Part II (continued from previous post)
The course measures almost 6700 yards from the back markers and is a par 70. Old Town maintains four sets of tees. The par 3's vary in direction, and more importantly, vary in distance. The four par 3's measure respectively: 168 yards, 185 yards, 195 yards and 215 yards. The par 4's are diverse as well. Although there are five par 4's which all measure approximately 385 yards, they actually "play" at different lengths because of the roll or lack thereof initiated by the slopes and grades of the landing areas. We have two par 5's. While one is reachable in two, the other simply is not, as it measures close to 600 yards with a creek buffering the green.
Our membership is very small and our golfing membership is even smaller. We do not have tee times or other similar restrictions or requirements. Unfortunately, the majority of our membership favors Old Town's anonymity. In The Confidential Guide, Tom Doak gives Old Town a "7" on his 1-10 scale. Doak states, "be forewarned that this is the type of club that wants you to have permission from the Board of Governors just to take a walk around…. Worth seeing just for the greens if they will let you on the property". Although Doak's green description is accurate, he had to have been exaggerating about the other. Doak further ranks Old Town in his Gazette among the Top 10 "Courses Worth Groveling To Play" in the country, along with Cypress, San Francisco G.C., Seminole, Augusta, and Fishers Island. Tom can play with me at any time. In fact, we have a more engaging membership than he described.
To the best of my knowledge, Old Town went virtually unaltered until the 1990's. I fortunately just discovered an aerial photograph of Old Town in 1940, merely a few months after its opening. I wish it had been discovered long before now!! It reveals the typical evolution of a classic design. Fairway widths have been arbitrarily reduced over the years. There were also a few merging fairways which have been separated and defined. Many new trees have been planted by well-intentioned greens chairmen, some of which are strategically improper, others of which encroach slightly on play, and yet others which block sweeping views of the course. Furthermore, about eight bunkers have been covered-up or abandoned, the typical ones which memberships believe are unnecessary or out of play. Frankly, I was surprised at how much that today's course resembled the original, considering the wholesale butchering that has occurred at other classic designs across the country.
In 1996 however, Bob Cupp was hired to come in and "restore" our greens. At the time, our greens were soft, spongy and lacked proper sub-surface drainage.The root zones on our Penncross bentgrass greens were naturally impaired because of our inability to control internal moisture. This moisture attracted foreign grasses, such as poa and common bermuda, which thrived throughout our greens. I don't know all the agronomic details, but Cupp and Fuller, and Pat O'Brien, of the USGA, recommended the implementation of "Crenshaw" grass on reconstructed fillpads designed to USGA modern specs., which we chose. However, with this much faster grass, he insisted that we "soften" the contours as well. Thus, while we were at it, we expanded the greens to their original sizes. Only a 1951 aerial photograph was available at that time.
The final result indicates that we have pretty accurately "restored" the sizes of our greens to their original shapes. However, even though the contours of our greens are very similar, they are certainly not identicle, and they unfortunately do not seem to flow quite like before.
The most glaring difference involves the front edges of some of our greens. While "softening" our greens to accommodate a faster playing surface, it appears that a few of our green fronts were raised. This is typical as architects must either take away feet at the high locations or add feet at the lower locations to create a more level playing surface. Apparently, Cupp chose the latter method. The only problem is that it has had a significant effect on playability, as run -ups are presently unavailable. The approaches absolutely should have been graded out some 50 to 75 feet in order to tie in the contours caused by raised green fronts.
All in all, our green restoration was a success as 99% of the membership is happy with the results.
I had a telephone conversation last week with Bill Coore. He told me that he last visited Old Town in 1994. He said he was disappointed in the bunker renovations, but was absolutely enamored with our green complexes. He stated that they were the greatest set of intact greens in the country, and the fact they were intact Maxwell greens made them more unique and special. None were more original. Although he admitted that he was not privy to the agronomic situation, he diplomatically contended … as advanced as laser topography is today at emulating green contours, duplicating the originals is almost impossible. Evidently, it has a low success rate. He repeatedly tells Ben (Crenshaw) that he should had seen these greens. I encouraged him to visit Old Town again when in the area. I hope he takes me up on my offer for I would love for him to see the new product. I do not think he would be that disappointed.
Today, Old Town is in the process of upgrading irrigation to a multi-row system. We are also upgrading our turfgrass from commonbermuba to a pure hybrid, called Tifsport. We intend to restore some of our original fairway widths, and Mac Crouch, our super Super who we "stole" from Augusta Country Club, is already underway with a tree removal program.
I am going along with the initiative to add length on a couple of the longer holes although I don't full-heartedly agree. Technology has made a difference, but I think if we maintained extremely "firm" conditions, then we could hypothetically move all our tees forward, instead of back, on every hole and defend par just as well.
Jim Ferree, long time touring professional, is another excellent source of information. Old Town Club was his home course while his late father, Purvis Ferree, the first person inducted into the North Carolina Golf Hall of Fame, was the head professional at Old Town from the late 1940's until the mid 1960's. Old Town Club has also been the home of the Wake Forest Golf Team for many years. Therefore, Curtis Strange, Lanny Watkins, Jay Haas, Scott Hoch, Billy Andrade, even Darren Clark etc. may be able to contribute other perspectives about the club and/or the course.
I hope this answers all of your questions! I feel as if I have been too brief; however, I just realized that I have been typing for almost two hours now.
Thanks for your interest in Old Town!
Dunlop