Restoration Timeline: Philly Cricket's Wissahickon course (Tillinghast / Foster)

[Powell Arms]

Tom: My email address is below each post. And I would bet you could estimate the cost of the work within 10 percent given your expertise. Powell

[Charlie Gallagher]

Thank's for the clarification on the routing, Powell.
 One really cool feature I noticed, I believe on 1st green and maybe the  11th as well, was a phenomenon I'm not sure I've seen before, what I will call a disapearing tier in  the green. The right back half of the 1st green has a pronounced tier which gradually is overtaken by the greens overall natural grade as it angles to the left side of the green.  I'm sorry I don't have a photo to illustrate it. Just a really interesting formation. As soon as I saw it I thought, "Why don't we see that employed more often?"
    It's features like this that set one to pondering eureka moments in architecture. About 27 years ago I played Crown Point Country Club in West Springfield VT. The 10th hole there is a short dog leg right to a green set on a shelf, less than driver unless you are Hogan straight. I was stunned to discover that the green is prominently two tiered, but with the bifurcation set at a 45 degree angle to the line of approach. All other tiered greens I had seen to that point in my life were bifurcated at a 90 degree angle. Since that experience I have looked for similar architecture and don't recall another  hole with such a pronounced angling of the tiers to the line of attack, although 16 at Merion is somewhat similar. I bet the dreaded word "fairness" has something to do with it.
   Incidentally, Crown Point was designed and constructed entirely by the membership after the war over a several year period. They bought a bull dozer and had at it. Dwight Eisenhauer used to play it in the summer as his wife had family in Springfield. Bobby Locke also frequented the place for a similar reason. It's conditioning is not great, but the site is spectacular with great views north, west, and south.
I know, off topic.

[Powell Arms]

Charlie, that is a pretty cool feature. Good eye!  It is very prevalent on 1. A bit on 11 and 18.  All three with a ridge on the right side perpendicular to the approach and a consistent back to front slope on the left. Makes for some very intersting putts, and increases the need to go at the flag and risk a short siding for a miss.

[Charlie Gallagher]

Powell,
   I don't believe my eye is as good as you might think, I didn't notice the feature on 18. By the way, 18 at Wissahickon is about as good a staircase hole as I've seen anywhere. I was stunned by it. Wanted to replay it again right after we walked off the  green. Got a much better idea of the importance of the drive after my first exposure. Great hole to end a round on. Should have put the angle needed together after I looked up the hole repeatedly before we tee'd off.
   I am going to look forward to your photos over the next several months as reconstruction moves along. You guys have a special property that is going to be substantially enhanced by Foster's touch. By the way, another hole that I really fell for right after walking off the tee was 12. That's a superb par 5.

[Powell Arms]

18 plays really well from the 1st fairway!  That hole will be largely unchanged, other than raising the entire green approx 2 ft to minimize the frequency of flooding.  




12 will benefit from a new back tee to the right, calling for cape-like drive across the old quarry. With that change and the restoration of the hells half acre on 4 (new 7), the two remaining par 5's will be much more interesting holes than they have been.

I'll post an aerial of that and try to find a good photo of the 1st green.

[Charlie Gallagher]

Powell,
    When the greens are regrassed what will the process consist of? Those greens must have native soil as a base. Will there be drainage added? Will there be amendment to the soil? What grass variety is going on top? By the way, I thought the grass there provided a fine putting surface. My playing partners told me that most of the existing contours would be kept except where there were going to be substantial modifications, such as at 15.
Thank you for your tour and explanation.

[Powell Arms]

Powell, could you please discuss the decision around which iteration of the course to benchmark the restoration to. I believe you mentioned the original Tillie and post Flynn work as two of the options when we played. Thanks.

Jim, here's some further detail on the benchmark for the restoration goal. As mentioned above, in 1928, Flynn supervised the addition of 8 FW bunkers and 3 tees, plus a critical turf health project. Flynn did not do any work to the green complexes or approaches. Of that work, the only item not included in the restoration will be the tee added for 6 that was to the right of 5 green. We played that tee on your visit, and not the typical tee that plays left of 5 green and hugs the property boundary left.

The general benchmark of the restoration is shown in the 1938 aerial shown below.



