOC, c. 1840 it was effectively a 9-hole course and while the holes coming in were very much the same as they are now, the holes going out were vastly superior to the ones we know, which were created C. 1850.  I was re-reading James Balfour's "Reminiscences of Golf on St. Andrews Links" today, and the thought of playing today's 3rd with the Pinciple's Nose complex in the middle of that fairway gave me wood.

To satisfy Patrick and/or avoid multicoloured bold admonitions.....

Eden--the remaing 11-12 Colt holes are so great, the other 6-7 can't be chopped liver.

NLE Struie--what a 9-hole beginning, fun, relief course should be.

Lido--I bet it would be a great disappointment, which is why I would love non-thinking Macdonaldophiles to waste their financial, intellectual and emotional capital on the resoration.  But, if I were wrong, I would be both pleased and magnamimous......

Ponkapoag #1, Canton,Ma.-Cut down all 2 million trees, kick the state of Massachusetts out of the management and bring back this fabled Ross design.

Ponkapoag #2,Canton,Ma-Same as above but turn in into a Ross style, compatable with #1 above.

George Wright-Boston, Ma-Rebuild the bunkers and redo all the tee turf and viola-a Ross masterpiece.

Franklin Park,Boston-add about 60 bunkers, shag up the bunker faces, redo all the tee boxes and you will have a great classic course

Cherry Hills CC:  While it is not a top-tier Flynn, nor should it be exactly restored, it fell so far from its potential that it needs a lot of work.  Luckily it looks like it will happen sometime over the next few years.

Denver CC...  Wow, what designs and routings!  If the Denver CC remodeling was only implemented in full it would surely have been the first club west of the Mighty Miss to have a US Open.

Wayne,

I thought quite a bit of work had already been done at Cherry Hills over the past few years. No?

Re Denver CC I hadn't thought it a candidate for "restoration" (the topic of this thread) since the club never built the Flynn course and hence can't "restore" it. I agree with you, however, that the Flynn 1920s design for DCC was first-rate, and I wish the club would look at using some of his concepts on what's there now. It would be impossible to duplicate the 1920s Flynn course now for several reasons, including the incursion of a road in front of the clubhouse that eliminated two holes from the Flynn design, the club acquired additional land to replace those holes, and a practice area was needed. Nice to think about though...

Five restorations, Langford/Moreau edition:

-- Kankakee Elks (Illinois): A recent thread by GCA posters Dan Moore and Eric Terhorst suggests it's the most deplorably overtreed course in the Midwestern L/M canon. Cut the trees and restore the bunkering.

-- Culver Academies (Indiana): Only 9 of 27 holes built here; build another nine, restore the bunkering, and expand the greens lost over the years. See Ran's GCA profile.

-- Ozaukee CC, suburban Milwaukee: Very good early L/M marred by unnamed Chicago-area architects' (initials K and N) mounding that looks ugly and makes little sense. Some great old trees can be found on the course and should remain; the rest (anything 50 years old or newer) should be cut down. Truly, not much would need to be done here to fully restore it to close to its original intent (maybe some bunker work); just the will of the membership.

-- West Bend CC (Wisconsin): A terrific L/M nine over mostly teriffic property combined with what's described as an ordinary, 1960s-era nine over similar good terrain. The plans for 18 by L/M are there; might exceed Lawsonia as the prototypical L/M course, given what the front nine is like.

-- Spring Valley (Wisconsin): The original L/M plans are in the clubhouse, complete with bunkers. The course has none, and never had them. Add them, combined with an aggressive tree-cutting program, and you'd turn a very good L/M course into a terrific one. Some green expansion plans are already underway.

Doug,

Of course you are right about Flynn's plans not being significantly implemented at Denver CC and impossible to reproduce at this stage.  I was in fantasy mode and restoring/building according to Flynn's plan.  I'm not knocking the course as it stands today, but Flynn's plans are really cool!

Philadelphia Cricket Club is crying out for some restoration work.  returning all of the cross bunkers and some tree clearing would really revitaize this course.  

Course:  Wellshire in Denver.

Why:  Because it's in my backyard.

[Sorry Doug, I missed your post].  

Haggin Oaks(Mac) and Del Paso in Sacramento.

Course:  Wellshire in Denver.

Why:  Because it's in my backyard.

[Sorry Doug, I missed your post].  

Tim, great minds think alike...

Ponkapoag CG in Canton, MA. After restoration could hold a USGA event, maybe the Open.