[Drew Maliniak]

All -- I wanted to start a new thread about Orgill Park Golf Course in Millington, TN, which is a Press Maxwell (1972).


I've played few courses that vary green size as strategically. Almost all the long holes have postage stamp greens, while the shorts have massive greens. On the longs, you should almost always ignore the flag and hit to the middle. The shorts you ignore the flag at your peril.


For example, the third is a 220 yard Par 3 with a tiny green with a sharp back left to front right slant. So you either want to be on the surface or short right. Everywhere else is quite penal, although you're either in pine straw or rough. No bunkers. It's basically a very low budget version of number 5 at Pine Valley. Meanwhile, the second is a 370 par 4. Downhill off the tee with an uphill, blind approach. You have short iron in hand to a massive 40 deep green.


I find most courses internally stick with a standard green size. Pine Valley does not, but then they have two greens on a few holes. But I'm curious if standard sizing could be a default design "flaw."


The other key points to note:

First, Orgill Park is a cold shower to start. It's the opposite of the friendly handshake.


You either manage the first four holes and find yourself looking to score. Or you're scrambling to rebuild your round after a poor start. It's almost like Merion's Drama, Comedy, and Tragedy were reversed to Tragedy, Comedy, Drama. You tee off on 18 at Merion to start the round and play the 17th as your third.


In other words, waiting to tee off on 1 in a tournament can get your blood pumping.


Second, the course only has 4 "true" par holes. The rest are half par.


Anyway, it's worth a quick look if happen to be in the Memphis area.


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Course Sequence:

• First: 470 yard par 4 opener with a dime size green 30 deep in a kidney sheep with a road hole style mound cutting off half the green.
• Second. 360 yard par 4 uphill. Massive green around 40 deep.
• Third: 220 yard par 3 downhill.
• Fourth: 420 yard par 4 around the lake. Tee shot is key.
• Fifth: 490 par 5. Cape style dogleg left with internal OB left. So you're inclined to blow it way right and avoid the hero drive.
• Sixth: 360 par 4 downhill but not always driveable because of length and a small grove of trees blocking the center of the green, forcing you to lay back for an aerial attack or play down the left and play along a huge green.
• Seventh: 400 yard Par 4. This is Orgill's first true par "4."
• Eighth: 195 yard par 3 uphill approach. Redan. Green running front right to back left. 
• Ninth: 410 par 4. Second true par 4 but with a long narrow green running 45 deep but only 15 wide.
• Tenth: 340 par 4. Nearly driveable par 4 but you must play near a creek to drive it. Otherwise, you drive up a hill and then look down on a tiny green.
• Eleventh: 160 yard par 3. Short style template with a massive green.
• Twelfth: 490 yard par 5. Dog leg right with an Oakmont style creek running just short. If a good drive, you will go for it in two, but you can't if not in position off the tee.
• Thirteenth: 330 par 4. There is an aiming tree 230 out. The green is too small to try and drive. It plays similarly to 11 at Merion.
• Fourteenth: 440 par 4 to postage stamp green. Blind tee shot.
• Fifteenth: 370 par 4 with a massive green. Blind Tee shot.
• Sixteenth: 310 par 4. Driveable but with a massive green. Small trees and sharp fall-offs if fail to hit it.
• Seventeenth: 165 par 3 to another massive green.
• Eighteenth: 490 par 4. Final green does have a large green with a false front.       

No bunkers on the course (removed for cost savings). I think one initially had the road hole bunker.


Par 70 with both par 5s being half par. Almost all holes are half par. Only 4 "true" par holes.


Round cost is around $20.00 per round for walkers. Juniors can often walk for $6.00. I'll aim to post pictures soon. The course has a few but they don't really show the holes.


https://www.orgillgolfcourse.com/gallery/






 

[Jeff_Brauer]

Drew,


I actually talked with Press Maxwell once, a career highlight.  Most of what he saidI also did a master plan for one of his later courses, and talking with members, they said he was pretty blasé about design at the time, telling his shapers, "Give a 2 mounder here, a 4 mounder there, and a 3 mounder over yonder, etc.


