Chicago Aerial: Park Ridge CC Bendelow/Langford/Esler

[Dan Moore]

This one is somewhat inspired by the current issue of Golfweek highlighting the new wave of restorations.  

Since its inception as a 9 holer in around 1906, this course has gone through several additions, revisions and updates over the years, the most recent of which was in 2001.  

1939


Present Day




 

[PCCraig]

I spent alot of time out on that course in high school.

Is it off of Dempster St?  

[Dan Moore]

Pat or Shivas,  maybe you know, but any thought on the architect?

H.J.Tweedie designed the original nine holes.  A well known architect then added nine.  Later the club added land (I assume the rectangular piece to the northwest) and the course was throughly redone prior to the 1939 aerial by another well known architect whose work guided the 2001 work.    The pool where a green used to be appears to have been added somewhere in between.

[Phil McDade]

Could Dan Moore post a Chicago aerial that Shivas does NOT have some kind of personal experience/connection with/to? I'm beginning to doubt it...

[Adam Clayman]

I had no idea what course this is. So, I asked Eddie. He guessed Park Ridge CC?

[T_MacWood]

I think Eddie is a smart man. This club's claim to fame was that they had the second most sand acreage of sand to Pine Valley.

[Dan Moore]

If # 2 in sand acreage to Pine Valley, where did all the sand go?  

Who is Eddie?  

Assuming the new land which led to the engagement of archie #3 is the NW quadrant, its rather amazing how six new greens were worked in there.  

I like how the newer version is different, but seems to retain the character of the older version.  Without having seen it in person, the current course seems to have a very clean, distinct style and identity.  I like how it looks from above.  

While I can see aspects of archie #3's style in the old aerial, its not necessarily what we are used to seeing.  The bunkering seems somewhat excessive for that archie.    I think we'd have to see it on the ground on what is probably very flat terrain to really appreciate it.    

[wsmorrison]

"I think Eddie is a smart man. This club's claim to fame was that they had the second most sand acreage of sand to Pine Valley."

Tom MacWood,

I am not disputing that they claimed to have the second most sand acreage after Pine Valley, but they certainly were wrong.  I can think of four Flynn courses that surely had more.  Care to guess them?

[T_MacWood]

Wayne
I'm sure there were more than a few courses with more sand but you have to admit it was a heavily bunkered course. Maybe they should have called themsleves the Pine Valley of Chicago...although from what I understand its a pretty flat property.

Dan
You've been looking at lot of these old aerials many of which were designs or redesigns by Langford. This course is early Langford if I've got my dates straight. Do you think his earlier courses were more heavily bunkered than his later courses? Do you notice an evolution in his design style over the years...in particular his bunkering style?

[Dan Moore]

Dan
You've been looking at lot of these old aerials many of which were designs or redesigns by Langford. This course is early Langford if I've got my dates straight. Do you think his earlier courses were more heavily bunkered than his later courses? Do you notice an evolution in his design style over the years...in particular his bunkering style?

Tom,  

Thats a great question and one that needs more study and work on the ground to answer fully.  But here goes anyway.

This course was a product of evolution.  Hard to really call it a Langford though his work does seem to be the dominant influence.  According to the Club history in 1911 Bendelow added nine to expand the course to 18.  Bendelow reportedly added 91 bunkers at that time.  The club purchased the new 20 acres in 1915 and Langford was brought in to redo the course.  Not clear exactly when Langford did the work but I doubt he was able to completely redo evrything that was already there.  

Until we find other evidence, the first Langford original 18 hole design appears to have been in 1917 .  Langford's style looks to be in very much in evidence on the Riverside course in 1917.  I think you can see Langford's style at Park Ridge and my guess is you would see even more of it on the ground as there seems to be a fair amount of elevation change in the newer aerial and some areas that no longer have sand, but still look to have some elevation build up.  

The Langford stlye is clearly evident, but tempered by the preexistence of Bendelow's 91 bunkers.  

[wsmorrison]

"Wayne
I'm sure there were more than a few courses with more sand but you have to admit it was a heavily bunkered course. "

Oh, yes.  Particularly around the greens.  There are multiple bunkers around some greens that are each larger than the green!

[Dan Moore]

I'm going to pull a Bendelow and an early Langford and post them later today or tommorow for comparison purposes, but right now I have a football game to watch and I think I have to go play 9 afterwards.  

[Dan Moore]

Here are two aerials to compare contrast Bendelow and Langfords bunker styles.  Aerials are from 1939.

Riverside CC Langford (1917)


Lake Shore CC Bendelow

[ed_getka]

Dan,
   Thanks for posting those pictures side by side to compare styles. That is cool.

