Any Bad Restorations?

MacKenzie or Nicklaus? (click to enlarge this fine piece of work by the La Habra and Minneapolis art departments)I finally had a chance to sit down with Ron Whitten's Golf World column on restoration, and while his early statements are pretty negative regarding the restoration movement, the remainder of the piece and Whitten's positive portrayal of Kris Spense's work in the same issue softens the blow considerably.

I'm curious if anyone has heard of a classic course that chose to undertake a restoration using as much historical information as possible with minimal modification to original design concepts, and come away from that process unhappy that they did so?

Yes, there are always going to be unhappy members, but I'm wondering about an entire restoration-driven project that was considered a mistake.

To put it another way, has anyone undertaken a serious attempt at restoration that came back a few years later and went with a modern design redesign that was considered an improvement?
 

Comments

[Steven T.]

I know there are certain "older" members of a Ross course in Philly who are not big fans of the new bunkers that were "added" ( restored from the original) even though the entire project was favorably received. They made the course much harder in their opinion.You can't make everyone happy.

[RM]

Brian Silva restored Augusta CC 5-6 years ago using old Ross designs...and the result is one of the most unique, thoroughly enjoyable courses I have ever played. Square corners on greens, grass face bunkers, a 360 degree deep punch bowl green on #16. And you actually feel like you are playing "back in the day", rather than having an architect plop down a modern design on top of a classic one, like Bob Cupp did at Druid Hills in Atlanta. Davis Love III is restoring Brunswick (GA) CC using found Ross designs, and some say he's had a bad year because he's spending so much energy on that. Brunswick is short, tight, quirky, tiny greens, a pure golf club in an almost muni kind of way. It will be interesting to see the result.

[DJ]

I was also going to mention Augusta CC. I played with a member who said he and his group of friends were very happy with the restoration....except for the restoration of the top bunkers. There are a couple of them that, if you hit into them off the tee, will result in no less than a double bogey.

[Slim Pickens]

DJ, Imagine that, a bunker that produces a penalty....What an amazing concept eh?

Going further with Geoff's comments, I think it has everything to do with the members and their personal tastes in relation to their own game. I hate to be vulgar but usually their taste is from out the back of their ass and while one half of them want the course difficult and the other half wants it easy. For any golf architect to want to attempt to do this type of work while risking their reputation as well as their sanity should be 100% proof they are committed to the common good of the original design, meaning the 100% vision of the architect's original concept. I would say that 90% of the architects working today aren't capable of understanding this. They would just as soon trash and rebuild, simply because most of them don't know how a golf ball bounces, especially when it comes to their pocket book.

What more evidence does a green committee member need?

[Jordan]

Does Oakmont's tree holocaust count as a restoration. I thought the results, from what I saw on TV, were outstanding.

[jgoldman]

I believe that Northmoor in Chicagoland did something akin to a restoration of 9 of its 27 holes by Donald Ross, and the membership was not thrilled. Instead, they hired Michael Hurdzan to renovate the remaining 18.

[MacDuff]

if castles and other antique architecture are faithfully restored, then why not golf courses? being true to the original spirit of the place is surely the aim.

[JB]

Michael Hurdzan was brought in to "renovate" Burlington (Vt.) CC which was a nice, old Ross course. The result from Hurdzan's work was the worst piece of mess you could imagine.

Never should have touched the old one.

JB

[Slim Pickens]

I'd like to reiterate again, most of the problem is the clueless club members who manage to somehow find their way on to the greens committee; and can only kwith-in the boundries of their own golf game. jgoldman, Northmoor sounds exactly like one of these.

These people have not one iota of a clue as to what classic golf architecture is all about.

[Chilltown]

Kris Spense spearheaded the recent restoration of my home club, Belmont Country Club. It has turned out immaculately. Spense used a new strain of grass called Grenwich Velvet, with allowed the natural contour of Ross's greens to really come into their own.

The restoration has gone over great with the membership, and all the local pros who recently played the New England PGA Championship there (winning score: +4). The course will hold a Massachusetts Open in 2009 and is looking to hold more tournaments.

All in all, the restoration has done wonders for a classic Donald Ross.

[DJ]

Slim....

My point on the top bunkers was that it only penalizes the poorer players. Many of them don't need obstacles that better players don't worry about.

[par5n2]

Chilltown,

Belmont was not a restoration in the slightest...you are completely fooling yourself. The course came out nice and it is fun to play, but it looks like a modern Florida course. In addition, I thought it was Craig Schreiner who was involved in that restoration

That probably gets to the point of why restore to the original...to preserve character that is lacking in modern design.