Architectural Evolution of Stanley Thompson is posted...

[Ran Morrissett]

...under In My Opinion.

Canadian architect Ian Andrew traces the influences and style changes throughout Stanley Thompson’s unparalleled career. One key attribute that I took away is how Thompson continually sought out his peers like Thomas and Tillinghast and their work. Thompson always wanted to keep learning, a wonderful attribute that most modern golf architects don’t possess. The most successful modern architects today build a huge practice and then get caught in running it. Thus, their best work always falls in the first half of their career (note: this did not happen to the Toronto Terror). Plus, their client base hires them because they want a XXXX-signature course. Why (or indeed how?) can such modern architects shift their design style? Of course, Thompson was past all that as his work resisted being so easily stereotyped.

Special attention needs to be paid to Ian’s outstanding selection of photographs. Take the 3rd at St. George’s. Our esteemed Gang of Four panelists voted St. George’s the second best in Canada as seen in this link
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/opinioncanada.html
 
Yet its 3rd hole today rivals the today’s 12th at Garden City as the two worst holes among the 1800 holes of the world’s top 100 courses. Now go see Ian’s photo of Thompson’s 3rd  –unbelievable how today’s mess   comes from such an inspired origin.

Again, look at the 2nd photo of Cape Breton Highlands vs. the ones in the CBH course profile – what happened to the long views and the ocean?! The standard line is ‘Cape Breton is in a National Park and we can’t cut the trees down’ – what a crock as the point in being in a national park is to enhance one’s appreciation of the great outdoors. Please tell me which perspective does that the best – the one in Ian’s piece taken from Thompson’s day or the tree shrouded one I took last fall. This travesty is easily remedied – yet will it be?

Ian’s research, succinct writing style, and historic photographs make this piece represent the full potential of GolfClubAtlas.com for hosting important pieces on golf course architecture - the web site benefits immeasurably from its addition.

Cheers,

[Bill_McBride]

That's a really good article by Ian, another example of why GolfClubAtlas.com is such a great resource for those interested in golf architectural history.

I've only played Capilano of Thompson's courses, but it remains a highlight of my golf travels over the past 50 years.  Ran and Ian have both remarked on the skillful routing of Capilano that gets you back up to the clubhouse from 400 feet below it without really straining.  There are only two steep climbs, but each is interesting as one's a solid par 3 and the other a reachable par 5.

[Robert Thompson]

For the effort Ian put into this one, it has generated little response. Not surprising, I suppose, but disappointing nonetheless.

[Tom Dunne]

This is a really nice piece. I was glad to see some of Geoffrey Cornish's memories in the essay given that he is one of the last links to Thompson's world and his architecture. Nice job, Ian, and a good resource for the future. I look forward to hopefully learning more about the Toronto Terror this summer--that is, if the nickname hasn't yet been passed along to another Thompson...

[mike_beene]

I am visiting Banff for the first time in August.This is helpful and really makes me look forward to the trip.Thanks.

[Joe Hancock]

For the effort Ian put into this one, it has generated little response. Not surprising, I suppose, but disappointing nonetheless.

I haven't had the chance to read it yet.

I have never seen a Thompson course, nor have I played any golf in Canada.

Sorry........

But, thanks to Ian and Ran, as I'm sure I will read this piece soon, and I will learn from it.

Joe

Joe

[Chris Cupit]

For the effort Ian put into this one, it has generated little response. Not surprising, I suppose, but disappointing nonetheless.

I enjoyed the article and the pictures have raised my interest for sure.  It's just that I have not played any of the courses and don't feel qualified to comment.  I'm guessing a lot of others find themselves in a similar situation.

[Robert Thompson]

This is a really nice piece. I was glad to see some of Geoffrey Cornish's memories in the essay given that he is one of the last links to Thompson's world and his architecture. Nice job, Ian, and a good resource for the future. I look forward to hopefully learning more about the Toronto Terror this summer--that is, if the nickname hasn't yet been passed along to another Thompson...

I can say honestly I'm from Scarborough, even though that designation no longer exits since amalgamation.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Is there a picture of the current version of this green (or the greensite) at St. George's to compare new vs old?  The course profile in Courses By Country skips over the 3rd hole.

[wsmorrison]

Since Thompson lived until the early 1950s, did he ever comment or did his style respond to the aerial approach demand that the architecture of RTJ and Dick Wilson were practicing in the US?

That was an excellent piece, Ian.  Thanks so much for offering some insights into an architect whose work I hope to see someday.  

[Ian Andrew]

Kevin,

This is the current hole. The green was built by Robbie Robinson in the 60's and is incredibly wide, very shallow and about 5% slope through a majority of the green. The hill in front was much higher and had two bunkers in the massive roll making the green was blind.

