[mike_malone]

   I grew up playing this course. It was always " nice" but seemed to just lack interest in many of the greens. The land is not dramatic, but has a gentle sloping to it. (Realize the highest point in Delaware is 300 feet!!!)

    While my host said the changes were sold to the members as a "restoration" , it clearly is a "renovation". I don't put any evil intent on the words used. Remember folks--not everyone is on GCA.So, i think the word used was the one that would garner support.

  Some general thoughts:


     The bunkers were deepened significantly and more "tongues" were placed in them. This changes the previous look and playability considerably. My playing partners viewed this  as a good way to "toughen "the course.


   Bunkers were added to many of the fairways. On straight holes they were staggered on each side. On the doglegs they were added to the outside of the dogleg.This change  significantly changes how the hole used to play.


   Two greens were moved---#1 to the left , creating a dogleg.The interest has been increased on this hole.




---#15 to the right, across the creek where the old #16 tee was. The creek that used to run down the right hand side has gone from a "slicer's home" to an integral part of the hole. Since the green sits on the right side of the creek now one wants to hug the creek with their drive. Fairway was added on the right side of the creek from the green back some 75 yards. The green has the creek right up to the leftside. There is a rock wall around the left side of the green. This is a very different hole now.

   
  Two old greens were changed in a major way but kept in their old locations. #2 now slopes rather severely from right to left ; it used to be bland. #9 used to be a roundish par five green designed for a shot approach; now the green is at an angle from front left to back right, a kind of green to challenge the long approach while still being challenging for the short one.


  Significant tee lenghtening with new championship tees was added. We played the old championship tees which themselves are farther back.The squareing of the tees is classic in its look.

 Fairways were recontoured to add interest and incorporate the new bunkers. The cut was the classic up and back look.


  I was told that the original greens had much internal contouring that was flattened in the early years. I was expecting more contour in the previously flat greens, but I think they only added a little interest. Many of the previously interesting greens like #5, #8, #10 were softened.


    I will post more hole by hole comments later. The work was done in a very professional way. I compare it to my course in Burlington Vt.  When I returned to play it after its changes, my thoughts were very negative. The old classic greens were gone. The course seemed  "resortish". So, my old Uncle Dupie has been changed. Suely, for the better. It is a course I look forward to playing again.

[wsmorrison]

"The squareing of the tees is classic in its look."

Please explain how "squaring" tees has a classic quality.  

Who was the architect of record and who did the construction?

[mike_malone]

 The tees did not look like "amoebas". They had the classic "box" look.  
   
  I believe Lester George was the consulting architect for DuPont. But they also have a very interested superintendent---John Gosselin.

[Donovan Maguigan]

The consulting architect who did the master plan was Lester George, and the construction company was Landscapes Unlimited.

I worked at DuPont on that course up until the Fall of 2003 to go back to Ohio State, and have been following the rennovation closely.

I took a huge amount of photographs before, during, and recently after the construction.

I might put them on the web, I also have a link to some photographs done by a green comitt. member, which I will put up in a few hours.

[wsmorrison]

Did the tees used to look like amoebas?  I only played there once in a GAP match and do not recall.  In any case, I'm not sure I would characterize a "box" look as classic.  Pre-Golden Age I think tees were more common with squared corners and more of a box shape.  Maybe Tillinghast regularly used squared tees, his drawings seem to indicate this.  But Travis, Colt, Flynn, Wilson, Ross and others seemed to use rounded corners and non-geometric shapes in their drawings and as built.
 
Don,

I look forward to the before and after photographs you might post.  Thanks.

[mike_malone]

 Don,
     Pictures would be welcome. I hesitate to use a thousand words on this .

[mike_malone]

 What is your point Wayne? I am very impressed by your knowlege of the classic architects. Now do you feel better?

[mike_malone]

  Some hole-by-hole statements:
     
      #3-- The pond is gone, replaced by a huge bunker complex. I miss the fun of driving over the pond. The new tee makes the risk of the bunker carry too severe versus the reward. So, a straight drive is now advised. I think this makes those on the #7 tee feel more comfortable, so I can understand .


      #4 ugly line of trees on right gone--replaced by carry bunker on right of fairway. Good improvement.


      #6--The fun of this hole was the downhill approach shot to a green with a knob in the middle. Often one could run the shot up and "play" with the knob. Now it is a forced carry .

    #8 The green has been extended to the right . This increases the angled nature of the green.


   #10- The fairway has been routed closer to the creek on the left. This creates more interest on the teeshot.

    #12--gone are the evergreens on the left in the landing area. Added are more bunkers. Welcome change!

    #13- Huge, awesome bunkers replace the old rather commonplace ones. The look of these bunkers is impressive from the tee some 200 yards down the hill. They make me think of what Rolling Green's bunkers must have looked like in 1926.

    #14-more annoying evergreen removal, replaced by bunker.


      #16-- The hole used to have a "funky" dogleg. The turn was too early for a long par 5. Now the tee has been moved into the trees creating a much better angle. I did not like the bunker on the right in the landing area. There is already a line of trees to act as a hazard. This seems to be anti-strategy. It tells you to just hit away from there. (The fact that I hit into the bunker is only because I suck ; I was not aiming there!)

      #18- This was the most surprising addition. Trees were cleared on the left so that now one can carry the creek that runs along the left. There is about a 30 yard circular area surrounded by a tree , a bunker complex and the creek. This becomes a new place to go. It is irresistable. The old way to play was to just hit straight out  and try to avoid the creek.There is one tree at the corner of the dogleg by the creek. I think they should try to find a way to plant another tree or two. I'd hate to see the strategy lost when that one tree goes.


