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Joshua Pettit

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Cape Arundel
« on: October 09, 2013, 07:15:29 PM »
I was in Maine over the weekend for a wedding and decided to check out Cape Arundel in Kennebunkport on Monday.  Though it was
raining fairly hard I managed to play the front side and drove around the back for a bit.  

I'm not very familiar with Walter Travis' work so I didn't really have any expectations, but I have to so say how impressed I was with many of the green complexes which, despite their size, had many interesting undulations that made for some thrilling golf.  

It was incredibly refreshing to play a sub 6000 yard course.  The compact routing, with many greens and tees butted up against each other, made great use of a creek with several holes crossing over it.

After my round I had a brief conversation with the manager who told me they have been working with Bruce Hepner for the past few years, but I didn't get much detail about the scope of work other than some improved drainage and a new practice facility.  

I'd be interested to know if anyone is familiar with the course, and might be able to provide some insight into the recent changes made and plans for the future.  In particular I'm curious if the chocolate drops can be attributed to Travis or if they were added by someone else.  

Any info will be much appreciated.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2013, 01:20:45 PM by Joshua Pettit »
"The greatest and fairest of things are done by nature, and the lesser by art."

Chris_Blakely

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2013, 07:53:05 PM »
I recently played Walker Travis' Stamford GC in Stamford, NY and several holes there feature the chocolate drop mounds that are prevalent at Cape Arundel.  I thought that many of the these mounds were original.

Chris

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2013, 04:04:23 PM »
Josh:

My former associate Bruce Hepner has been consulting at Cape Arundel for 10-15 years.  He doesn't post much here but maybe this will draw him out.  It's a cool course.  At one point, they were threatened with losing four of the holes that sit on leased land, but they managed to work it out [with the help of a bunch of lawyers] to retain the original routing.

Most of the mounds you saw are Travis' work, though I don't know everything that Bruce has done there.  Travis was a big fan of little contours and bumps.  I was at Hollywood GC yesterday, where we are restoring the bunkers, and there is a ton of the same sort of stuff there.

P.S. to note that the original land lease was a term of 99 years ... and even such a lease DOES eventually expire.  I imagine there are a few more clubs that may be facing the same dilemma in the next few years.

Joshua Pettit

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2013, 05:25:35 PM »
Tom,

Thanks for the info.  It does seem from the bit of research I've done that Travis did employ the chocolate drops on many of his courses.  To me, at Cape Arundel anyway, the humps and bumps worked well in some places and not so well in others.  That made me wonder if perhaps some were added subsequently after Travis' work.  For example, some of the bumpy areas adjacent to fairways tied nicely in to a bunker complex, and were covered with naturalized grasses.  Others were more isolated, covered with maintained turf and didn't tie in to anything.  My guess is that Bruce and the club have spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to manage these areas.

Your point about long term land leases is an interesting one.  I know Meadow Club originally had a similar lease structure but sometime in the late 70s I believe they worked out a deal which involved a land swap with the water district for an area adjacent to the 5th hole (an extension of the Bon Tempe Meadow) that at one point the club considered using for an additional 9 holes.  Now they own the land the golf course occupies outright but very little past its perimeters.  I do wonder how common these leases were, and how many clubs are going to have to deal with their expiration over the next two decades.  

Funny story I heard about the leased land you referenced at Cap Arundel:  
Apparently a dispute between the club and a neighboring land owner lead to the guy building a very unconventional looking, some would say outright ugly house behind No. 15 green and 16 tee, presumably out of spite.  
« Last Edit: October 13, 2013, 01:54:37 AM by Joshua Pettit »
"The greatest and fairest of things are done by nature, and the lesser by art."

Ed Homsey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2013, 05:29:52 PM »
At this point, I have lost track of the number of Travis courses I have played; it's over 20.  And, as Archivist of the Travis Society, I hesitate to suggest any "favoritism", but---Cape Arundel is among the top Travis courses I would choose for my last Travis go-round.  Bruce Hepner has done a masterful job of bunker renovation, and other course improvements while preserving the old, classic feel of the place.  There are many Travis courses with wonderful examples of Travis's genius at creating interesting and challenging green sites--particularly, the internal contours of greens, but Cape Arundel ranks at the top with its complete set of Travis greens.  

It is to the credit of the owners and members of Cape Arundel that they have invested a considerable amount of money for improvements at Cape Arundel, including the work that Bruce Hepner has done there the past 10, or more, years.  There's a lot of great golf on a very small amount of property.

I hope that Bruce Hepner does get on this site and give a rundown on all that he has done at Cape Arundel.

Stanford GC was mentioned in an earlier post.  I played there about a year ago.  An intriguing golf course, though a mixture of Travis and, someone else (not sure whom).  Difficult to say for certain what is Travis, and what is not.  Those "chocolate drops" in the middle of the 16th fairway are definitely Travis.  However, the 16th green seems unlikely to be Travis.  Other greens about the course bear close resemblance to greens Travis designed elsewhere, including the swale 12th green and the nicely undulating 15th.  Jim Kennedy, who first brought Stanford to our attention, is in touch with someone, with roots in Stanford, who may be able to shed more light on the Stanford GC course.


Joshua Pettit

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Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2013, 01:17:47 PM »
Hi Ed,

Thanks for the info.  I've spent some time on your website and found some interesting info/drawings/photos.  I share your sentiment about the greens at CA -- very cool indeed!  I don't know if I've ever seen a set of greens as small with as many interesting internal contours.  That's a difficult thing to pull off, and at Cape Arundel they work well.

