[Terry Lavin]

The threads about the resto work at Old Town and Roaring Gap got me to thinking about a list of the Top Five Restorations in your area.

In Chicago, I'd nominate:

1. Flossmoor
2. Shoreacres
3. Bob O'Link
4. Medinah #1
5. Olympia South

Flossmoor lost the most flab and was the biggest eye popper. Shoreacres was the essence of a minimalist redo. Bob O has added drama in what had been dulled down. Medinah #1 put fun back into play.   And Olympia South reminded people of the great bones of the first course built at this classic venue.

Exmoor, Beverly and Skokie were all great but not as dramatic a change from the prior iteration. 

Nominations from other areas???

[Brian Joines]

South Bend only has one real candidate for restoration and that hasn't happened yet.


So I will nominate a few of the best I've seen while traveling:


Cal Club
Orchard Lake (MI)
Maidstone
Plainfield
#2

[Matthew Sander]

Judge Lavin,


Would Butterfield make the list for most drastic?


High praise indeed for Flossmoor, considering all of the recent comments regarding the work at Shoreacres. I happen to love Flossmoor so I certainly appreciate your POV.

[Terry Lavin]

Plainfield is a jaw dropper.

[Mark Sider]

Old Elm is pretty solid. Bob O isn't open yet. How have you seen it? The flyovers on the website don't look all that impressive considering the amount of cash they are spending.

[Terry Lavin]

Old Elm did a great job. The bones tee to green just aren't as impressive as the others, to my eye. And the Pinehurst short grass around every green is impressive but a little overplayed maybe.

As for Bob O, I've seen the work a few times and it's spectacular. Budget wise, half of the money is for infrastructure.

[Mark Chaplin]

A well known Philadelphia course is closing for 6 weeks in November for a renovation. Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Mark Sider]

I think short grass around the greens brings complete excitement to the game. Taking out a 60 degree wedge and hitting soft pitch shots every hole when green side can be challenging but isn't fun. The short grass brings variety and creativity into play. Plus the ball keeps rolling. Then more courses that adopt short grass around the green coupled with tree removal everywhere else the more fun golf will be.

[Gene Greco]

Southampton Golf Club
Cal Club
Mountain Lake
LACC
Paramount

[J_ Crisham]

From what I've seen this year: Cal Club, Meadow Club, Orchard Lake, Old Elm, and Shoreacres are as good as it gets.
  Medinah 1 , I consider being essentially a new course as it has been dramatically altered with new holes, etc.
Bob O Link I have yet to see in it's new form. Also would like to see the recent work at The Glenview Club- I've heard good things.

[Steve Lapper]

Southampton Golf Club
Cal Club
Mountain Lake

Add in LACC North, Pinehurst #2, Philly Cricket, Winged Foot East, and Paramount and Hollywood....had they the balls to finish it!


Though I've yet to see it with my own eyes, I believe Old Town probably deserves to be on this list.

[Jon Cavalier]

Though I've yet to see it with my own eyes, I believe Old Town probably deserves on this list.

It absolutely does: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,60356.0.html

[Gene Greco]

Southampton Golf Club
Cal Club
Mountain Lake

How could I have initially left off LACC?? My bad..





Add in LACC North, Philly Cricket, Winged Foot East, and Paramount and Hollywood....had they the balls to finish it!


Though I've yet to see it with my own eyes, I believe Old Town probably deserves on this list.

[Jason Way]

The best I have seen in Chicagoland this year are Shoreacres, Old Elm, Onwentsia, OFCC South, and Bryn Mawr.


Outside of the 'hood, the best I have seen this year are Pasatiempo, Essex County, and Lawsonia Links. 


Not to digress into the whole restoration vs. restovation vs. renovation topic, but isn't it a stretch to call Bob O'Link and Medinah #1 restorations?  Both courses were essentially blown up and created anew, yes?

