And the vote is in - No Flynn

[Craig Disher]

Today the ballot box was opened and Manor CC's membership, by a significant margin, voted to proceed with Art Hills' master plan rather than a restoration based on Flynn's original drawings. Apparently the lure of a modern design, similar to much of what's already in this area, was very seductive.

I'd like to thank all on this site who gave their time trying to help me convince the membership that a restoration of Flynn's plan was the right thing to do. Sometimes the best ideas just don't carry the day.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Craig,
Sorry to hear about it. I'm sure Art Hills will do the normal, make the course look pretty, so then in about 6 or 7 years it needs to be remodeled again.

[ed_getka]

Craig,
 Too bad for your club, but at least you tried to help them.

[wsmorrison]

Craig,

I am very disappointed in this piece of news, but my expectations were low due to your honest reporting of the foul smelling political winds out of Manor CC.  You did a fine job within the system to try and maintain the integrity of a classic design.  Your efforts and those of your allies were tireless and well considered.  Unfortunately the average club member doesn't have the knowledge base to make informed decisions.  Those board members that have an agenda have an easier time to steer things in their direction as a result.  

I think the phenomenon of Art Hills in the DC metropolitan area is sad but interesting.  Hills is overwhelmingly appreciated within your geographical region and he dominates the work there.  This was going on back in the Golden Age as well--Flynn in Philadelphia, Thomas in Los Angeles, Ross in New England, Tillinghast along with  Macdonald and Raynor in New York.  It is fine when the great ones dominate the local landscape, sad when men of lesser talent do so.  

I may regret saying so, but Hills was disingenuous in representing himself as a man who understood Flynn and his prior work on Flynn courses.  This did not help matters but didn't seem to make a difference when the facts were available.  It is strange that the majority at Manor feels that a Hills course (1 of hundreds) is more valuable to the membership than a Flynn course (1 of 40 or so and of superior quality in every regard).  Well there's no accounting for taste, and there seems to be a demographic component of it.

Sad day, Craig.  You're only 2 hours from Flynn fantasy land and as an honorary member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Flynn Society (not yet formally organized) you are always welcome!

You fought the good fight.  
Regards,
Wayne

[Paul Richards]

Craig:

Sorry to hear that.  A more careful restoration of a classic Flynn course would be much better, in the short run, and, especially, in the long run for this club than a "modernization" by Art Hills.

Take a trip to Pittsburgh and see The Country Club, which is in the process of doing a restoration of their Flynn classic and see how it should be done.

[Jason Mandel]

While it is sad to see that Flynn may "disapear", I have to say this about Art Hills.  While I don't love his new designs, I do think what he has done in DC with some of the older courses is somewhat intriging.  I don't think anyone would walk onto Chevy Chase and say that this course was "modernized" by Hills.   It absolutely has the look and feel of a classic course.   I believe Hills has a solid plans when he goes to work on some of thes DC courses, can anyone say that he has "ruined Bethesda, Burning Tree, Chevy Chase, or Congressional?

[T_MacWood]

Very sad report.

jmandel
Ruined isn't probably a word I'd use to describe an ill advised redesign (as opposed to a restoration or preservation). I don't know Bethesda, I was not aware Hills worked on Burning Tree or Congressional. As far as Chevy Chase is concerned Hills largely ignored the genius that Alison left behind preferring to add his own touches (from what I understand he did the same at Alison's Plum Hollow in Detroit).

I guess how one would descibe Hills' work on these courses--ruined, direspectful, intriging, forward thinking--depends on your appreciation of the original work of Flynn, Alison, Ross, MacKenzie, etc.

[Craig Disher]

jmandel,
I'll try to be dispassionate about this but I have to say that when I look at Chevy Chase, I don't see a classic course. Hills certainly didn't "ruin" Chevy; its classic character and connection to Alison and Ross had pretty much disappeared by the time Hills was hired.

