Design Notebook: Reviving Stanley Thompson

Welcome back to Design Notebook, where we’re hoping for an exciting Presidents Cup but keenly aware that past International teams have not exactly vibed with courses touched by the Jones family.

In today’s DN, Garrett Morrison passes along some newsy, Stanley Thompson-themed tidbits from his upcoming interview with golf architect Ian Andrew. He also ruminates on the potential of North Berwick’s “Pit” hole as a template design.

Ian Andrew Eyes Multiple Stanley Thompson Projects

By Garrett Morrison

Later this week on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast, we will publish a conversation I had with Ian Andrew last Thursday. Much of the episode is devoted to a discussion of Stanley Thompson, who designed Banff Springs, St. George’s Golf and Country Club, Capilano, Jasper Park, Cape Breton Highlands Links, and many other courses across the Americas in the 1920s and 30s. Thompson is widely considered Canada’s greatest golf architect, and Ian Andrew is one of the world’s leading experts on his work. It was an hour and a half well spent for me.

In addition to delving into Stanley Thompson’s career, Andrew and I talked about his ongoing and future projects at a few of Thompson’s courses. Some of this information was new to me, so I thought I’d share it with Club TFE before we release the episode. Such are the benefits of membership!

1. Banff Springs moves toward a proper restoration. Andrew told me that he is developing a plan for a project at Banff Springs, Thompson’s masterful 1927 design in the Canadian Rockies. Andrew’s suggestions will focus on moving out mowing lines, restoring the elaborate capes and bays of Thompson’s bunkers, and removing trees (where possible, given the site’s environmental sensitivity) to open up lines of play and views of the Bow River.

This is welcome news. Banff Springs would make nearly anyone’s Mount Rushmore of Canadian golf courses, but it has long cried out for a restoration by a skilled, historically informed architect.

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2. Jasper Park gets to work. After suffering horrifying destruction from the Jasper Wildfire Complex in July, the mountain-resort town of Jasper Park, along with its 1924 Stanley Thompson golf course, has started on the long road to recovery. Andrew, who recently visited the course, informed me that its ground features are intact, but its irrigation system was damaged and much of the surrounding forest was destroyed. The course plans to get back on its feet eventually, though, and Andrew said he is “casually advising” the ownership and staff in that process.

3. Cleveland’s Sleepy Hollow plays the long game. I mentioned this in the August 12 edition of Design Notebook, but it’s worth repeating that Andrew has developed a master plan for Sleepy Hollow Golf Course, a municipal Thompson design outside of Cleveland. This is a big deal! Andrew cautioned, however, that we shouldn’t expect this project to be finished anytime soon. “They’re going to clear trees there,” he said. “I think that’s going to be in-house. So I think it’s going to take them about 10 years to get there. I’ll just be super frank: I won’t be working at that point.”

If Sleepy Hollow does see through Andrew’s recommendations, it could become a contender for the greatest municipal golf course in America. The land and architecture are that good.

A “Pit” Template?

By Garrett Morrison

On Instagram a few days ago, I wondered aloud why North Berwick’s “Pit” hole had not spawned more replicas, in spite of being nearly as famous as the course’s much-imitated Redan par 3. I included a few photos of No. 6 at Bar Run (the subject of last week’s Club TFE course profile), the only direct reproduction of the Pit hole I’m aware of.

No. 6 at Bar Run, a rare example of the "Pit" template (Fried Egg Golf)

I had a rough answer to my own question already in mind. Two big reasons we don’t see more Pit templates are 1) very few golf course properties contain preexisting walls that can be used as hazards, and 2) very few golf architects are willing to install an artificial wall on a hole, as a matter of both practicality and taste. To create a Redan, all you need is a diagonal, sloping green and a big bunker or two—components that architects are accustomed to manufacturing. A wall is somewhat harder to construct and “tie in” to an environment. Indeed, many golfers, particularly those of the golf-architecture-nerd persuasion, find Hixson’s concrete wall at Bar Run silly-looking. (To be bold in golf course design is often to court silliness.)

In the replies to my Instagram post, however, Connor Dougherty, an associate at Jackson Kahn Design, opened up a more interesting set of issues. “I think the wall is a huge part of what makes [the Pit hole] unique, much like the road on the OG Road hole. But if we replace the wall with bunkers… there are a myriad of holes which would fit the bill to a certain extent.”

