Above is a photo of some Maxwell bunkers around Hole 14 green at Old Town Club in their original state in 1939.
Above is a current photo of the bunkers around Hole 14 green at Old Town Club in 2001 taken from approximately the same angle.
Compare and Contrast?
At first glance, the use of different grasses distinguishes today's bunkers from the originals and further portrays just how far we have strayed from their initial character. Native fescues, whether you call it prairie grass, blue stems or Scottish broom, surrounded Maxwell's original bunkers. These were the type of grasses which were seeded into classic designs. Maxwell and his contemporaries simply did not have the variety of grasses available to us today. The character of the course was centered around the look, the "natural" look, of these wispy fescues.
Today, puffy, zoysia bermudagrass has been sodded into the lips and shoulders of our bunkers. Besides having a manufactured look, this grass affects playability in that it swallows up balls otherwise headed into the bunkers. Bunkers were intended to be played from. There is no reason we should buffer or protect them with puffy zoysia. It originally served as a buffer to protect our greens from foreign grass encroachments, but it has had the side effect of protecting our bunkers from roaming golf balls just as well.
Secondly, maintenance practices distinguish between today's bunkers and the originals. Notice the rugged, weathered look of Maxwells' bunkers. Notice the jagged edges which are naturally integrated into the surrounds. Today, the bunkers maintain a rounded and upholstered look. The edges are well defined, cleanly cut and manicured. These are the ingredients for today's generic bunker style, the very type of which was foreign to Perry Maxwell. Consequently, they have lost their natural character, their style, and their shapes.
Will we ever restore our bunkers? Good question! Probably not in the near future! Our membership would not prefer that our bunkers look or play like our originals. Why? I have been arguing for too long now that the major obstacle to Restorations everywhere is the typical "perceptions" of memberships. Old Town is no exception! Like many other clubs with unsophisticated and/or uneducated golfing memberships, rounded bunkers with clean manicured edges and upholstered grasses with smooth textures are perceived as the desired norm, the standards by which all courses are judged. Most golfer's tastes and perceptions have been influenced in such a way by magazines, TV, and the media which portray these conditions as the architectural model. Any deviation from these Augusta-like elements would simply not be approved. How well do you think wispy fescues and the weathered, rugged look would go over as the desired medium? To them, it would be like making them watch television in back and white. The irony here is that our club successfully endeavors in creating a distinct sense of place and tradition. Our ambience is that of an "old" club. In fact, Old is our club's name. We maintain an antiquated, rustic sensibility. Our club house is understated, we utilize stones for tee markers, the same stone relic motif that was utilized for our many bridges on the course and the walls around the golf shop. In such a setting, our crisp bunkers appear out of place. There is simply no juxtaposition between our bunkers and the rest of the premises. Yet, if we revived Maxwell's old bunkers which would naturally integrate with the surrounds at Old Town, then likely our membership would be unhappy.
We could restore the "playabilty" aspects by simply mowing down the zoysia grass surrounding the bunkers so that balls could freely enter. We could also simulate the classic "look" by limiting the amount of water the zoysia receives. With our new multi-row irrigation system, the heads could certainly be adjusted to limit bunker waterings. It would be unlikely that the zoysia here would turn as yellow as fescue surroundings; however, it should certainly turn a different shade as to create some "contrast" necessary to capture the classic look.
And yes, I do notice the tree growth present behind the green. These trees serve as a backdrop assisting the golfer with points of reference and depth containment on approach. Removing these trees could in fact create a void or an ambiguous skyline to visualize on approach. This nothingness makes the golfer have to trust his senses of distance, touch, and perception in arriving at the green. This is the type of look that golfers became accustomed to negotiating with on classic designs, and there is no place on our course which effectuates this look any better, especially since the green is above eye level. Perhaps our tree removal plan will soon include these.