I recently played a Press Maxwell, Pinecrest in Longview, TX, which was said to be nearly untouched since he expanded it to 18 holes in 1958.  Looking at historicaerials.com, I find that it was changed some time between 1957 and 1970, although I don't know if Maxwell did the only changes.  (DA Weibring added a range and changed the range sometime post 2000)


Looking at the historic aerials, it is hard to see big differences in the green sizes. Looking at it in person, all I can say is the greens have grown way in, not connected to the fw anymore.


As to the philosophy itself, small greens on long holes and vice versa seems to go against tradition, except a few of us use at least one small green on long 3 or 4 par holes as a way to test long iron accuracy, given distance increases these days.  Building big, subdivided greens on short holes is fairly common, since small ones would get eaten up by ball marks.


I agree most courses decide they are big green or small green courses, or can only afford X amount of green.  To supers, any bigger than the minimum they like for maintenance is a waste of resources, any smaller frowned up as not giving enough cup space.  Even golfers are funny, noticing when a green doesn't look like the others, because it's different in size.  My response?  Well, that was sort of the point, no?"


I even had a shaper build the green to the average size.  He noticed I had designed a much larger green on one hole, and figured I made a mistake and would want to make it the same as others.    


As to the strategy, yes they should vary.  Good players will notice if one long par 4 has a big green, another a small one, and others with average size greens with distinct features, for example.  Nothing wrong with having one green harder to hit than the others, and maybe one much easier, with (as you mention) perils for being too far from the pin.

[Drew Maliniak]

Jeff -- Love the stories about the shaper and Press Maxwell!

Prairie Dunes is near the top of my bucket list right now.

Returning to Orgill Park, I've been trying to unearth an opening day aerial of Orgill that shows the bunkers. I once saw one in the clubhouse when I was in high school. If I can find it in the county archives, it should tell us a lot.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Historicaaerials.com has one from 1971, and the course is either under construction, just growing in, or open. 


Fast forward to 2006 for the clearest aerial, in color, with browned out roughs.  Not a lot of changes, although it looks like the course opened without bunkers, and a few were added as time went on, which was not that uncommon in those days.  First, money was tight on those country courses, and second, some people touted the idea of letting the course play for a while to see where the bunkers should go to come into play.


You are right about the first green, it is tiny.  And, it's visible in the 1971 photo, so it is original.  Not sure if Press just wanted to try something, or what.


In a quick look, I'm not sure I see a total consistent pattern of green size, but then, I could be missing something.  The biggest apparent pattern is larger greens on the north side, and slightly smaller, with variation on the south, no?  That could be a couple of things - Maxwell sent different shapers over a two phase construction, or sometime later, they needed to rebuild some greens and only had money for nine holes and then quit.  It happens.  If you look at the 1997 aerial, they have tarps over the greens, probably a winter photo and Bermuda greens.  In the 1980 photo it looks like several greens have charcoal on them, sometimes done to combat chemical spills.  The next photo that shows the greens is from 2006 and most seem to have retained their shape and size, which is a miracle in and of itself, so it looks to be a fairly well preserved Press Maxwell course.  Probably a function of never having money to change.  The Kansas country side has several vintage pieces like that, a few that had sand greens, at least as of about 2000.


Chris Clouser's book "The Midwest Associate" has lots of info on Perry, nothing really on Press, but might be worth a look for you.  He does state that they preferred template greens, heavily modified, so you are probably right in your assessments of those greens.


History is fun. 

[Drew Maliniak]

Jeff -- So helpful!

• Correct on bermuda greens. They were updated to Champion Bermuda in the 2010s. Back in the 90s, they used to have winter greens, which were another version of bermuda.
• A few have that push-up feel, which you see in so many Mississippi Delta courses. Those greens may have been rebuilt or raised for drainage, although most greens sit in hill sides and have rather steep fall-offs.
• Agreed. They never had the money to tweak or change the course. They might have 3 full-time employees.

The north side is the back 9, and the south side is the front 9. The front uses a little less land.

On the tiny first green, I think the old first hole probably has switched between par 4/5 over the history. Press probably intended it to be a par 5 green.

But again it's basically a half par course, which is probably what makes it fun.

[Drew Maliniak]

Album linked here. I don't have a complete hole-by-hole set yet.


https://myalbum.com/album/M3WCBo2tyyT9

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