In other words, it’s possible to develop an idea of a wall-less Pit template, much as C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor invented the road-less Road hole.

Now, in general, I would encourage golf architects to look for inspiration outside of the traditional array of “ideal holes,” or at least remix tried-and-true designs to the point that they’re only faintly recognizable. But when I’m reminded of an iconic hole design that has been weirdly under-emulated (another example: the fourth at Woking), I can’t help myself. I have to turn it over in my mind for a little while.

So: if an actual wall isn’t necessary, what defines a Pit template? Here’s my attempt:

It’s a shortish par 4 (in the modern game, a drive-and-pitch hole, perhaps) with a narrow green offset from the fairway and guarded on both sides by long, linear hazards. The near-side hazard (the wall, in North Berwick’s case) should be in play on both drive and approach. The green and hazards run approximately parallel to the line of the fairway, which means that the farther the player bails away from the near-side hazard on his first shot, the shallower the green plays on his second. The fairway should be wide enough to allow for the choice of aggressive and conservative lines off the tee, but the orientation and nature of the green and hazards should create a substantial disadvantage for those who play timidly.

As Connor mentioned in his Instagram reply, one hole that follows the basic Pit geometry is the 12th at Coore & Crenshaw’s O’odham Course at Talking Stick—one of my favorite par 4s anywhere.

No. 12 at Talking Stick (Fried Egg Golf)

Club TFE member Evan Baldridge also shouted out the eighth hole at Stoatin Brae and the 15th at Llanerch Country Club.

So let’s turn this over to you: which other holes have some Pit-ish character? And have I missed anything important in my definition of the template? (For instance, the original Pit green funnels from both sides to the middle. This is the source of the hole’s name, but I’m not sure it’s an essential attribute of the overall design. I could be wrong, though, having never played the hole myself.)

The comments section is below!

Chocolate Drops

Wentworth tabs EGD: Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, England, has hired European Tour-owned European Golf Design to renovate the club’s East Course, a 1924 Harry Colt design. (Wentworth’s West Course, also built by Colt, hosted this past week’s BMW PGA Championship.) The project will be led by EGD designer Dave Sampson and include the construction of an “academy” featuring a par-3 course, a short-game area, and indoor teaching studios. The press materials released by the club speak of reinstating the East Course’s heathland character and Colt design attributes, but I wouldn’t say either EGD or Wentworth has a proven affinity for historically accurate restoration work. We’ll see.

Welling walks around a piece of land in Colorado: That’s all the information I was able to glean from this Instagram post. Evidently, Welling is working on an original design in or near Colorado Springs, which is notable in the sense that the construction of any new course in the U.S. outside of the Southeast or Texas qualifies as a rarity.

Dusenberry does Wisconsin: Primarily known for his renovations of classic courses in the northeast U.S. (including Keney Park and the Country Club of Farmington in Connecticut), Matt Dusenberry has started work on a new 10-hole short course and practice facility at Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I’ll be excited to see an example of Dusenberry’s original style.

Golf in the Megalodome: Fun find by my colleague Matt Rouches here: the village of Oswego, Illinois, is reviewing a proposal by Canadian company Megalodome Golf to construct a nine-hole golf course and practice facility inside four massive domes. Proponents of the plan claim that this would be the world’s first true indoor course. No word on who would design it, or if it would even be a qualified golf architect.

Golf and real estate, BFFs: I enjoyed this Forbes profile of South Street Partners, the Charlotte-based owner of the Kiawah Island Club, Palmetto Bluff, and other golf-centric residential communities in the Southeast. The article identifies a trend that may end up defining the current era of golf development: the infusion of private equity into the nexus of critically approved golf course architecture and luxury real estate. The billion-dollar question, of course, is whether this bubble is as bubbly as the one that popped a decade and a half ago.

A Course We Photographed Recently

Portland Country Club (Portland, ME)—designed by Donald Ross in 1921, restored by Ron Prichard and Tyler Rae, 2017-present

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Quotable

“Nature must always be the architect’s model. The golf course should fit the terrain. The lines of the bunkers or greens must not be sharp or harsh, but easy and rolling. Every now and then I get a mean streak and like to fool the boys a little. But I never hide any danger. It’s all out there for the golfer to see and study.” –Stanley Thompson