The Travesty of Yale- Hole 6

[GeoffreyC]

The Travesty of Yale- Hole 6

The sixth hole at Yale is our version of the leven hole.  It has a strategy similar to NGLA’s #17 (Peconic). At NGLA a drive down the left side requires a significantly longer carry with deeper rough if you miss too far left.  The reward is a clear shot to the green.  Bailing out right makes the second blind over a bunker strewn hillside with another deep bunker right.

NGLA 17


At Yale, I think we have a more classic example employing water in the form of a stream guarding the preferred left side. Over the years, the hole was lengthened by some 60 yards by adding a new tee behind and just left of the 5th green. I believe this makes for a better hole with a demanding angle for the drive.  The hole shown from a 1940 aerial (thanks Craig Disher) is shown below. The original tee is right of the 5th green in the shadows.  The new tee is behind and just left of the 5th green.  Drives out to the right side of the fairway leave a semi-blind second over the hillside and serpentine bunker that extends into the right of the green. Challenging the stream by driving up the left side leaves a clear approach.



The bunker on #6 WAS my favorite on the whole course.  It was changed in the second phase of the front nine work after holes 1,2,4,5 and 8.  Seeing the destruction of this beautiful bunker was the last straw to me and led me to seek a change in the course of the dumbing down of the course at Yale. This bunker starts some 50 yards (a guess) short of the green and extended well into the right side of the green. It was snake-like as it got to the green with funny stances and lies that could end up near the steep bank. The sand was compacted probably significantly raised over the decades and the bunker needed to be redone.

Here is a view of the bunker from a 1934 aerial used by Mr. Rulewich for his work The line of play is from the top to the bottom of the screen. What a beautiful and unusual bunker it was.


Here is a more detailed view from 1940 where I think its clear to see the extent of that snake-like finger into the right side of the green. What a difficult shot it was from the right side of the fairway and the narrow bunker left it to chance if the stance would be acceptable.


The bunker withstood time but needed work. Here is a view of the bunker looking towards the green before Mr. Rulewich dug it up.  The shaping was all still there with its finger-like projection towards the green.  It no longer extended well into the right side of the green leading me to conclude that Harry Meusel (his name keeps cropping up way too often ) filled in part of it on the right side.  Where did he get the soil you might ask?  A long time member I play with occasionally told me that the 6th green (one of the least interesting on the course behind only #3) once had a significant ridge running diagonally from left to right across it. Perhaps in bulldozing that green he used the soil to fill in part of the bunker.


It remained a beautiful and strategic bunker coming just about to the front of the green.

Brad Klein writes in his article in Golfweek (September 27th 2003) “Why, then, are the bunkers amoeba-like in shape?” and “the rebuilt bunkers look as if they’ve been given too much valium, with soft slopes and no depth.”

So as to remind everyone of  Mr. Rulewich’s reply also published in Golfweek so these are HIS OWN WORDS- “All of the other sand bunkers have now been repaired with improved drainage and new sand. The style of flat sand areas and grass banks have been preserved. The grass slopes have not been softened - they were left undisturbed in most every case when the bunker repair was done. The steepness is not gone and depths have not been compromised.”- and “The bunkers at Yale hardly suffer from an overdose of Valium as Klein suggests. They are wonderfully varied, from shallow to deep, small to large and in varied configurations. Where are the "amoeba-like" shapes he seems to have found? Only two bunkers, one on no. 6 and another on no. 15 have anything resembling an irregular shape and are indicated as such on the photos.”

Seems like Mr. Rulewich was aware of the bunker on #6 and its shaping.  Lets take a look.

Here is a view from the left side of the fairway in a prime spot to have an unobstructed view of the green. The handsome guy on the left might be recognized by some of you west coasters.


Now the rebuilt bunker.  This one is from very close to the same position as the before photo shown above.  I ask you if the shape was preserved?  I ask you if photos were used?  Hell, he simply needed to outline what was there before his bulldozers and backhoes destroyed the most beautiful bunker on the course. Damn- I HATE THIS BUNKER!


Here is a view looking back towards the tee.  This new bunker ends a good 10 yards short of the front of the green.  We wouldn’t want to make it too difficult now would we?