[Ian Andrew]

Wayne,

He did not change his style. He kept the open fronts and designed largely the same as he did in the previous years. If anything, I would say his work became a little more subdued and a little less flamboyant.

I think economics had a lot to do with the rise in the flamboyance and the return to more restraint throughout his career.

[Chris_Clouser]

Ian,

Great article.  Even after reading his biography by Jim Barclay a couple of times, I'm still at a loss of Thompson's architectural thoughts.  I wish that this had been expanded on in that work.  

But your piece is a nice one to accompany Barclay's work.  

I also wonder if the only thing that had been changed in your article had been the name of the architect to someone like Mackenzie, how much feedback you would be getting on this thread.  

[wsmorrison]

Thanks, Ian.  How many courses did Thompson design?  How many in the USA?  Any lost courses discovered or mis-attributes resolved?  How much of Thompson's architectural drawings and records still exist?  Is it possible to compile a list of sources that will eventually be incorporated into the USGA golf architecture archive and research center?


Sorry for all the questions, but the general population probably know as little about Thompson as Flynn.  Maybe less so, because of the Canadian aspect of his portfolio.

[TEPaul]

From most all the photos I've seen of Thompson's holes the most identifiable characteristic of his architecture to the layman is the ultra large (wide) scale he seemed to create with bunker placements mostly around greens. Perhaps he did that to match the immense scale of some of the dramatic natural features of his sites--ie dramatic mountains etc, or maybe it was just a personal technique he developed but his bunkering seemed to be places as wide around many greens as I've ever seen. That kind of thing can certainly create some tough playability out of those that are pretty far removed from greens (it's not all that common in golf to see a fair sized gallery standing between a green surface and the green's surrounding bunkering ). On the other hand, "art" principle-wise it's talented and very artistic looking.

[Ian Andrew]

Original Works

There are many parts of this that need further review. Please note that the contributors are listed at the bottom.

1920

Muskoka Lakes GC (Port Carling, Ont.)
Summit G & CC w/ George Cumming (Richmond Hill, Ont.)

1921

Bigwin Island GC (Huntsville, Ont.) NLE
The Briars Golf & Country Club, Nine holes (Jackson’s Point, Ont.)
Highland G & CC w/George Cumming (London, Ont.)
North Bay (9 holes) (North Bay, Ont.)

1922
Niakwa G&CC (Winnipeg, Man)
Halifax (Old Asburn) (Halifax, NS)
Lingan  (9 holes) (Sydney, NS)
Burlington G&CC (Burlington, Ont)
Cedar Brook G&CC (Scarborough, Ont.)
Cedarhurst GC  (9 holes) (Beaverton, Ont.)
Lake Shore GC (Toronto, Ont) NLE
Shore Acres GC (Scarborough, Ont.) NLE
St. Thomas G &CC (Union, Ont.)
Thornhill G&CC (Richmond Hill, Ont.)
Uplands GC (Richmond Hill, Ont.) 9 holes NLE

1923
Couchiching GC (9 holes) (Orillia, Ont.)
Fort William CC (Thunder Bay, Ont)
Islington G&CC (Toronto, Ont.)
Kenora G &CC (Kenora, Ont.)
Queen Victoria Park (Niagara Falls, Ont.) (NLE)
Marlborough GC (Montreal, Que.) (NLE)
Sleepy Hollow GC (Cleveland, Ohio) (U.S.)

1924

Jasper Park GC (Jasper, Alberta)
Big Pay Point GC (Barrie, Ont.)
Erie Downs (Bridgewater GC) (Fort Erie, Ont.)
Ladies Golf Club of Toronto (Richmond Hill, Ont.)
Minaki Inn (9 holes) (Minaki, Ont.) (NLE)
Three Rivers (Ki-8-Eb) (Trois Rivieres, Que.)
Neilhurst GC (Jacksonville, Florida) (NLE)
Squaw Creek G&CC (Yongestown,  Ohio)

1925

Saugeen Golf Club (Nine holes) (Port Elgin, Ont.)
St. Andrews GC (Toronto, Ont.)
Royal Regina G&CC (Regina, Sask.)
Floridale GC (Jacksonville, Florida) (NLE)
Hyde Park GC (Jacksonville, Florida)
Beachmont G&CC (Cleveland, Ohio)
Chagrin Valley GC (Cleveland, Ohio)
Geneva-on-the-Lake GC (Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio)
Florindale GC, Milford, Florida (NLE)

1926
Huntsville Downs GC (Huntsville, Ont.)
Big Met GC (Cleveland, Ohio)
Oakdale G&CC (Toronto, Ont.)
Orchard Beach GC (Nine holes) (Keswick, Ont.)
St. Catharine’s G and CC (St. Catharines, Ont.)