[Dunlop_White]

Roaring Gap, Yeamans, Old Town, No. 2 and Mid Pines -- Sedgefield, Charlotte CC, Carolina GC

[Terry Lavin]

Re the terminology parsing, Bob O is much more of a restoration and Medinah 1 is more of a renovation. They're both much improved.

[Ian Andrew]

Can we define Restoration for this - I'll nominate a few after.


For example Cal Club has new holes, so what's the line in the sand?

[Terry Lavin]

You're qualified to answer that question. Either way it fits in this thread.

[Phil McDade]

The work done at Milwaukee CC probably deserves mention here --expanded fairways, lots of tree clearance (although it's still heavily wooded in parts), and notably some open views on holes, particularly 10 and 15, of the Milwaukee River. The changes at 10 in particular -- not just the views, but a moved fairway, changes in bunkering schemes, and better use of the terrain -- have really improved that hole.

[J_ Crisham]

The work done at Milwaukee CC probably deserves mention here --expanded fairways, lots of tree clearance (although it's still heavily wooded in parts), and notably some open views on holes, particularly 10 and 15, of the Milwaukee River. The changes at 10 in particular -- not just the views, but a moved fairway, changes in bunkering schemes, and better use of the terrain -- have really improved that hole.

+1     One could argue that Milwaukee CC is the best course in Wisconsin now.

[Tim Gavrich]

I never played it before Lester's work, but Greenbrier - Old White has got to be in the upper tier of this discussion. And with the work that Tom Doak (EDIT: I goofed on this, as it looks like it was Wayne Morrison and Tom Paul oversaw the work; my mistake, Tom!) did at Homestead - Cascades a few years prior, that's a pretty good one-two punch in a relatively isolated area.

[BHoover]

For me it's the one at the course that got me interested in architecture in the first place--Brookside.

[Tom_Doak]

I never played it before Lester's work, but Greenbrier - Old White has got to be in the upper tier of this discussion. And with the work that Tom Doak did at Homestead - Cascades a few years prior, that's a pretty good one-two punch in a relatively isolated area.

I've never done any work at The Homestead.


I do agree with Terry that I wouldn't call Medinah #1 a restoration -- or even a renovation.  We changed half the holes and nearly all the greens.  It's an original design.


For restorations, my best candidates [sharing with various associates] would be Camargo, Shoreacres, Yeamans Hall, The Valley Club, Pasatiempo, Somerset Hills and San Francisco Golf Club, based on the scope of work done.  We've done a bunch of them, though ... Garden City, Milwaukee, Hollywood, etc.

[Patrick Glynn]

Cal, LACC and Pasatimepo are right up there for me.


Shoreacres is now even more awesome (is that even possible?). Wider, less trees, firm and green expansions.


For me, I think Cal/LACC were more fundamental restoration/renovations with Shoreacres being more in refinement category (mowing lines, tree removal, etc.).

[PCCraig]

In Chicago, the best I've seen are the following:


Old Elm - The work that Drew Rogers & Dave Zinkland have done there is spectacular.
[/size]Skokie - The golf course is far and away better after Prichard's work. I think now we take for granted his work there, but at the time it was very dramatic and made the course marketly better.
[/size]Shoreacres - For reasons stated above.
[/size]Flossmoor - Flossmoor wasn't much to look at circa 2001, but when I went back in roughly 2010 I thought the work done was great. I wasn't crazy about the new holes but was certainly a dramatic redesign.
[/size]Onwentsia - It's been years since I've been there but I really like that golf course and Doak's renovation work there years ago is really underrated.
[/size]
[/size]Exmoor, Beverly, Evanston all kind of blend together to me. In particular at Exmoor and Evanston Prichard went overboard on the bunkering.
[/size]
[/size]Still haven't been back to see Glen View Club's new work done by Urbina. Looks great from the pictures I've seen but generally it seems to be many subtle changes.
[/size]
[/size]Urbina's work at Bob O Link is interesting. From Google all I can tell so far is that he didn't take down nearly enough trees. It's a tough job because that is a pretty boring property.

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