This is how it was “restored” for a while and then one day we got a little present. A new bunker was built on the right side of the green (maybe to copy NGLA #17 –HAH HAH).  This bunker I call my tribute to the neighborhood cats since it is a better kitty liter box then it is a bunker. My god, what was he thinking when he built THIS! Seth Raynor and CB MacDonald eat your heart out. My new favorite bunker on the course.  Lets not forget the words of Roger Rulewich when considering the merits of this bunker.  He said "Original plans of the architects, C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, were non-existent and the photos and recall of past players, historians and staff became a helpful guide" and he also said "The grass slopes have not been softened - they were left undisturbed in most every case when the bunker repair was done. The steepness is not gone and depths have not been compromised." I'd be embarassed by this if it was my work.  Mike Sweeney's kids truly could do better then this!



Well, here we have the restored version of Yale Hole #6.  I consider this a real travesty and malpractice. This is truly HORRIBLE.  What do you think?

[GeoffreyC]

Dr. V- I knew I could trust your sharp eye for detail  

I'd like to know where Ran has been for this whole series of discussions?

I walked into the clubhouse this Saturday to see for the first time the plaque proudly proclaiming the course at Yale being one of the Top 100 courses in the USA as determined by GOlf Magazine.  

Ran- your vote no doubt had someting to do with that rating.  Was the last time you saw the course during our May 2001 outing?  You've therefore seen this front 9 work. You have not seen the back nine "restoration".  

Come out come out where ever you are?  What do you think of this?  Ranks up there with Fenway's restoration I guess.  Yale is on the Golf Mag list and Fenway is NOT  

[Scott_Burroughs]

2-3 years ago, apparently before RR:



April 3, 1991 (I like how you can see the swale in the Biarritz, far right):

[Evan Fleisher]

Geoff,

Yikes!  

[Tim_Weiman]

Goeff,

After seeing that kitty liter box, it is obvious to me that the problem at Yale goes way beyond Roger Rulewich. Who could have possibly signed off on such work?

Rulewich should be embarrassed, but the management who signed off should be even more so.

[THuckaby2]

Not to make light of a very serious thread, but
in the pic above showing the left side view,
damn that guy is handsome.  

[GeoffreyC]

Tim

You are certainly 100% correct.  The athletic department run by Tom Beckett does not have a clue.  Mr. Beckett can't spell CB MacDonald's name either and he wrote to the president of the university defending this work stating to the president that Mr Rulewich is also a “highly respected golf course architect who is extremely well versed in the design parameters and construction techniques developed by McDonald and Raynor and who has worked on numerous other courses to reestablish and preserve their original efforts. Prior to starting his own design firm, Roger was first a student and then an associate of Robert Trent Jones Jr.-, world-renowned golf course architect and Yale class of 1961.  DUH!

John Beinecke who directed the fund raising and other aspects of the new work to the back nine is well intentioned but he seems to want things done his way or not at all.  Certainly criticism is not well tolerated.

These folks do lip service to respecting the MacDonald/Raynor style but they go to other courses to visit and see what things should look like and they are arrogant and perceived by their hosts as thinking they know it all and don't need help because Yale is in such good shape.

The management at Yale golf course is hopelessly lost.

[Mike_Cirba]

Geoffrey;

Your photos of the Rulewich bunker make it look almost palatable.    

In person, it's quite a bit worse than that.  It's like this long, flat stretch of sand that isn't tied into anything and appears dropped off the back of careening sand truck that came to a screeching halt 15 yards short of the green.    

[Patrick_Mucci]

Geoffrey Childs,

Architecture aside, why has a buffer of rough been allowed to grow from the stream so far out to the right.

The risk/reward is the closer to the stream, the more rewarded you should be.  You shouldn't be penalized by high rough.

This is simple to fix, if anybody has the brains and inclination to do so.

Why hasn't it been done ??

[GeoffreyC]

Pat

Great observation.  There should be NO rough at all to the edge of the stream. There has always been a large buffer of rough on the left (at least as long as I have played the course) and this is but a hint of how the superintendent has not understood the strategies of the course.  Hopefully this will change with the hiring of the new superintendient. That area is a tough one for drainage and I think the same firm that did a great job on the 7th fairway should come in and work on #6 and #8 and #10.  Given firmer conditions and short grass all the way to the creek, the hole would play much better.

I would also cut down several hundred trees to the left of the creek to create a view of the green from the tee.  This would make it far more tempting to challenge the left side. For the longest of hitters, the whole creek can be cleared.  JohnV did the best job of this playing with me and he had but a sand wedge into the green.  There is more room for a back tee.

Here is a view from the back of the green looking back towards teh tee.  It shows why I want the trees removed to allow a view of the green and it shows some of the strategy of the tee shot as well.