1927
Banff Springs GC (Banff, Alberta)
Royal Mayfair GC (Edmonton, Alberta)
Little Met GC (Nine Holes) (Cleveland, Ohio)
Richford Frontier Club (Richford, Vermont) (NLE)

1928
Allandale GC (Nine holes) (Barrie, Ont.)
St. George’s G&CC (Toronto, Ont.)

1929
Prince Rupert GC (Prince Rupert, B.C.) (NLE)
Digby Pines Golf Course (Digby, N.S.)
Dundas Valley G&CC (Dundas, Ont.)
Sir Harry Oakes Estate Course (20 Holes) (Niagara Falls, Ont.) (NLE)
Oshawa G&CC (Oshawa, Ont.)
Peterborough G&CC (Peterborough, Ont.)
Galt CC (Cambridge, Ont.)
Westmount G&CC (Kitchener, Ont.)
Le Chateau Montebello GC (Montebello, Que.)
Constant Springs GC (Kingston, Jamaica)

1930
Aurora Highlands GC (Aurora, Ont.) (NLE)
Brockville G&CC (Added nine holes) (Brockville, Ont.)
Cataraqui G&CC (Kingston, Ont.)
Glen Mawr GC (Toronto, Ont.) (NLE)
Willowdale Golf Club (Toronto, Ont.) (NLE)

Mount Royal GC (Montreal, Que.) (NLE)

1931
Kawartha G&CC (Peterborough, Ont.)

1932
Capilano G&CC (North Vancouver, B.C.)
Woodbine GC (Toronto, Ont.) NLE
Sao Paulo GC (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Gavea GC (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

1933
Muskoka Sands (9 holes) (Gravenhurst, Ont.)
Noranda GC  (9 holes) (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.)
Sunningdale G&CC (London, Ont.)
Itanhanga (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Waterdown GC (Waterdown, Ont.) (NLE)

1935
Rockway Golf Club (Kitchener, Ont.)
Teresopolis GC (Teresopolis, Brazil)

1937
Kenogamisis GC (Nine holes) (Geraldton, Ont.)
Norway Bay GC (Nine holes) (Norway Bay, Que.)

1938
Highlands Links  (Ingonish, N.S.)
Green Gables GC (Cavendish, PEI)

1941
Beaconsfield GC (11 new holes, remaining holes Willie Park Jr.) (Pointe Clair, Que.)

1946
San Andres (36 holes) (San Andres, Columbia)

1947
Lachute GC (Lachute, Que.)
Saguenay D’Arvida GC (Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Que.)
Glendale G&CC (Winnipeg, Man.)

1948
Whirlpool GC (Niagara Falls, Ont.)
Lockport GC (Nine holes) (Lockport, N.Y.)

1949
Fundy National Park (9 holes) (Fundy National Park, N.B.)
North Oaks G&CC (North Oaks, Minnesota)
Moncton Golf Club (Moncton, N.B.)
Peninsula GC (9 holes) (Marathon, Ont.)

1950
Chedoke GC (New Course) (Hamilton, Ont.)

1951
Watertown Lakes (Watertown Lakes, Alberta)


 
Contributors
 
Jim Barclay
Ian Andrew
Robert Thompson
Tyler Kearns
Ken Donovan
Tom MacWood
Jeff Mingay
Gary Slatter
Chris Parker
Greg Murphy
Mickey Boyle
Geoff Cornish
Micheal J Hudson

Thompson Renovations, Remodels and Other Involvement

Brantford G & CC (Nicol Thompson with possible nine by S. Thompson, Brantford, Ont., 1920)
Sarnia G & CC (9 holes) (Sarnia, Ont. 1921)
Trumball G & CC (Ohio, 1922)
Wanakah (Buffalo, NY, 1922)
Alcrest (Winipeg???, 1924)
Mount Bruno (Mount Bruno, Quebec, 1925)
Norfolk G&CC (Simcoe, Ont., 1926)
Southwood G&CC (Winnipeg, Ont., 1926)
Lambton G&CC (Toronto, Ont., 1927)
Assiniboine GC (Winnipeg, Man. 1928)
Clear Lake GC (Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, 1928)
Mississaugua G&CC (Mississauga, Ont. 1928)
Lethbridge G&CC (Lethbridge, Alberta, 1929)
Brampton GC (Brampton, Ont., 1929) (NLE)
Cutten Club (Guelph, Ont., 1930)
Truro GC (Truro, NS, 1930)
Manchester GC (Jamaica, 1930)
St. Leonard’s GC (Montreal, Que., 1932) NLE
Credit Valley G&CC (Mississauga, Ont., 1934)
Sault Ste. Marie G&CC (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 1951)

