Cal Club -- Pics

[Josh Smith]

Nice photos Jeff...how wrong is that...you played the entire course before I did.  Thank you for the review, some very nice perspectives.  I wish I would have met you.   With an unusually brutal winter, and some slow to germinate grass types, as you noticed, we have a lot of maturing to do all over, but thankfully the greens, tees, and bunkers are in remarkably great shape.

Joe, I did have a bad hair day, particularly today, but that combined with an old style golf visor is considered hip now, so no worries ever on that end.

Adam, we stood firm against bright white sand and I don't see that changing anytime soon, thank goodness.  We actually chose to mix bright white and a natural light brown in our own parking lot and are loving the results. 



Here are a few before/afters for a preview.  I will try to add more holes in the near future.

10 before



10 now



11 before



11 now



12 before



12 now

[Matt_Cohn]

Were the ponds placed in the low area because they tended to be wet anyway? What's the drainage situation at the bottom of that hill? I heard it rains here in the winter.

[MBL]

Thanks to Jeff for the string - great pics (and love the ground game references, high-ball boy) - and Josh for the before and afters.

All I can think is HOLY CRAP what a restoration: all involved should be commended.  You all have returned a real gem to its proper state.  I sure hope to get the chance to see in person one day.

[Bill_McBride]

I know nothing about this course and I'm sure I'll get booed by the masses, but these photos don't really get my blood flowing.

Maybe if I was a master of the sand wedge I would be excited.  Maybe I getting too much like S Arble, but are all those bunkers necessary? I like the jagged looks, but my goodness how many bunkers does a green site require?

Haven't played the new Cal Club, but the old course was amazing for the consistent way in which the short par 4s played uphill and the long par 4s played downhill but out of tight chutes of trees that made the holes SO difficult.  The current incarnation looks a lot more playable, hope I'll get to see it one of these days.

[TX Golf]

Wow.... the course looks great!!!

[Kalen Braley]

Do we have any originals we can post as reference points?

Those before and afters look terrific....

[Josh Smith]

Aerial photo used for project.  1938.  According to Sean Tully who oversees the MacKenzie timeline, Meadow Club was MacKenzie's first North American work ( an original MacKenzie course), California Golf Club was his second job (complete rebunkering (135-140 odd in the work he and Hunter carried out) with a "few" greens, then on to Claremont shortly after or maybe somewhat simultaneously.  The american golf course construction crew did the work with MacKenzie and Hunter and months later were buliding Cypress Point.
 


10 before



10 after



10 before



10 after



11 before looking backwards



11 after looking backwards



12 before (from behind the green looking towards 18 and clubhouse)



12 after (from behind the green looking towards 18 and clubhouse)



13 after (can't find a before as I am typing this)



14 before (you can see the old cartpath intersection was cleverly placed in the heart of the old shared bunker complex, see the old bunker cavities)



14 after



14 side view before



14 side view after



18 before



18 from 1927  (months after MacKenzie and Hunter finished their complete rebunkering along with a few greens, the thought is this was one of those greens.)



18 after  (we still plan to raise sand lines appropriately in many bunkers throughout the course as time allows, also the entire swale in front of 18 and left towards 11 green is now all being mowed as fairway, this photo is a month and a half old, as are some of the rest.)

[TX Golf]

I have a question about a certain maintenance practice. I noticed in all of these pictures that the Cal Club has gone away from the criss-crossed and striped mowing patterns. I love the new look in which half fairway is mowed in one direction and the other half in the opposite but was wondering how much extra time is involved in mowing a course in this manner. It gives it a much more naturalistic feel and wish that more courses would go to it. Thanks.

[Will E]

Josh
What an amazing transformation.
Has the membership enjoyed the changes as much as I imagine?

[Kyle Harris]

I have a question about a certain maintenance practice. I noticed in all of these pictures that the Cal Club has gone away from the criss-crossed and striped mowing patterns. I love the new look in which half fairway is mowed in one direction and the other half in the opposite but was wondering how much extra time is involved in mowing a course in this manner. It gives it a much more naturalistic feel and wish that more courses would go to it. Thanks.

It's not much extra time, and can be quicker when mowing during play or with multiple units. The fairway mowers essentially mow in circles.

[Ian Larson]

Robert Warren,

I switched from the striping to mowing half and half at LACC South and it cut the time in half. It also took the neverending training of the staff to mow and care about straight lines which was frustrating. I felt the half and half gave it a more classic look and was really able to burn the directions in to make the contrast pop from fairway to rough. I should also mention they were common bermuda fairways and they got burnt in so well it looked like ryegrass....

....and for the restoration at California GC, great job. Very impressive!

[Kalen Braley]

Josh and Jeff,

Thanks again for all the wonderful photos.  If we're putting it to a vote, I'll take a huge serving of the "after" please!! 

[Chip Gaskins]

wow, wow, wow,  what a transformation for the best.  all those crazy ponds gone.  this looks like a classic NoCal course if I have ever seen one.  Those fairway bunkers look awesome.  Kyle Phillips and Cal Club must be proud

[Joel_Stewart]

I heard they spent $13.5 million on the restoration and it looks like money well spent.  It's amazing the clubs in that area and all have now undergone restorations or renovations, some bad, some good.   I haven't played it yet but CalClub looks like a premier club to rival Olympic but probably still a little behind SFGC.

[Michael Dugger]

Phenomenal effort!!!
It is a fabulous tribute to Mackenzie for the club to restore the course. 
I would love to see the same thing happen at Ojai.....