[Dan Moore]

Ed,

Whose style do you think is more apparent at Park Ridge in 1939?  Today?  

Cornish and Whitten says Langford was back at Park Ridge in the late 1940's so there is no way to tell what the course looked like before Dave Esler arrived in 2001.  Probably safe to assume that with WWII intervening that some of the bunkering was eliminated prior to 2001, but it looks like there are at least 25% fewer bunkers today compared to 1939.  To me it seems more consistent with Langford's style today than it did in 1939.  

[RJ_Daley]

Dan, while I was always interested in Bendelow, the Johnny Appleseed of golf course development in America, I can't say that the Park Ridge or Lake Shore evoke any sort of style of bunkering of Bende (as estimated from the aerials-which could be very incorrect interpretation).  

The courses by Bendelow that I have seen generally have smallish greens with smallish, sometimes lippy little bunkers.  I have not seen widespread, sprawling sand bunkers by Bende.  

On the other hand, Langford most frequently used what I call the gull wing diagonal bunkers in FWs, and wrap-around flatish bunkers next to pushed up green pads in the greens surrounds.  So, I think the aerials above that attribute Landford are consistent with what I've seen of him, but not those attributied to Bende.  

But then again, everyone should break out a bit every now and then.  And maybe Bende took a little detour, had a big budget, went a little crazy....

[Adam Clayman]

Dan, Great question you posed to Ed.

I'm not that great at readoing aerials, but, I'd answer the style that exists today, is either, neither, both or more accurately Langford Lite.

The sizes aren't quite there to accurately represent L&M, greenside. Some of the diagonals look most like the real deal, however, looking at the hole that runs along the bottom in both pictures of PRCC, the strategic signature that I think of when I think of Langford, is absent.

[Dan Moore]

RJ,

I'll pull up some other Bendelow bunkers when I get some time.  I'll be on the road the next few days so don't know when.  

Adam,

Looks like they had to eliminate the fairway bunker defining the drive on the first hole leaving the clubhouse on the bottom and put in a tree barrier for the driving range.  I can see mounds or depressions in the newer aerial where bunkers used to be.  Having played Langford's Spring Valley recently where there is no sand at all I can vouch for the fact the sand doesn't make that much difference; the elevation change is what really matters when it comes to Langford and Moreau.

I'm very curious as to what the course looked like immediately before the 2001 work.  Langford was there after the 1939 aerial and I'm sure a few others touched the course between then and 2000.  

[T_MacWood]

Dan
Interesting aerials. Riverside does look more prototypical of Langford. Lake Shore was remodeled by George O'Neil in the late teens or early 20's. Before he got there the course featured 'mostly little pots.'

[Phil McDade]

Dan:

You may be able to see Langford's style at Park Ridge, but -- boy -- it doesn't jump out at you the way a typical Raynor, .e.g., course might. As you say, that's probably a result of the multiple revisions of the course.

I went back and looked at some of Scott Burrough's aerials, and what's clear about Langord/Moreau -- most notably in the wonderful Lawsonia aerial -- is how sparingly he used sand in his designs. I think that's in contrast to some depictions of L/M courses, where large traps appear from the ground to greatly influence shots and shot routing. They appear, from the ground, as these huge, yawning, penal things -- but in reality, they are for the most part fairly narrow and avoidable, given that L/M in general didn't design tight, corridor courses. (Looking at the Lawsonia aerial. e.g., it looks like someone in a trap there can barely fit in the darn thing to take a swing, but in fact they are quite playable.) Contrast that to the current Park Ridge aerial, where the sand traps are expansive, esp. the ones bordering the par 3 in the upper left corner, the ones pinching the fairway (including the U-shaped one) in the middle of the photo, the two very large ones on the par 5 running along the left side of the photo, and the huge one that sort of piddles out into four smaller bunkers on the hole running out from the clubhouse. Granted, I haven't seen a ton of L/M courses, but you could've posted the Riverside aerial without any additional information other than, "This is a golf course; guess who designed it," and I would've immediately said Langford/Moreau.

I think you're right about the pre-2001 work; if Langford was brought in post-Bendelow, I can't imagine him leaving bunkers the way they appear in the current aerial. But, all kinds of unknowable things -- money, construction restraints, membership directives -- could've altered his work there post-Bendelow. (Caveat -- I looked at Wexler's drawings of L/M's Key West course in "Missing Links," and the drawing there does depict less of the linear approach to bunkering that RJ writes about, and more of a style that's found at Park Ridge. But, I'm not sure I trust the drawing -- the aerial picture in the books doesn't provide much clarity about the bunkering on the course.)

[PCCraig]

Boy I really screwed this one up...I thought it was Dempster because I was almost sure that was Evanston GC, also under construction. Sorry Shivas.