From an architectural standpoint, it is actually surprising to see how much of Cobb’s Creek Golf Course has actually been retained largely untouched over almost 100 years. In fact, holes 1-5, 10-13, and 17-18 are virtually the same as they played during the 1928 U.S. Public Links tournament, each of these holes except number seventeen a part of Hugh Wilson and friends’ original design. Although the routing has changed fairly significantly, all but one of the original greens is still in use on the present course and most of the original features remain. The only original hole that was abandoned in the course’s early years was the par-three 14th, which crossed the creek at the lowest elevation point in the northwestern-most corner of the property, replaced by the wonderful 17th hole sometime in the mid 1920’s.
Most of the routing changes were necessitated by the US Army annexing nearly 15% (18.5 acres) of the course during the early 1950s to build an anti-aircraft artillery operation on the site of the present driving range on City Line Avenue. As can be seen on the following aerials, this loss of acreage affected the largest portion of the property, a rectangular area in the northwest quadrant that contains holes six through sixteen. The significant loss of property along the far western edge had the immediate effect of eliminating the then par-five 13th hole, the by-then-extinct par three 14th, and forced the 15th tee (today’s 9th) up closer to the green by about 100 yards. The considerable narrowing (20%) of the available land for those eleven holes then created a immediate need to re-route the remaining holes (in a way to once again have a full eighteen.
Ultimately, the loss of this one pivotal hole (the old 13th) also created the need to significantly change and re-route the old 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th holes as well, and replaced them with the present 6th, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, and 16th holes. The course aerials on the following pages demonstrate clearly the routing changes caused by the Army annexation of land. Let’s examine what was lost and gained in the exchange.
• The original sixth hole was a daunting 380 yard par four, featuring a drive that needed to scale 80 feet of elevation change and an approach over a massive pit of sand to a green hanging on the edge of a precipice. The uphill tee-shot was eliminated and today the hole is a 275 yard par four that is slightly uphill to an unprotected green.
• The ninth played from the heights of today’s back fourteenth tee, down into the valley, and then up again to the crowned green that is today’s seventh green. This scenic 380 yard par four was replaced by today’s flat, somewhat awkward 470 yard par five seventh hole.
• The original tenth was a 210 yard par three from today’s eight tee, across and up the hill to today’s fourteenth green, which would have featured a false-front approached from that direction. Today, the 614 yard par five fourteenth plays to this green, squeezed in one-half of what used to be the original eleventh hole fairway and providing almost nothing in the way of strategic interest.
• The original eleventh hole was an incredibly wide, wild ride of 520 yards to a green set atop a ledge, and which would have featured a strategic option of a high and low fairway on the second shot. Today, the hole plays at half of its original width as the uphill, par four fifteenth hole. While today’s hole is a very good one, the original was a classic.
• The original twelfth hole was the famous 130 yard par three “island green” hole, playing from a hilltop tee, and somewhat comparable to today’s 7th at Pebble Beach in exactitude. At the time it was built, it was called in “possibly the prettiest hole in the country”. It was replaced by a flat, relatively mundane 120 yard approach over the creek from the original sixth tee, and the island features of the green site have been since removed.
• The original thirteenth was a sweeping, semi-circle 543 yard par five that teed off from the far side of the creek, ran up somewhat blindly through the present driving range, and featured an approach to a green 40 feet above the golfer to today’s 8th green. Today’s eighth is a good, if uninspiring hole.
• The original fourteenth is today’s ninth, only the tee was back 100 yards into the grassy area adjacent to City Line Avenue and the driving range parking lot. From that tee, it would have been a strategically complicated, severely uphill hole of 360 yards.