When contrasted to the 1930 aerial blow, there is some work on 4&7, top right of photo, and 14 green front, bottom left, that includes some artistic touches to the FW bunkers and hell's half acre. It is believed that this work was designed by Tillinghast and implemented in 1931-1934.

[Powell Arms]

Powell,
    When the greens are regrassed what will the process consist of? Those greens must have native soil as a base. Will there be drainage added? Will there be amendment to the soil? What grass variety is going on top? By the way, I thought the grass there provided a fine putting surface. My playing partners told me that most of the existing contours would be kept except where there were going to be substantial modifications, such as at 15.
Thank you for your tour and explanation.

Charlie,

The greens are being built to USGA spec. You are correct, they currently sit on the 1922 native soil.
Drainage is being added to the greens and bunkers. None exisits today, except where added as spot solutions in recent years.
The greens will be A1/A4 bentgrass. They will be sod, and that sod has been growing in south Jersey for about 12 months.
You are also correct, the green contours will remain. They will not be restored as you saw them, but as they were originally, allowing for more cupable areas on the recaptured surfaces. For example, on 5, the rim at the front of the green goes away. That was created by decades of sand spray from the front and left bunkers.
I am hopeful that our Director of Grounds, Dan Meersman, will put together a brief video to illustrate the contour restoration.

[Charlie Gallagher]

Powell,
    So you're going to go with complete reconstruction of the greens. A1 A4 is my favorite surface. It will look different than the old surfaces as it tends to be more uniform, a little darker green, and less mottled. I think it putts phenomenally and it can be sped up and survive, at least as far as I'm aware. It's in use at such diverse locations as PH #2 (they are going to change out to a dwarf bermuda after the Open) and Vesper CC in Tyngsboro MA, a stones throw from the NH border.
    If you know, what type of sand is going into the bunkers? One  member I played with told me the liners will be the porrous aggregate type. I don't know much about them, but I have read good reviews, supposed to last 30 years and help prevent washout during heavy rains.

[Brian Colbert]

Powell,

Will they bring back that pot bunker in the middle of the layup area on #4? If so, how deep will it be?

I would say the features I am most excited to see at the end of this are the grand hazard (and centerline bunker in the layup area) on 4, the Hell's Quarter Acre on 14, and the restoration of the playing angle on the redan 15th.

Brian

[Tim Gavrich]

I got to play the Wissahickon course three times over two days when my team played in UPenn's tournament there in early April 2011. The course was wonderful--especially the really tough greens (especially at the speed they were presented!). But the single feature that stood out to me was how absolutely perfect the fairways were. They were tight, firm and just absolutely spectacular. Gassing them and regrassing--those are some high standards!

Love the routing change too, as the walk from the current 6th green to the 10th tee flows better than the current 9th to the 10th tee. Will the trees along that edge of the property be removed?

Awesome stuff; looking forward to seeing the results.

[Powell Arms]

Charlie: the restored bunkers will be lined with pourous asphalt, as was done in 2010 at Cricket's Militia Hill course. I am not sure of the type of sand specified for Wissahickon. I will find out.

[Powell Arms]

Powell,

Will they bring back that pot bunker in the middle of the layup area on #4? If so, how deep will it be?

I would say the features I am most excited to see at the end of this are the grand hazard (and centerline bunker in the layup area) on 4, the Hell's Quarter Acre on 14, and the restoration of the playing angle on the redan 15th.

Brian

Brian, the decision has not been made yet on that feature. As the club makes decisions about specific features, Foster and Meersman are asking a tough question: why does that feature no longer exist.  Maybe maintenance dollars, maybe duffers dread effect, maybe too difficult for all,etc.  I think that is a very good question.  Just because a feature existed doesn't mean it was good or effective.  We undertook the restoration with the broad approval of the entire membership, and want to be sure that the end product is something that is enjoyable for that same breadth of membership and ability.


I agree with your list. The par 5's No longer will be the collective "ho-hum" holes on the course.  15 goes from a hard hole to a great redan.  I think we will all be pleasantly surprised to see the results at the dueling par 3's, numbers 3 & 10.  Keith views this as a specia, unique attribute of the course and wants to treat it as such.  3 will be fronted as native area.  The view of 10 green will be enhanced from 10 tee (as was done in the 1928 Flynn work)

[Powell Arms]

I got to play the Wissahickon course three times over two days when my team played in UPenn's tournament there in early April 2011. The course was wonderful--especially the really tough greens (especially at the speed they were presented!). But the single feature that stood out to me was how absolutely perfect the fairways were. They were tight, firm and just absolutely spectacular. Gassing them and regrassing--those are some high standards!

