Culver Academies course profile is posted...

[Ran Morrissett]

...under Architecture Timeline and Courses by Country.

In this age when few people have the time to consistently devote to the playing of 18 holes (and not everyone has the skill to close Pat Mucci out at the 14th hole like One of Golf's Most Beloved Figures ), 9 hole courses make GREAT sense. If anything, they should be gaining in popularity.

The United States possesses several very fine ones, scattered from southwestern Michigan to a (former) nine holes outside of Pittsburgh to one in Massachusetts.

One of the very best can be found in the middle of Indiana at The Culver Academies. In this case, the great - and often underappreciated - design talents of Langford & Moreau are on display. Culver is 'untouched' in that all the tees, green pads and bunker formations (albeit with no sand in them) remain intact. The bold green contours are much in evidence. Despite the putting surfaces having shrunk ~35%, one gains a sense as to the fun that these greens provided for W. Hagen, B. Nelson, and all the others that have challenged this course.

Photographing courses with stunning bunkers and great contrast/texture in their grasses is easy. Such attributes are absent in this case but who doesn't think its great design attributes still don't shine through in the photographs in its course profile?  

Some students of golf course architecture struggle to want to play/see a course like Bel-Air that has had so much lost/altered with time. Not me, as it still retains the brush strokes of a master architect. Few courses are ever blessed with a great routing/features and though such features may be covered up or obscured, give me that course any day to a so-so design in great shape that is perfectly 'fine' yet ultimately unmemorable.

Culver is such a course - a great architect was given great property and all the features remain today. The greens 'stimp' at 6 (yes, I cringe too but feel forced to use that horrible expression in this one case) and it is a great joy to play. If anything the green speed coupled with no modifications/modernization (like irrigation!) to the course gives one a true feeling as to how the game was played in the 1920/1930s.  

The Culver Academies is a leader in education in this country and perhaps like Yale, it too (or one of its powerful alums) will realize it possesses a treasure. The course deserves to be treated accordingly.

Cheers,

[JR Potts]

Ran:

Do they hand out featheries and hickories on the first tee?  Now that would be an awesome experience.

My aging body with two kids and a wife at home is inclined to opine that 12 holes is perfect.  My ADD has been kicking in around 13 lately.

[Mike McGuire]

Ran -

Didn't Alice Dye live very near Culver MA?

How much influence did William Langford have on Pete Dye's work?

[Bill_McBride]

Ran, just wondering, were you sent to that military academy as a juvenile for lack of conformance to society's norms?  Is that the reason for your intimate knowledge of the place?  Inquiring minds want, nay need, to know!  

 

[Mike_Sweeney]

Thanks Ran. I love these old 9 hole stand alone courses. Perhaps you should make it a requirement that all GCAers have to play one a year to keep your login!

PS The short courses at Friars Head, Maidstone, Pine Valley and Augusta don't count!

[Andy Troeger]

Its interesting to read this profile and see the pictures of the course. As a coach and former player for a competing high school we've played the Culver course on quite a few occasions. It has the best home course advantage (by far) of anyplace in the area because its a course that takes awhile to know. There are very few yardage markers (maybe a 150 marker on a couple holes) and quite a few blind shots as you can tell from the pictures. I admittedly always hated playing matches there because of not playing it enough to ever know where you were going (maybe every other year).
 
However, there really is a lot of merit to the design itself. The maintenance is what you'd expect from having two people on staff, but its also not as bad as it might sound. The holes are played in a different order from Ran's review, with the 5th hole in the profile being the 1st on the current layout. The 1st then is played as the current 6th.

Ran did a very nice job of profiling the holes. I would agree with most of what he included. The par threes are really good, all requiring different shots with lots of humps and bumps around the greens. The one goes through the trees with the others exposed to the wind. The par fours are also good, there's no breather on those either.

Only hole I really don't like is #1 (current 6th). The tee shot is fine off the edge of the steep slope, but then the 2nd goes left against the hill with in-course OB left (down the entire hole) and the occasional patch of heather at the bottom of the hill off to the right. Its completely blind and even after being there maybe 10 times I still haven't got a clue of where you're really supposed to try to hit it. A ball that lands in the middle of the fairway can end up in the junk right and turn into a lost ball, and if you hit it left there's OB and no guarantee that the ball will come out to the fairway from what I could see. If you navigate that part then the pitch to the green isn't too tough. It certainly is unique, but I don't particularly care for it.

