2009 in (humble and lucky) pictures....

[Chip Gaskins]

What a great 2009 golf year.  

Many many humble thanks out to Mike Young, Kyle Harris, Doug Stein, Steve DeWalle, Josh Smith, Brad Klein, Ian Dalzell, Tommy Naccarato, Lou Duran, Terry Lavin, David Plassman, and the list just keeps on going of great great GCA guys which make this place so special....THANKS!!!

Crystal Downs #8


Beverly Country Club #8


Shoreacres #4


Shinnecock panorama


The Creek Club panorama


Chicago Golf Club #12 (Punchbowl)


Homestead, Cascades #7


Hundington Valley #9 (awesome hole!)


The Ocean Course #14


Blue Mound Country Club #8 (Short)


Chicago Golf Club #13 (Eden)


St Louis Country Club #7 (Short)


The Ocean Course #8


Shinnecock #17


Baltusrol #4


The Creek Club #6 (one of the coolest second shots and greens ever played)


Beverly Country Club #14


Kingsley Club panorama


Hundington Valley #4


St Louis Country Club #6


Crystal Downs #15 (looking back)


Shinnecock #10


Chicago Golf Club #7 (Redan)


Shinnecock #14


Blue Mound Country Club #8 (Punchbowl but with the two spines like an Alps?)


Shinnecock #11


St Louis Country Club #2 (Biarritz)


Beverly Country Club #4 (I think)


Crystal Downs #13


Happy New Year to everyone and hopefully we can get Tom Paul, Wayne Morrison, Tom Huckaby, Mike Cirba, David Moriarty, and Tom MacWood
to lay down their arms and come back to the site.  It is much better with you guys on here!

[Dale Jackson]

Chip, those are fabulous pictures at some great courses!  The problem is, I and a lot of others can't match up every picture with the hole and course.  How about titling them?

[J_ Crisham]

Chip,  Nice pictures-I specifically enjoyed those of Beverly-I thought I saw our 6th, 14th, and 4th. Hope you enjoyed it.  Nice shots of Chicago GC as well. Your HVCC  pics brought back some fun memories from this Summer . Looks like you had a fun year,  Jack

[Jordan Wall]

Awesome pictures, Chip.

This is one of the many reasons I love this site.

Thanks,
Jordan

[JC Jones]

The first and the last are particularly the best!!

[George Freeman]

Congrats on an awesome year Chip!  Great pictures.

I know many of them, but as Dale said, titling would be appreciated!

[Chip Gaskins]

I had forgotten how good Blue Mound was....it and Beverly have as many standout holes/pics as many of the others!

Updated with hole/course names.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Great pictures Chip!  Thanks for sharing.

The first shot from Beverly is actually #6 instead of 8.

[mike_malone]

 How much better would HVCC look if they removed unnecessary trees.? That land rivals any for beauty. Don't cover up the views.

[Sean Leary]

How much better would HVCC look if they removed unnecessary trees.? That land rivals any for beauty. Don't cover up the views.

I thought the same thing...

[Dale Jackson]

Chicago Golf Club #13 (Eden)

Thanks Chip, although you just increase my must play course by few courses.

I am interested in CGC #13.  Can someone explain why this would be considered an "Eden".  I don't get the cross bunker in front or the bunker to the right - rather than right middle - of the green.

[Bill_McBride]

Chicago Golf Club #13 (Eden)

Thanks Chip, although you just increase my must play course by few courses.

I am interested in CGC #13.  Can someone explain why this would be considered an "Eden".  I don't get the cross bunker in front or the bunker to the right - rather than right middle - of the green.

Dale, I think it's pretty generally agreed here that none of the MacDonald/Raynor Eden holes stacks up to the original.  MacDonald argued that no one should be able to putt from tee to green as you can at St Andrews so he put cross hazards in front of some of his - the pond on #13 at NGLA and this cross hazard at Chicago for example.  He never did have the slopes right either, as it is so terrifying at St Andrews, both back to front and left to right.  The NGLA and Chicago Edens, and others I've played such as the Creek or Mountain Lake bear little resemblance or are as pussycats compared to the original.

[Dale Jackson]

Thanks Bill, I had known that MacDonald et. al. had used "literary license" in their interpretations but I guess I never realized how far they had strayed.  It is easier to see the similarities with a redan or biarritz, but this one really strays from the original.  I am hard pressed to see anything that leads me to think eden.