Love the routing change too, as the walk from the current 6th green to the 10th tee flows better than the current 9th to the 10th tee. Will the trees along that edge of the property be removed?

Awesome stuff; looking forward to seeing the results.

Tim, the gassing and seeding is an offshoot of the fairways being torn up for irrigation demo and installation.  And a small cost for consistent turf going forward.

It is likely that we will build a bridge from old 6 green to 10 tee, spanning the drainage ditch that sits there and thinning out the trees as well.

[Powell Arms]

Charlie: the restored bunkers will be lined with pourous asphalt, as was done in 2010 at Cricket's Militia Hill course. I am not sure of the type of sand specified for Wissahickon. I will find out.

We did two of our bunkers using the porous asphalt as a test. They are the best bunkers on our course and when we do the rest of our bunkers, we will use this method on all.

We love those done at our other course.

[Powell Arms]

Removal of sand buildup on 8 green from bunker green side left.



1st and 18th fairways looking ready for seeding.

[Powell Arms]

Keith Foster checking out the fine grading of 5 greenside right  bunker.



5 green front. Wow, that's deep. Note the roof of the atv parked in the bunker.



Plenty of work underway. The fairways on the back 9 have been gassed and are already seeded with bent.

[Powell Arms]

5 from greenside left ca.2007



And today



You've come a long way, baby

[Mark McKeever]

Great updates Powell!  I keep checking for twitter updates as well.

Mark

[Powell Arms]

Below is the construction update from cricket's Director of Grounds, Dan Meersman. There is also a 5 minute YouTube video that does a great job explaining the restored green contours. The video is here: http://youtu.be/fvYw2N4ITk8






********
Following a productive week of work, Keith Foster approved Wissahickon's Phase 1 green surfaces!  Currently, we are laser scanning the approved surfaces.  Following scanning, the work of "coring-out" and constructing Wissahickon's USGA greens can begin.

For a more detailed explanation of the beginning portion of our greens process, please click on the video link to our ground blog, www.philacricketgm.blogspot.com

Holes 5 & 6

Holes five and six are coming along nicely as our contractor is gradually transitioning from rough-grading to finish-grading in many areas.   Next week, following Keith's approval of these areas, we will begin to show members their finish-grade state prior to grassing.

[John Shimony]

These updates are great, Powell.  As I know the course, it's easy for me to orient myself to the photos, which is nice  I'm keen to see what greenside bunker surrounds look like without the years of build up.  It will allow me to notice this type of buildup at other course more easily.  Is a restored leftward redan tee in the works?  It would create a more interesting and dangerous angle.  Is there room to the right of the green before the property line to accomodate shots going a bit long and right? Thanks for the updates and best of luck.

[Mark McKeever]

Shi$,

Yes, theres a new redan tee going in that will allow the more interesting angle for the tee shot.  The area right of the green is going to be expanded and cleared out for the bail out shots.  Though I imagine it will be a difficult recovery from over there.

Mark

[Powell Arms]

To the current right of 15,the club has acquired approx 0.1 acres where the hedges and OB sit. So, in the redan configuration, long will not flirting with OB. Also, the three bunkers that currently sit greenside left , will become one 10 foot deep bunker sitting green front left along the new line.

This hole is the one that has the biggest change to the line of play, and one of the most exciting wholesale change in restoration

Dan Meersman's YouTube video does a nice job of explaining the sand buildup over time.

This photo to the greenside right of 8 shows the removal of buildup. The photo is clickable for higher resolution.

[John Shimony]

Mark, how goes it?  The new, or should I say restored, leftward redan tee is a nice addition.  I remember we discussed it but I wasn't sure if it was definitely going to happen.  I had a nice discussion with Geoff Shackelford at the Open while I was marshalling the 15th.  He loves the old course at your club. 

[Mark McKeever]

Yeah, I'm glad he got to see St. Martins.  It's a really neat throwback.

Mark