Questionable Links To Thompson

with conclusions why

Norway Point (9 holes, XXXX, 1913)
Peninsula Lake (XXXX, 1913)
Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls, N.Y., A.W. Tillinghast, 1918)
Sault Ste. Marie (Sault Ste. Marie, G. Cumming, 1919)
Lakeview GC (Mississauga, Ont., Herbert Strong, Construction by Thompson/Cumming/Thompson, 1920)
Owen Sound GC (Owen Sound, Ont, Nicol Thompson, 1920)
Windermere GC (Windermere, Ont., George Cumming, 1920)
Beach Grove G & CC (Tecumseh, Ont, Devereaux Emmett, 1920)
Glen Stewart (Toronto, Ont., George Cumming, 1921) (NLE)
Humber Valley (Toronto, Ont.. George Cumming, 1921) (NLE)
St. Clair Beach (Tecumseh, Ont., Devereaux Emmett, 1921)
York Downs (Toronto, Ont.,Charles Alison, 1922) (NLE)

[Gary Slatter]

Kevin,

This is the current hole. The green was built by Robbie Robinson in the 60's and is incredibly wide, very shallow and about 5% slope through a majority of the green. The hill in front was much higher and had two bunkers in the massive roll making the green was blind.

Ian, on this hole in the 1969 Canadian Open George Archer (Gilroy California) said to me, as we walked over the "hill" in front of the third green "In the US we'd bulldoze this hill out of the way".
Great work on Stanley Thompson, THANKS!!!

[Peter Pallotta]

Ian - thanks.

A question about how Thompson 'fit' into his gca times: in the late 20s he seems to have been particularly busy and active, and working on - what seems to me - a large number of courses year by year. Was this common to the GCAs of the time? Was Thompson spending more/less time per course than his contemporaries? Was he leaving more/less work for his associates/contractors/shapers than the norm? In short, how did he 'fit' into the standard approach of the day?

Thanks
Peter

[Alan Carter]

Not saying that I don't like the way #3 looks now, but I love the old photo of #3!!!!!  Typical Thompson with some bunkers being out of play, but offering a great added visual.

[Ian Andrew]

Peter,

There are lots of comments and stories from Thompson's associates that make it clear - Thompson made the final call on just about everything from Capilano on.

I can't say for sure with the first 15 years of his work, but you have to believe he had to trust construction foreman to carry out his wishes when you realize there were no construction documents. He completed a lot of work without (known) associates during that period.

I don't know enough about other companies to compare.

[Bill_McBride]

Ian, your list of Thompson courses includes Hyde Park in Jacksonville Florida.  I have been led to believe that was a Donald Ross course.  Did Thompson remodel Ross's work?  Or is it indeed all Stanley Thompson?

Thanks.

[Ian Andrew]

Tom MacWood supplied me with a pamphlet from Thompson and Jones that clearly lists it as a completed new course. Do I think this is enough to go on? not really - its one source and that's not enough for me to say absolutely yes. But I can say it looks like it is a Thompson course - so far.

[Bill_McBride]

Tom MacWood supplied me with a pamphlet from Thompson and Jones that clearly lists it as a completed new course. Do I think this is enough to go on? not really - its one source and that's not enough for me to say absolutely yes. But I can say it looks like it is a Thompson course - so far.

Ian, is this in response to my query about Hyde Park?

The easy to find references - off a Google search - both say Donald Ross 1925 and remodeled by Stanley Thompson in the 1930's.  golflink.com and golfonline.com

[Ian Andrew]

Bill,

I can't give you a satisfactory answer on this one because I have seen nothing from the club or at the club. Thompson lists this in advertisements in Canadian Golfer and in the pamplet that MacWood has.

In the brochure it is listed "Among the others." All the other courses are known originals. He has another section that says "Courses recently rebuilt or remodelled" and it is not in that list.

Conclusive - no - but I wouldn't trust the sources you quoted or even Cornish and Whitten as absolute either. This needs more research - and the master file clearly indicates that for those who want to pick up the trail.

It would be great if you would if you find yourself there again.

[Bill_McBride]

I only played one round there, in 1995, and it just proves I can't tell the difference between a Ross and a Thompson course!

I do know they advertised the course as from 1925, and I'm not sure if ST was working in the US south at that time.  I know Ross was for sure.  

Perhaps Brad Klein will see this and chime in with his expert knowledge of the Ross history.