Do you know if any of Bruce's work in recent years has addressed the greens, perhaps to regain their original perimeters?  You seem to indicate the greens have been untouched since Travis was there, which is great to hear, but it's hard to imagine they didn't lose at least some of their area over nine decades.  
"The greatest and fairest of things are done by nature, and the lesser by art."

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2013, 01:43:45 PM »
Joshua,

I visited Cape Arundel a few years ago.  Very cool place.  I did notice that there was at least one bunker that had been redone much earlier, and not at all in the Travis style, so hopefully, Bruce will redo those.

What struck me about those greens was that they had lost some perimeter, but in many ways, looked quite modern with the shelves and what not dominating much of the contouring.  A case of nothing new in the world of design, much like Charles Blair MacDonald said a century ago.

I also had the impression those chocolate drops were covering some field stone they needed to dispose of, but you can never be sure of that.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Ed Homsey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2013, 05:29:17 PM »
I am looking at a Fall 2010 Cape Arundel newsletter in which their superintendent, Brendon Parkhurst, refers to "The brown around the edges of some greens results from the expansion of many putting surfaces to reflect their original size as Travis designed them".  His article also referred to the new irrigation system that had been given a good test during their relatively dry summer.  In the same newsletter, Jim Pierce, a Cape Arundel member, at the time, wrote an extensive article on the course restorations in which he referred to the re-working of all teeing grounds.

A 2009 construction update (I believe I received this from Mr. Parkhurst), describes "mound construction occurring on every hole" and bunkers rebuilt, added, or removed on every hole except 6 (on 6, the pond was enlarged.  The magnificent new bridges, installed in 2009, were a huge improvement.

Pierce reported that when Bruce Hepner was asked "if there was anything he wished he did to the course re-construction project, but just didn't have the time or resources available to complete", he replied, "Absolutely not one thing.  Your green committee for the last decade had its priorities and plans all prepared and the current directors decided to implement it.  I commend the great decisions the Club made."

Richard Hetzel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2013, 10:41:55 AM »
Although I have NOT played Arundel yet, I have played Stamford GC (NY) on several occasions as my wife's family owns a farmhouse/property there. I can post pics if you like. I had NO IDEA it was a Travis Course.
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Ed Homsey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2013, 02:23:34 PM »
Richard--

From information currently available to us, Travis did a "redesign" of Stamford GC in 1923.  We do not know the extent of the redesign.  Nor do we know the extent of changes to the course subsequent to the Travis redesign.  A former member of the Travis Society, who grew up on the Stamford course, is developing a history of the course and has shared information indicating that the routing of the course has changed.

It would be great to see any pictures you have.  I have posted a few pictures of the Stamford course on the Travis Society website's "Visual Tour of Travis Courses" page.  Would welcome any Stamford pictures or information.  Our email is on the website:   www.travissociety.com

Ed


Richard Hetzel

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Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2013, 10:24:37 AM »
Ed,

Let me look and see if I can locate the pics from Stamford, although I don't believe I took all that many unfortunately!
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Chris_Blakely

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2013, 10:33:03 AM »
I loved Cape Arundel, played it about 6 or so years ago.  I loved the course and I know there was some dispute on whether or not John Duncan Dunn assisted him or not.  Either way, it was a blast to play.

I recenlty played Stamford and took over 300 pictures as the leaves were changing.  Some wow factor holes and greens there like the 5th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th looking back and 1st looking out.  If I get some time, I will try to post some - but am busy at work.

Chris

Ed Homsey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2013, 11:20:39 AM »
Chris--

For a number of years, the Travis Society listed John Duncan Dunn as collaborating with Walter Travis in the design of the Cape Arundel golf course.  Our source was the Cornish/Whitten book, "The Architects of Golf".  However, we continued to look for information verifying the Cape Arundel listing, given the number of errors we soon found in "The Architects of Golf" Travis course listing.  I believe that we now have a reliable source about Cape Arundel in "The History of the Cape Arundel Golf Club of Kennebunkport" by George A. Douglas.  This book was first published in 2002 and later updated in 2009.  In his book, Douglas provides extensive quotes from local newspapers describing the development and redesign of the Cape Arundel golf course in the early 1920s.  The detail with which these articles were written, with extensive reference to individuals involved, lead me to respect their reliability.  Walter Travis is mentioned on several occasions as the one who designed or laid out the Cape Arundel course.  Douglas mentions that "John Duncan Dunn was reported by several sources to have aided Travis in the design of Cape Arundel".  He refers to the Cornish/Whitten book, "The Golf Course" as one of those sources.

Original course drawings, recently discovered, and in the hands of Cape Arundel, are those of Walter Travis, and very typical of the type of drawings he did in the early 1920s.

Given the above information, we have dropped John Duncan Dunn's name from the Cape Arundel listing.  We recognize that Travis and Dunn had a close working relationship that started very early with Ekwanok CC, where Dunn appears to have taken the lead role, and that Travis learned much about the trade from Dunn.  Should reliable information appear that clearly show Dunn involved in the Cape Arundel design, we will welcome the information and alter our listing.

Re:  Stamford GC.  The Travis Society would welcome any images of Stamford that you could share and, with your permission, would like to post some on our website.  We have a few images of the course on our website, but would be happy to post others that show those interesting features you referred to.

Ed
www.travissociety.com

Michael J. Moss

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Cape Arundel
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2013, 03:34:58 PM »
The greens molded by Travis are just terrific. Some are located right next to each other due to the tightness of the property. I love the place. Please forgive these oversized images. Some scrolling is needed.
 
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