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mark chalfant

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Did HARRY S. COLT or ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« on: October 16, 2011, 06:53:28 PM »
I was quite surprised on clubs website, ( Detroit)  attributes some 1912 renovations  to Harry  Colt.   Can anyone shed light on the  true history  of Bloomfield Hillls  Country Club

Thanks  !!

« Last Edit: December 16, 2013, 05:39:58 PM by mark chalfant »

Bradley Anderson

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2011, 08:26:35 AM »
Mark,

Sorry this does not answer your question directly about Colt's involvement at BHCC, but in my research of William Connellan I found an August 7, 1916 newspaper article that links him to BHCC.

"William Connellan, one time greenkeeper of Garden City, Wykagyl and Seaview, who gave up his post at a private club so that he would be free to undertake all the jobs that were being offered him throughout the country, has gone to Detroit, where he will overhaul the putting greens and fairways of the Bloomfield Hills Country Club. In the metropolitan district Connellan has charge of the reconstruction work at Canoe Brook and also of the new course near Garden City. This latter is to be ready for seed by August 15, although the work of leveling out and the building of bunkers and tees was only begun on June 20."

In my opinion Connellan was a key person in early American course construction and greenkeeping. I have established that he built for Flynn, Ross, Travis, and Wilfrid Reid whom he partnered with to build and remodel many golf courses in Michigan through the 1920's and 1930's. He also consulted with turf issues after Alison remodeled Country Club of Detroit. So there was a connection with Alison there.

The greens at BHCC bare some resemblance, in terms of contour and drainage routing, to other greens in the region where we may say for certain that Connellan worked. One wonders if Connellan did more than just build. Did he design contours within greens?
« Last Edit: October 17, 2011, 07:12:01 PM by Bradley Anderson »

Joel_Stewart

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2011, 01:05:04 PM »
Did Colt work on any course in the US except for Pine Valley? 

I think any course with his name is really Alison.

Tom_Doak

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2011, 01:20:07 PM »
Colt himself was indeed in North America in 1912, working on Toronto Golf Club and on the original layout for the CC of Detroit.  It's quite possible he visited Bloomfield Hills at that time, though I was not aware of it.

If the date is right for the renovations, it wouldn't have been Alison ... the partnership was established AFTER W.W. I, and Alison handled North American assignments for the partnership after that time, including the renovation of CC of Detroit to its present-day layout.

Tony_Muldoon

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2011, 02:56:32 PM »
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=16949.0  is helpful but not guaranteed to be complete.
Let's make GCA grate again!

Niall Hay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2012, 08:58:10 PM »
Bloomfield Hills Country Club is a private golf club rich with history and tradition. The original 12-hole course was staked by Tom Bendelow in 1909 and the full 18 holes were modified and completed by H.S. Colt in 1912. Over the years, Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones and Arthur Hills added touches that refined the course into the impeccable challenge it is today.

http://www.bloomfieldhillscc.org/

Adam Lawrence

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2012, 02:54:14 AM »
Tom has it right - if work before WW1, then it must be Colt, if after, Alison. Alison (and he was always known as Hugh, by the way) was based largely in the US for much of the 20s. But Colt never returned to North America after the war.
Adam Lawrence

Editor, Golf Course Architecture
www.golfcoursearchitecture.net

Principal, Oxford Golf Consulting
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Author, 'More Enduring Than Brass: a biography of Harry Colt' (forthcoming).

Short words are best, and the old words, when short, are the best of all.

Jeff_Mingay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2012, 08:54:25 AM »
Colt and Alison had an office in the Penobscot Building, downtown Detroit, for a time (during the 1920s, I believe).

As for Bloomfield Hills CC, I have a complete set of Ross plans for the course here, somewhere in my office - very detailed remodel of the entire course, with individual plans for each hole. Not sure all of Ross' ideas were ever implemented there though?
jeffmingay.com

Niall Hay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2012, 02:19:01 PM »
How close to the current course is the Ross design/plans you have?

Why if they had an original Colt would they bring in Ross and in what year?

Sven Nilsen

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2012, 02:25:33 PM »
How close to the current course is the Ross design/plans you have?

Why if they had an original Colt would they bring in Ross and in what year?

Colt c. 1912
Ross in 1936

There's al ot that happened in the world of golf between those dates, doesn't surprise me at all the course would have wanted to update its rather early facilities.  What does surprise me is that they had the resources to do so in the 30's.

If I had to guess, I'd say the average length of a golf course in 1912 was around 5,800 to 6,200 yards.  By 1930, the courses being built were bumping into 7,000 yards.  Be interesting to know what yardages the two architects left behind with their work.
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Niall Hay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2012, 02:26:43 PM »
Colt and Alison had an office in the Penobscot Building, downtown Detroit, for a time (during the 1920s, I believe).


I’ve never heard that before…

Niall Hay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2012, 02:27:37 PM »


As for Bloomfield Hills CC, I have a complete set of Ross plans for the course here, somewhere in my office - very detailed remodel of the entire course, with individual plans for each hole. Not sure all of Ross' ideas were ever implemented there though?


Does the course today resemble the Ross plans?

Niall Hay

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2012, 02:29:01 PM »
How close to the current course is the Ross design/plans you have?

Why if they had an original Colt would they bring in Ross and in what year?

Colt c. 1912
Ross in 1936

There's al ot that happened in the world of golf between those dates, doesn't surprise me at all the course would have wanted to update its rather early facilities.  What does surprise me is that they had the resources to do so in the 30's.

If I had to guess, I'd say the average length of a golf course in 1912 was around 5,800 to 6,200 yards.  By 1930, the courses being built were bumping into 7,000 yards.  Be interesting to know what yardages the two architects left behind with their work.

Agreed. Or how much the course changed between the 2 designers….or how much it has evolved since…RTJ and Hills too?

Dan Kelly

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Re: Did Harry COLT or Charles ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2013, 04:09:34 PM »
"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

Jeff_Mingay

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Re: Did HARRY S. COLT or ALISON work at Bloomfield Hills ?
« Reply #14 on: December 16, 2013, 07:18:59 PM »
Bloomfield Hills clearly has a very interesting architectural heritage...

The club's long thought Donald Ross designed its course. Now they think it's Harry Colt's work, when in fact, it kinda sounds like it might have been Hugh Alison with assistance from William Connellan! Which reminds me of Bruce Lietzke's response to someone asking him what he thought of Donald Ross' Essex (across the river in Windsor, Ontario)...

Lietzke said, "I don't care if the course was designed by Donald Ross or Donald Duck, I like it." ;D
jeffmingay.com

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