TomD:
Yes, I certainly do know Woody Millen (was a very fine player). Matter of fact his Dad (Dr. Millen) was the guy who brought me into this world (maybe he shouldn't have but for some reason he did it anyway!). I remember all those guys from back in those days--the Bostwick brothers (Pete and Jimmy), Robin Geddes, David Kirkland--all of them very fine Met section amateurs! My Dad played most of his golf at Piping Rock when in Long Island and for many many years held the course record of 63. Bob Merrill, as I said above, is the father in law of my oldest friend, both of whom live almost across the street from Piping Rock. Bob Merrill has always been a most effective man, basically working on 8 1/2 cylinders all the time.
As for that Biarritz (#9) I was very surprised to read from Devereaux Emmett that that green once had a front section in greenspace because I always assumed that if there was one Biarritz that definitely never did have front section greenspace it was probably Piping's.
There were a number of reasons I thought that. First, I never met anyone who said Piping's Biarritz did have it or could remember from anyone who said it did. Second, I always felt that one way to tell if a Biarritz may have ever had front section greenspace or was designed for it was to look or try to determine where the side bunkering (which I've always referred to as "coffin" bunkering) started originally! I felt if the "coffin" bunkering along one or both sides started well before the swale it meant it was designed to have front section greenspace and probably once did and if the side bunkering started at the swale then it probably never did have front section greenspace and/or was not designed for it!
But obviously there's not much question now that Piping's biarritz once did have front section greenspace and was designed that way because Emmett described the green this way in that November (or December) 1913 "Golf" magazine;
"The 9th hole had one green behind the other separated by a deep swale, something I've never seen before or heard of"!
So obviously Emmett was there and saw that front section greenspace before Dec 1913.
As to restoring front section greenspace on Biarritzes--I'm all for it if it can be determined it was designed that way. I think it lends the hole and the green some awesome playability and unique strategic ramifications both then and in this day and age. Just the look of an enormous Biarritz with front greenspace is awesome--they tend to look like behemoths and I think that's very cool. I could not get over the look of Creek's biarritz when I saw it last month (this was the hole I hit my first golf shot on). From front to back the green measured 80YARDS!!! That's unbelievable.
For strategy it forces a player to really calculate distance and his club selection to the pin because with most players we're talking a difference in potential clubs on the Creek's biarritz of maybe up to 7-8 clubs!
But if most or many of the original biarritzes did have front section greenspace or were designed for it why was it removed and obsoleted in the front on so many? I have some theories about that. Firstly, that's a ton of green space to mow and maintain and most clubs probably didn't really see or understand the value in that. Second, if the side bunkering did begin well before the swale and extend to the back of the green that makes access and egress on and off that green confusing and problematic for some golfers since one would tend to walk through the bunker instead of all the way around it.
I can see that the side bunkering at Fox Chapel's biarritz started well before the swale (for front section greenspace) but that one side's bunkering before the swale was removed on the side of the walk to the next tee. Why that was done is obvious to me, although I don't agree it should have been done.
But Fox Chapel has now restored front section greenspace and I'd even recommend they restore the front section of that side's "coffin" bunker and intall a grass walkway off the green right at the swale on the side of the next tee.
Mountain Lake has just restored it's front section greenspace. Mike Rewinski has always wondered where the green space started on Westhampton's biarritz and since the side bunkering is still there well before the swale I think it's obvious where it started and front section greenspace should be restored.
How about the way to play a biarritz? I can remember when I was a kid the Scottish pro at Piping--Spence--told all us kids when he took us out on the course for a playing lesson about the "biarritz shot". The idea was to hit the ball real low and get it on the ground early and run it across the fairway in front of the swale and through the swale and up on the green section in the back. Spence hit a couple of those low running shots and said the fun of it was to watch the ball disappear into the big swale and the reappear up the other side onto the back.
Piping's biarritz appears to have had a cross-bunker all across the front of where the front green section began. That would make the play to the front greenspace interesting--ie an aerial shot.
I had fun at Fox Chapel's biarritz with a young guy who works for the Pa Golf Association when we had our Pa Golf Assoc's meeting at Fox Chapel last year. He'd never seen a biarritz before and he also hit the ball a long way. We played the hole from the tips at about 235 yds and before I teed off I told him what that "biarritz shot" was---to hit the ball real low, get the ball on the ground early and run it across the ground in front of the swale, through the swale and up onto the back section. I took a 2 iron and punched it low and hit the perfect "biarritz shot" through the swale to the back. This young man said that was an odd shot and took out his 4 iron and flew the ball real high landing about 30 yards past where my low 2 iron hit the ground. Only trouble was although he flew the ball about 30 yds past my shot he landed directly into the upslope of the swale and it spun back into the middle of the swale.
So I got to legitimately tell him;
"When it comes to playing golf shots on this old architecture you young bucks ought to listen to some of us old dogs more often!"