Tom,
Thank you for sharing this very sad news. That was a very good article.
Losing Normandie is a real loss to the history of golf.
Most typical golfers have no idea of how great it was to grow up playing a cheap course that was full of classic architecture.
Caddying at Algonquin in the 1980s, much of our Monday golf was split between Normandie, Forest Park (18), and Bahnfyre, and a little at Crescent & Grand Marias. (It is always fun trying to explain to people that in high school I used to drive to a golf course in East St. Louis.)
(I was too late for Crystal Lake, other than 1 round out there in about 1978 with my brother Mark.)
So many good holes at Normandie:
#1 Was a bear of an opener, blind drive over a hill, and then a fairway wood or long iron from a downhill lie to an elevated green.
#2 Maybe the plainest hole on the course, but still interesting, long but flat dogleg right. I always like this gentle 2nd after the brutal 1st. Double bogey & worse was possible on #1, #2 was usually a par or at worse a bogey. If you got a double on #1 & then a par on #2, it felt like a good round was possible. But +3 after 2, and it was probably going to be long day.
#3 Good long par 3 early in the round, 210 on scorecard, but played about 190. Nothing tricky or fancy - just hit a solid iron shot or scramble to try to salvage a par.
#5 Short iron to green about 40-50' below the tee.
#7 Tight par 5 that was a true 3 shotter.
#8 Quality short par 4 - birdie time. (One of 3 par 4s (#6 & #13) of barely 300 - birdies were possible. Good holes for a 4-man weekly skins game)
#9 Tricky side hill lie for the second, usually with a mid-iron if you hit a good tee shot.
#10 Was impossible. Blind tee shot, green perched to left with creek in front & to right of green; OB long & left. I do not think I EVER hit this green in 2. Score card says 420. But tee shot was very uphill, and green was small with NO margin for error. Played like it was 450 (in those persimmon/balata days).
#11 Was one of the top holes in St Louis. Needed a long drive, to have a chance at getting your 2nd on to this elevated green, that dropped off severely to the left.
#12 Wedge to another large elevation drop
#14 Big wide fairway, slight blind tee shot, then straight down to green, but tough putting green.
#15 Short par-5. Last chance for a birdie.
#16 Challenging par 3 - mid iron, OB left some deep bunkers right. But the easiest hole of the last 3.
#17 - 570 yards+ all continually uphill. One of the BEASTS in St Louis.
#18 And then what follows is a 250 yard par 3. BUT with slight elevation drop, and open in front to allow a shot to bounce on. I usually choked down on a driver (persimmon remember), and made about a 3-quarter swing to allow the ball to bounce on to the green. there was OB left & long, but green was very big. Right of green was severe elevation drop. Therefore, being short or bouncing onto the green was always the best miss.
Traps were solid, with some depth, but not too many. Had to hit solid iron shots, play smart off the tees, know how to play from uneven lies, and be a good wedge player around the greens.
If the greens & conditioning had been better it would have been amazing, but instead the place was affordable, and attracted those who loved good golf but could not afford pricey golf.