[T_MacWood]

What a gem. It is a great course without the sand...the land and the features are so bold...I'm wondering if William Langford's architecture may be the most indestructable of that era. The old aerial (with sand) shows how good Culver could be without much effort...I would think.

Great profile.

Bill
Bob Crosby is a graduate of Culver....I think Ran is a product of the Virginia public school system.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Has anyone played both Culver A. and Hotchkiss?  How do they compare (today)?  Speculation on how the original courses compared?

Hotchkiss has similarities (other than prep schools), for sure, with the steep slopes bunkering that L/M and Banks used in the R/M style, many of which have been grassed in, in addition to rolling terrain and interesting greens.

[Adam Clayman]

The definition of Hidden Gem!

Did L&M design much after the early 30's?

From these photos, the size of the features look smaller than those found in Green Lake?

If that's accurate.. Did L&M "go bigger" the more they designed? or, did Lawson request the extra "umff" found in that effort?

[T_MacWood]

I have not played Hotchkiss, but I have played Chicago, Shoreacres, Yale, Forsgate, Camargo and few others, and I'd say that the scale of Culver - and in particular the L/M features - is a little more grand (with the exception of probably Yale). Its a big site with big bold features.

[Dan Moore]

Did L&M design much after the early 30's?

Adam,

Based on the C&W course listings, their work really fell off with the onset of the depression.  They did over forty 18 hole original designs between 1917 and Lawsonia in 1929/1930.  

After Lawsonia they did the following 18 hole original designs.

Kankakee Elks      1936   St. Anne IL.
Village Green CC      1955   Mundelein, IL.
Gatlinburg Golf Course    1956   Gatlingburg, Tenn.
The Country Club      1957   Morristown, Tenn.
Green Meadow       1958   Alcoa/Marysville, Tenn.

During the depression it appears Langford operated a course he designed called Mid-City which was located just north of Riverview Amusement Park at the intersection of Western Ave and Addison in Chicago where Lane Tech H.S. is now located.  When Lane Tech was built the course was converted to an 4,000 yd 18 holer north of Addison which now occupied by a McDonalds.  Langford and Moreau maintained their offices at this course at 2405 West Grace for some period of time.  This is a little over a mile from where I currently live.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

...under Architecture Timeline and Courses by Country.

In this age when few people have the time to consistently devote to the playing of 18 holes (and not everyone has the skill to close Pat Mucci out at the 14th hole like One of Golf's Most Beloved Figures ), 9 hole courses make GREAT sense. If anything, they should be gaining in popularity.

Ran,

Even a clock that's stopped is right twice a day.[/color]

[Adam Clayman]

Dan, Great stuff, thanx. I know where Gordon tech is, I never knew there was a course there, let alone all those other facts. Quite the distance in time. 36'-55' wow.

I'm not sure if I know Village green in Mundelien, unless it's name changed?

Are the Tenn. courses still viable?

Post war, America changed so much. Was it reflected in their 50's designs?  

[RJ_Daley]

Culver's 2nd hole appears very much a model of Lawsonia's 4th.  Both, would be more textbook Redanlike if they had just a little more kick slope up the right approach.  Lawsonia's is longer setting up as far as 210 yards, and maybe a little more uphill (hard to tell from the photo).

Adam states that he thinks that the featured earthwork humps and bunks might be a little more dramatic at Lawsonia.  But, I wonder if that isn't a photography perspective thing in that Culver is hemmed-in within a perspective of many trees, and Lawsonia has taken out many confining trees that also confined and hemmed-in the scope of features.  I see a lot of similarities in the ground work of Culver 7 and 9, with much to be found in common at Lawsonia.

I'm wondering how much of that inside dogleg 4th view was obscured by trees in Hagen's day.  The 1951 aerial shows considerably less view obstruction with smaller trees and sand in the left fronting bunker-bottom of mounded approach.  But, is there any hint that there was a big gull wing bunker right behind where the trees are now, offering the allure to take it over the inside corner as Hagen did.  I doubt he or anyone else would try it now. I could be wrong...