[Andy Silis]

Phenomenal!...Incredible!.......It's hard to come up with adjectives to describe this restoration! I played Cal Club numerous times when I lived in the Bay Area and after viewing the pics of this restoration I will definitely make plans to play it the next time I'm back. I thought Kyle Phillips work at Del Paso C.C. was the best renovation I had ever played and the Cal Club restoration looks like he exceeded his efforts there.

Based on his recent work, I would have to put Kyle Phillips at the very top of golf course architects practicing their craft today!

[John Handley]

The Cal Club is my home course and although I've only played it twice thus far (vacation reasons), I can attest the new course is fantastic. I walked it more than a dozen times during renovation. Kyle and his crew really put forth the effort and all involved have done a labor of love.  I serve on the greens & grounds committee and the members and leaders of the club are truly aware that we now have something really special.  We made Kyle an honorary member to keep his involvement with the club which I think is a smart move and appropriate.  In talking with him, I think he is proud of his work.  The photos are nice but honestly don't do the course justice.  The bunkering is superb and like Josh pointed out, really keeping in-line with what Dr. MacKenzie had done on the back nine in the late teens.  I know I am partial, but I have played SFGC and Olympic and the new Cal Club deserves to be regarded in that upper echelon of courses.  Once it opens to guest play, you should think about making a trip out to SF.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Jeff are you in SF? If so please get in tuoch. Tiger

[Jeff_Stettner]

Tiger -- PM sent.

[Sean_A]

Wow!  I am really impressed with the way this course looks.  That new pic from the rear of #11 is lovely.  Jeff & Josh, thank you so much for a look at this club.  I hadn't really heard of this place until a few a years ago - incredible.

Ciao

[Marty Bonnar]

I've just been in conference with the Good Doctor re the Cal Club via the ouija board. He's very happy with it and so am I. Nice job.

best,
FBD.

[Scott Stambaugh]

Josh- two questions

First, the bunkering looks fabulous.  Who did the shaping?

Second, does the Club give credit to MacKenzie for its design?  I was under the impression that A.V. Macan did the original routing of the course.

Thanks.

Scott

[Jed Peters]

Josh- two questions

First, the bunkering looks fabulous.  Who did the shaping?

Second, does the Club give credit to MacKenzie for its design?  I was under the impression that A.V. Macan did the original routing of the course.

Thanks.

Scott

Macon did do the original routing, but the course is all mackenzie from the bunkering to the greens.

Two pretty good architects, if you ask me.

[Josh Smith]

Josh- two questions

First, the bunkering looks fabulous.  Who did the shaping?

Second, does the Club give credit to MacKenzie for its design?  I was under the impression that A.V. Macan did the original routing of the course.

Thanks.

Scott

Macon did do the original routing, but the course is all mackenzie from the bunkering to the greens.

Two pretty good architects, if you ask me.
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Jed,

        Not true on the greens.  Only a "few".

Scott,

        The joke is it is MACANZIE.  But I think the club pretty much has 4 guys to thank for the course.    Lock, Macan, MacKenzie, and Phillips.  I always defer to Sean Tully or Brad Klein on this but The Cal Club is a bit of a cornucopia of different architectural inputs, William Lock was the original architect that started to lay out the course, at some point during construction he was let go and Vernon Macan was retained to finish the design.  Not sure who gets the routing credit, but it was well done.  The course opened in 1926.  (it is known that Macan occasionally would build his fairway bunkers after play had commenced to make the placement of them most strategic, but we are unsure if this was his tactic at Cal Club.)  Sometime in 1927 the California Golf Club hired  Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter to rebunker the golf course and they worked on a "few" greens.  Sean Tully recently found a reference that in '27 the club was hosting a big amatuer event, and the matches were having to play around the redesign work that MacKenzie and Hunter were at at the same time carrying out.

         I guess disturbing a grown in brand new golf course that was worthy to host a large amatuer event was nothing out of the ordinary in those days, after all it was the "roaring twenties".  Just conjecture here, but maybe Macan's "bunker it later" technique was to thank for MacKenzies involvement.

         As far as who did the shaping, Kyle had two independent shapers that carried out most of the work.  Kyle "Alister MacFrancis" Franz, and George Waters.  They came to the project with strong resumes, having each worked with Renaissance and Tom Doak on a handful of projects.  Barnbougle, Stone Eagle, Stonewall, Pac Dunes, Pasatiempo etc.  Also, Kyle Franz gets most of the credit for the bunker shaping at Tim Liddys Dukes Course in Scotland.  I guess I also got to shape 5 or 6 bunkers when I wasn't busy shooting grades or whatever else.
         
Robert,

          We plan to use the "up and back", 50/50, or "block mowing" that you noticed as much as possible.  You can see it in all the old aerials of the club and as a number of really well versed golf minds have said on this site in the past, this type of mowing draws your eyes to the edges more and gets you thinking more about the hazards. Kyle Phillips has written a sort of 'mission statement' to have the club keep things simple.  It is way more peaceful, This is a personal opinion, but I find myself not wanting to photograph stripes.  The striping can just be distracting and un-natural as you say.  Any striping you see other than tees in those photos are months old, suprisingly it has taken a while to get some of the "grow in" striping to disappear.


           

           
         

[TX Golf]

Josh,

Thanks for the response.  I walked the course yesterday and really did enjoy the 50/50 pattern quite a bit. It looks even better in real life than in the pictures. I have another question for you. I noticed that much of the long native grass had been cut. I was wondering why this was done and how it is going to be maintained in the future. One other odd question. I noticed that the hillside to the left of holes four and five was irrigated. Is there any reason why that native grass will ever need to be watered. Also, any chance you will have any paintings of the course in the near future. Thanks.

Robert