Coming from the far west, it is more difficult to play the great old eastern courses, my education is sadly lacking, although I have been fortunate to play a lot of the originals in the UK.

[Jay Flemma]

Good thread.  Should we respond with our own pix?

My 1-2-3 fdor the year would be National-Sleepy Hollow-White Bear Yacht Club.

[Kirk Gill]

Chip, you most certainly are lucky, but at the same time, you share with the rest of us, and that makes us very lucky as well.

Cheers, and Happy New Year.

[JESII]

How much better would HVCC look if they removed unnecessary trees.? That land rivals any for beauty. Don't cover up the views.

I thought the same thing...

A realy aggressive tree clearing, combined with Scott's maintenance regime, would make HVCC one of the truly unique and inspiring golf experiences available.

[Bill_McBride]

Thanks Bill, I had known that MacDonald et. al. had used "literary license" in their interpretations but I guess I never realized how far they had strayed.  It is easier to see the similarities with a redan or biarritz, but this one really strays from the original.  I am hard pressed to see anything that leads me to think eden.

Coming from the far west, it is more difficult to play the great old eastern courses, my education is sadly lacking, although I have been fortunate to play a lot of the originals in the UK.

Dale, I grew up in Northern California, so I have been lucky enough to play all of Dr Mackenzie's courses.  My exposure to the MacDonald courses has been within the past 10 years, and I still have no exposure to Tilllinghast and not enough to Ross.  My only Thompson so far is Capilano, but a great one, and I played Macan's Columbia Edgewater for several years in Portland.

It's great to be able to play in other parts of the country, broadening the experience so to speak!

[JC Jones]

Interestingly, I didnt recognize the Kingsley photo before the titles were put in  and thought to myself "where the hell is that, that looks phenomenal."   

[Germain Pepin]

Awesome pictures. Thanks to sharing.

[Chip Gaskins]

Kyle-

Sorry about that, I got Beverly holes mixed up, #6 not #8.

Dale-

That is same sentence I said standing on that tee at Chicago.  How in the world do you get Eden out of this hole.  Nevertheless, it is a fantastic hole and with that far right pin placement a bogey is a good score.

Mike & Jim-

If Hundington Valley cut a few trees back and let the fairways get a little wider (especially with the current maintenance meld (man, I sound like TEPaul) it would probably be the best course in Philly!!

Happy New Year,
Chip

[JESII]

Chip,

Agreed...and if they cleared a ton of trees they would have an unbelievable setting to go with it...as dramatic as anything inland I have seen.

[Sean Leary]

Chip,

Agreed...and if they cleared a ton of trees they would have an unbelievable setting to go with it...as dramatic as anything inland I have seen.

Hi Sully,

Is there a particular reason that the club hasn't?

[JESII]

I'd say, in order:

1) Lack of voices pushing the value of the end result
2) Money
3) Protecting the trees
 


They've always run a relatively lean budget for a high end club, so finding the money to remove ~1,000 trees would be tough...and to my knowledge, the decision makers either don't have it on their minds at all or don't see it as a winning fight so have not brought it to the table.

I'm not sure where I stand on the tree debate...there is an informal M.O. currently stating that if we take out an internal tree we'll replace it along the perimeter...seems reasonable, but tough to do in real large numbers and my vision would be really large numbers.

[Sean Leary]

I'd say, in order:

1) Lack of voices pushing the value of the end result
2) Money
3) Protecting the trees
 


They've always run a relatively lean budget for a high end club, so finding the money to remove ~1,000 trees would be tough...and to my knowledge, the decision makers either don't have it on their minds at all or don't see it as a winning fight so have not brought it to the table.

I'm not sure where I stand on the tree debate...there is an informal M.O. currently stating that if we take out an internal tree we'll replace it along the perimeter...seems reasonable, but tough to do in real large numbers and my vision would be really large numbers.

Is there a feeling that the trees make it harder, so there are some who may not want that? At my course here in Seattle, they are taking down some trees that have grown in too much since the course was built 10 years ago. Also they removed some that had negative effects on getting sunlight on greens. Overall the response has been favorable, but a with few dissenting "making the course easier" types.

[JESII]

Maybe some, but the regime I would advocate is more towards the large areas of trees that are mostly out of play (and would likely be replaced with high grass) and that restrict views across the valley. The potential vistas would be my goal, whereas the occassional tree that really does impact play could likely be left alone.