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Richard Hetzel

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Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« on: May 19, 2009, 07:10:27 AM »
I didn't see a whole lot of Water Gap CC pics here and thought you guys might enjoy them. I really, really enjoyed this golf course, a must play if passing through Water Gap, PA.  It only took 2 hours 45 minutes to play 18 holes. I'll add more verbage  later!































« Last Edit: May 19, 2009, 07:14:20 AM by Rich Hetzel »
Last 5:
Bobby Jones (FL) Arcadia Municipal (FL) Eisenhower Lakes (GA) Augusta Municipal (GA) Foresthills GC (GA)

PCCraig

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2009, 08:19:56 AM »
I LOVE the blind tee shot in the 8th picture from the top!
H.P.S.

Andy Hughes

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2009, 09:08:44 AM »
Pat, I haven't played Water Gap in 25 years (geez), so I may have this wrong.  The 8th picture down does not show you anything about the blind tee shot; rather it is a picture of the tee from in front and to the right of the tee. The next picture (#9) shows the blind tee shot and the 10 picture is from the fairway looking back towards the tee. 
"Perhaps I'm incorrect..."--P. Mucci 6/7/2007

D_Malley

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2009, 10:14:46 AM »
I play there in the pro am every year. which was moved up this year to begining of may.  the irrigation was not yet turned on and the greens were very firm.  any front pin was very difficult to get to and many times required at least one bounce in front of the green.  it was alot of fun even though i played rather poorly. 

we stayed overnight in the hotel and had a great time at the gazebo bar.  one of my favorite after golf spots.  do you happen to have a pic of the gazebo bar?

Phil_the_Author

Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2009, 10:24:32 AM »
Rich,

What strikes me about the photos is just how much and many putting surfaces need recovering to what must have been their original sizes. I think the greens would become wondrous if that were to happen.

Tom Roewer

Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2009, 10:33:44 AM »
Rich-  I have several very cool antique colored postcards of a course there - Wolf Hollow from the early 1900's.  Is this the same course, looks familiar in your pics.

Steve_ Shaffer

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2009, 10:40:05 AM »
It looks like a chainsaw is needed there. Walter Hagen's 64 is still the course record!



http://www.watergapcountryclub.com/page/250-10159.htm
"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Mike Sweeney

Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2009, 12:57:06 PM »
Thanks for posting. It looks like it has lots of potential to be a very fun course, but I need to do some range work before I play this one:


D_Malley

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2009, 01:04:45 PM »
Rich-  I have several very cool antique colored postcards of a course there - Wolf Hollow from the early 1900's.  Is this the same course, looks familiar in your pics.

water gap was formally called wolf hollow.  they used to play the eastern open there. They have many old pictures in the hotel which show exactly what phillip is saying about the greens.  i think the routing has remained pretty much unchanged.  who is the designer?  i am going to guess robert white

Andy Hughes

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2009, 01:13:14 PM »
Rich-  I have several very cool antique colored postcards of a course there - Wolf Hollow from the early 1900's.  Is this the same course, looks familiar in your pics.

It is the same course.  Could you post your postcards?  Several years ago Tom MacWood posted a picture of the first par 3 on the front, the 6th picture Rich posted.  Shocking difference; really a stunning hole originally.

D_Malley--Robert White is correct.
"Perhaps I'm incorrect..."--P. Mucci 6/7/2007

Andy Hughes

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2009, 01:17:42 PM »
Philip, are you aware of any Tillie contributions to Water Gap originally?
"Perhaps I'm incorrect..."--P. Mucci 6/7/2007

Richard Hetzel

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2009, 02:53:00 PM »


Steve,

Actually, the course did not feel like it played as tight as it looked. What makes the course challenging are the size of the greens coupled with the pedestal-like greens.

There are more pictures here:

http://www.hetzelfamily.org/golf/Pennsylvania%20Courses/Water%20Gap%20CC/

Last 5:
Bobby Jones (FL) Arcadia Municipal (FL) Eisenhower Lakes (GA) Augusta Municipal (GA) Foresthills GC (GA)

Phil_the_Author

Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2009, 03:09:41 PM »
Andy,

This question has been asked in the past by the club itself which believed that it was originally designed by Tilly but finished by Robert White. Unfortunately, Tilly never worked on it.

The confusion arises due to its name, the Water Gap Country Club, which is similar to one that Tilly did design (It's name escapes me at the moment & I'll have to look it up & post it later).

Water Gap was originally named the Wolf Hollow Country Club. I believe it was late in the '30's when it closed and then was re-opened after a new owner bought it after the war, but I'll have to look that up as well. It opened for play in 1924 and was definitely designed and constructed under the direction of Robert White. White advertised it as such in Golf Illustrated in 1925.

It was at Wolf Hollow that the Eastern Open was held for a number of years and where Walter Hagen won it in 1926. In the August issue of Golf Illustrated in 1926 there is a photograph of the 2nd green which clearly shows how dramatic the loss of putting surfaces from then to now is. It also shows how undulating the outer third is and what a difference it would make.

There is a small piece of the article in which it appears that talk of the course and the greens themselves. "At the Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, is the eighteen-hole course of the Wolf Hollow Country Club. It is now in its second year of play, and the greens and fairways are clothed with such good turf that the methods used to produce it and to maintain it are of interest. The soil is of average quality - a medium clay loam full of stones of all sizes from ton boulders down; stone collection and disposal were, therefor, a big problem. The greens were shaped out of the sub-soil as usual, but from then on the procedure was not so orthodox. In the first place, manure was disced into the rough's grading and fertilizer also was worked into it; then nearly a foot of top-soil was spread all over and this too was manured and fertilized. Now the laborers were marched up and down and across the greens until every inch had been well-trodden; this to compact the soil and to induce soil moisture to work up from below."

The reason this club gets confused with being a tilly is Robert White himself. He worked for Tilly and learned much from him. He had just left him a few years earlier and so it was assumed that Tilly had done the original design and was planning on White to build it, but it is a solo and complete White design, and one which he would be proud of. The course itself has many aspects that look like Tilly's handiwork, but that should be expected.

It would be wonderful if the club did some serious research and restored the greens to their original dimensions...


Richard Hetzel

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2009, 04:09:09 PM »
If you look on the the Wter Gap CC website they have an old black and white of some people putting out and the dimensions of that green look much larger than ANYTHING I took pictures of recently. I tried to match them up, but could not. Possibly it was the 18th? I wonder of all of the green side mounding is all original or some of it has been lost over the years.
Last 5:
Bobby Jones (FL) Arcadia Municipal (FL) Eisenhower Lakes (GA) Augusta Municipal (GA) Foresthills GC (GA)

Andy Hughes

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2009, 08:38:37 AM »
Andy,

This question has been asked in the past by the club itself which believed that it was originally designed by Tilly but finished by Robert White. Unfortunately, Tilly never worked on it.

Philip, thanks for the information-interesting.  I have only seen a very few pictures of Wolf Hollow but would love to see the club be able to return to what it once had.  It appeared to be a more interesting course 80 years ago--larger, far more interesting greens and much more elegant and dramatic bunkering.

Rich, thanks for posting. When can we expect your photo tour from White's other area gem, Glenbrook?  ;)
"Perhaps I'm incorrect..."--P. Mucci 6/7/2007

D_Malley

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Re: Water Gap CC - Photo Essay - NO WORDS!
« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2009, 08:56:25 AM »
interesting note on WGCC is that it is a par 72 with only two par 3's and two par 5's.  i wonder if this was always the case.

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