Bethesda wasn't a classic design when Hills rebuilt it and it isn't now. It's a serviceable, modern layout that is very well maintained. His Bethesda effort is similar to what he's doing now at Belle Haven in Alexandria - redesigning an early-modern golf course that needed improvement. At Congressional, Hills' work was limited to repairing the bunkers and tees on the Gold Course (an early Fazio design and hardly classic). I'm not familiar with what he's done at Burning Tree.

My point is that Hills seems to have a well-developed modern style that has strong appeal here. Even though he has used the term "restoration" to describe his reworking of older courses, it's really modern design. In Manor's case, I know it is; I've seen the plans.

The DC area lost almost all of its classic designs prior to the increased interest in restorations. With so few opportunities left (Manor was about the last) and the prevelance of modern designs at both private clubs, munis, and CCFADs, it was difficult to convince the membership that a restoration at Manor wasn't a step backwards. Having a "name" architect like Hills was considered a real plus.

[Jason Mandel]

While Chevy may have lost most of Colt and Allisons design before Hills got there, I have to say I absolutely think it has that classic feel.  maybe its just the feel of the whole club, not just the course.  i think hills put some of the best and hardest putting complexes i've ever seen on chevy, and while i did not play the course before hills did his work, i did caddy there for about three years while in college.  beleive me, i am a philly guy, i love flynn, i love all of his philly classics, having never seen manor i can not comment, but being at chevy for a while, i can tell you that the work that was done was viewed in a positive manor.

i can also sympathize with you for fearing the modernization, the club i belong to just went through a huge renovation/modernization by bobby weed and i was more worried about it than anyone, and i still am worried about it.  good luck with your work and i hope that everything does work out ok.  one thing to look forward to though is if your club does close, the reciprocal benefits for a year are something you should def. take advantage of.  

[Matt_Ward]

Craig:

The flag's are flying at half staff in Jersey.

[GeoffreyC]

Craig

I'm sorry that your efforts were not fully appreciated by the members. Art Hills goes down a notch in my book.

As consolation at least they are honest enough to call the work they are doing a modernization. Where I come from they insist on calling the work at Yale a "complete restoration of our magnificant CB McDonald (spelling error on purpose since the Yalies in the athletic department can't even spell the name correctly even after Brad Klein roasted them about their hats in Golfweek) golf course" while they continure to take liberty with the design and fool the members.

[Martin Del Vecchio]

The first golf I ever played on a "real" course was at Manor, when I was about 13.  A friend's father took us out for  9 in the afternoon.  I also played some high school matches there.

I also caddied at Burning Tree for several years, and was allowed to play there on Mondays.  It was the best-conditioned course I have ever played, mostly because it got so little play.  Does anybody know when the work was done on it?

[Bill_McBride]

Craig, I was a member at C.C. of Fairfax from 1983-1995.  I understand Art Hills did quite a bit of remodeling recently. While never to be considered classic design or history (built in 1949 I believe) and laid out over several ridges with a bunch of blind shots, I always loved the course.  Have you seen or heard anything of Hills' work there?  Thanks.

Bill McBride

[Craig Disher]

Bill,
I heard that the completion of work at Fairfax CC has been delayed and the members were unhappy with the way the work was progressing. The delays may have been beyond Hills' control - weather has been a problem so far this year or this might be just the grumblings of a few unhappy members. I'm also not familiar with what Hills was asked to do there.

Geoffrey,
I was disappointed that Hills didn't aggressively encourage us to restore Flynn's design. We interviewed two other architects who both strongly urged us to restore as much of Flynn's plan as was practical. Hills' approach was much more general - since they based their work on classic principles, their final plan would be consistent with Flynn's. That explanation was enough for a majority of the committee to check the "restoration" box in their notes. Ultimately, the decision not to restore was Manor's but Hills' opinions carried a lot of influence. If he had told the committee that restoring Flynn's design was the wise thing to do, I'm sure the committee would have followed his guidance.