Ran, should a tree removal program be advisable?  Has Culver spoken to Ron Forse and Jim Nagle (or others) about any restorative work?  

The grass bunkers are fine in some cases.  But both Lawsonia and Culver seem to have a little more room to shine up with a few more of the grass bunker troughs re-filled with sand, IMHO.

[BCrosby]

I am very pleased to see the Culver profile.

I graduated from Culver and was captain of the golf team for my last two years there. I played the course, literally, a thousand times. When my dreams involve golf, they are almost always located somewhere on the Culver course.  

It is a major deficiency in my playing career that Culver (and Maxinkuckee down the road) are the only Langford Moreau courses I've ever played. But I'm working on fixing that.

Bob

P.S. Ran - What the hell took you to the beautful (but very much out of the way) shores of Lake Maxinkuckee?

[Adam Clayman]

Bob, If there were some sort of fund started, to help CA restore the GC, I know I'd contribute.

[BCrosby]

Adam -

I've had a number of discussions with Culver about the course. I think I was the first person to suggest to them that their course had some historical interest. They were quite surprised and, as we talked, got more and more curious.

Culver still owns all the land around the course. It is beautiful land, btw. Perhaps better for a course than the tract they used, which is very severe in spots. I suspect the existing tract was chosen was because it was closest to the road, not because of its inherent advantages. But the other 18 that was designed would have been spectacular, I bet.

I'll keep the board posted if things develop. I am getting asked for contributions to the general fund. I'll keep raising the issue. There are a number of very successful former golf team guys that might want to puruse something. Things are still early stages, however.

Culver is still adjusting to the idea that something like a golf course has any architectural value.

Bob

[Adam Clayman]

If you could get them to realize that finishing the project (at least nine more holes) would also be an intellectual exercise, I don't see how an institution devoted to learning could refuse.

[Dan Moore]

Bob,

Good luck with Culver Academy.  Turning it into an 18 hole Langford based on his original design would be an awesome accomplishment.  

[mark chalfant]

Ran thanks  its  an excellent profile that nicely captures the
essence of Langfords naturalistic and tactical atristry

[T.J. Sturges]

To:  BCrosby

Ran is out of the country for the moment, so I will answer your question as to "what in the hell took him to northern Indiana?".  The answer is me.  I live in Indianapolis and have sadly endured countless rounds with "Golf's most beloved figure".  

Ran was in Indy for business and I always try to take him somewhere he might find interesting.  I had played Harrison Hills in Attica, IN (another L&M layout), but had not played Culver (though I had heard great things about it).  After securing a 5 and 3 victory over Ran that morning at my club (Broadmoor), we headed the car north for a visit to Culver.  Needless to say, we were both very impressed.  It is my sincere hope that Culver will recognize what a treasure their course is and spend some of their $100 million plus endowment on restoring it.

TJS

[BCrosby]

Ted -

It's a relief to know that Ran didn't alight in Culver after some divine inspiration. He's good, but not that good.

I will keep the site posted on developments. Do you have any connection with CMA?

We played lots of matches against North Central and other high schools in Indie. Many fond memories.

Bob

[T.J. Sturges]

Bob,

I grew up in Indiana, but my only connection with Culver is that my younger brother attended summer camp there.  I hadn't been up there in years until Ran and I went there.  I had arranged for us to play by contacting the school, and Fred Haase, the golf coach of 30+ years played with us.  He was a very nice man and gave us a great deal of information about the course as we played.  I think he is in one of the pictures Ran took.  Ran and I both felt that if the course was restored, it may well be the best 9 hole course in the country.

TS

[BCrosby]

I have been meaning to mention that hanging in my study is a framed copy of The Culver Vedette from 1926 with a front page article on Hagen's exhibition match. My recollection is that General Pershing played with Hagen that day.

There are a couple of good photos of Hagen and other dignitaries, but sadly no photos of the course.

[peter_p]

My father graduated from Culver in the early 30s, rode in the Black Horse Troop. I never asked him about golf there.