   Sometimes I felt like I had never played the course, when in fact I played  it from age 13 to 50.


     

[wsmorrison]

"What is your point Wayne? I am very impressed by your knowlege of the classic architects. Now do you feel better?"

I feel exactly the same way before as after I replied; not better or worse.  My point should be pretty clear.  What you said about a classic box look to tees did not make sense and I provided evidence to that effect.  We might as well be accurate, right?  If you are impressed by knowledge, you are easily impressed.

[Donovan Maguigan]

I'm going to try to post some of the pictures here on the board, but I am not sure how to do so.

Could anybody give me some direction?

[wsmorrison]

Don,

The photos need to be in the jpeg format.  I find that a width of 800 pixels works best.  Upload the photos to an online storage site.  I use comcast for my site.  There are free websites like snapfish that offer the service.  Once you've uploaded the photos to a site they get a location address that you can see under properties of a photo when you right click it.

For comcast the address looks like this:

http://home.comcast.net/~yourwebname/yourphotoname.jpg

add (img) just before the web address and (/img) at the end of the address after.jpg  Instead of using parenthesis, use brackets like this:[ ] with "img" inside the bracket at the start and "/img" inside the brackets at the end

[Donovan Maguigan]

Thanks. I should have some photos up soon.

[Donovan Maguigan]

Here are some of the first photos. I am still trying to get this situated and trying to get it done with my work schedule.

This picture was taken of #4 before the rennovation in 2004



This photo was taken in June of this year, just before the re-opening of the course.



While the photos were not taken from the exact same spot. Some changes can be seen to the hole. The first is the addition of the left hand side fairway bunker. The feature that seems to grab me the most about the rennovation is very visible, and that is the bunkers having a little more "bulk" added to them. In addition there were several pines removed from the rear of the green.

I will post more soon.

[Donovan Maguigan]

Here are some photos of the 10th green at DuPont.

Before the rennovation, this green was sloped severely from back to front. Any shot that was above the hole was looking at a very steep downhill putt, that would almost never stop near the hole. When I worked there, during course setup, I was advised to not place a pin anywhere in the lower 2/3 of the green. The green's tilt was also severe enough that it was rare to see any pins in the lower half of green during the McDonald's LPGA Championship. This green definately could make some sweaty hands when it came to putting and chipping.

As you can see from these photos, this is the green previous to reconstruction.






Following the 2004/2005 restoration, the green has been recontoured. There is still a back to front slope, but at the rear of the green, the green slopes off the back and down to a small chipping area. The green also has a left to right tilt to it now, creating some interesting putts from the lower half to the upper half. The bunkers have also been moved, and deepened. Washouts due to the creek on this green were common during even mild storms, but that problem has been eliminated.





Sorry if the photos are not the best quality. It's actually a funny story. I came to the course hoping to take some photos of the finished product, and my old boss surprised me by allowing me to drive around the course and take photos. I can take close to a hundred photos at a time, and this time, i had enough battery power for about 30 mins of photos, so every photo was a shoot and turn off the camera shot, to preserve the battery. I am planning to go back later this month, and photograph the course from as close to my original spots in 2004 as possible.

[mike_malone]

Don,

  It certainly is easy to see that tree removal works best when the course is closed and no one is around to complain.

   Reflecting now on my visit, the difference between the course I grew up on and what I played the other day is remarkable for the views throughout the course. The  feeling of space that exists on the course is enhanced  and the gentle slopes are more appealing when they can be seen.

[Donovan Maguigan]

I definately agree. Tree removal from my experience has always been a touchy subject.

I also grew up play the DuPont course and i am very pleased with the way that the course turned out. Since i started working on the grounds department while I was in college, the discussion of the rennovation was always around, and to finally see it carried out was incredible.

I like the feeling the course has right now. In agreement to what you were saying about the views of the course, the course feels the same, but has an improved look to it in my mind. I think like how the greens have some nice topography and undulations, the bunkers look menacing, and the course has a new character to it, even though, it still is the original course underneath. It's almost like this is the DuPont Course 2.0. While I was at Ohio State, i would only see the progress of the construction in 3 month intervals, but to see the evolution of the course to the new look, was breathtaking.

I'll post some more photos later this evening.

Have you seen the master plan for the Nemours Course project? It is still several years off if it is completed. That is a true sight if you see it. if you haven't, i can give some details in the post.

Also, are you from the DE or PA area? I have lived here most of my life. I currently work at Bidermann Golf Course, which is planning a sympathetic restoration of our greens complexs and tees.

[Donovan Maguigan]

For some reason my photos of DuPont didn't show up. Here they are.

#10 before




#10 after




Please see the post with the missing photos for the details.

[Doug Braunsdorf]

"The squareing of the tees is classic in its look."

Please explain how "squaring" tees has a classic quality.  

Who was the architect of record and who did the construction?

Wayne,

  Damn!  Never thought I'd be getting Malone's back for any discussion    -but I understand what he's saying.  The "square" or "rectangular" look just has a certain look/feel to it--to me as well, moreso than "round" tee boxes.  

  This Du Pont course looks interesting to the eye. I seem to remember an older post on here from earlier this year with other photos of the recently renovated course.  It looks like a great place to play!  

[Donovan Maguigan]

On the issue of rounded vs. square tees:

I have worked at a course that has square tee (DuPont) and a course that has rounded tees (Merion).

From my perspective, it depends on the course that you are playing. For instance, DuPont has square tees and it fits the image of the course, they have a professional tournament look to them, and a feeling that you are at a high level facility.

For Merion, i think that rounded tees add to the image of the course in a different way. Even though Merion was maintained at a higher level than DuPont, the rounded tees fit the character of the course. Square tees for some reason, would not fit at Merion.

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