Niall
WE have reports that the 19th Century Guys did not do that or could not do this, yet we seem to have instances of the very thing they did not apparently do being done.
AS for design element Simpson & Co learnt it from the previous generation, developing and expand it probably, but he just took it to is next stage. AS for your comment I feel you are looking at modern photos and presuming that they have never been changed yet is that not the very thing that we are discussing. What makes you feel changes have not been made, again should we not look to all the old holes that survive then judge not just base it upon Killermont. Anyway we were not privy to the exact nature of the brief that the club requested and we must also remember to think within the appropriate Timelines.
AS for Old Tom he used many turf dykes on his inland courses to mimic the contours of the links courses. Over the years these have either been removed or just a shadow of their former selves. The point I am making in that HE DID think and PLAN along these terms and it was not just the likes of Simpson and co 30-50 years later. So I feel in OTM case he certainly was ahead of many later designer bearing in mind that there was not much else before him to let him make temples. It’s difficult to say but looking to OTM course perhaps Bridge of Allan (
http://www.bofagc.com/ ) might be a starting point. Don’t forget which ever course you are looking at is with your 21st Century Golfing Experience, perhaps a Hickory game may bring you more in-line with past trends and course performance.
AS for Braid, it is a well known fact about his reaction to existing sites. Some today believe he took a fee for doing very little on existing courses apart from pulling back the Tees and some minor suggestions to changes to the hazards. There is a report of his trip up to Brora in the 1920’s when he received a fee for£25 for part of a days work. That the design that is still more or less played upon to this date. Before I go into the short report I believe that Brora of today is more or less closer to the Sutherland 18 hole design than the Braid design of 1920’s. I also believe that OTM accompanied Sutherland to Brora and there set up a course around the 1880’s when he was working on Dornoch. There are comments of golf being played there before the formation of Brora as a formal golf club, but Brora Golf Club course was designed by Sutherland of Dornoch.
Right back to the extract from the article;
It has been said that there are two very good reasons to visit Brora in the very north of Scotland beyond even Dornoch itself. The first is the famous fishing tackle shop and the second a distillery that produces the Clynelish Malt Whisky. Golfers worth their salt know that, convincing as both reasons undoubtedly are, there is yet a third for which to venture this far north.
The links of the Brora Golf Club form one of the finest examples of Scotland’s rich heritage of lesser known golf courses to which those who would be true to their golfing souls have to make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
Apart from being a perfect base for a tour of the golf delights of the Highlands, Brora offers traditional links golf that has changes very little since James Braid was called in to upgrade the golf course in the 1920’s. The Five times Open Champion took the train north to Brora from London, walked the course accompanied by Mr A W Sutherland, a member of the committee and returned south on the next train.
The master architect’s fee for his trouble was £25, plus of course his expenses, and the resulting upgrade of the layout was probably the best investment the Brora Golf Club made after it was founded in 1891 when Old Tom travelled not quite so far from St Andrews to lay out the original first few holes.
(Excerpt from Chapter 5 Brora Scotland’s Hidden Gems from the book ‘Scottish Golf Book’ by Malcolm Campbell).
I was at The Royal North Devon Golf Club last September where Braids name was mentioned and to my shock many reports seemed to confirm that this was his MO when upgrading a course where he spent little time there but took a big fee. Many believed this was more a standard that an exception on upgrades although on new he was more hands on. As for my opinion re Braid I feel obliged to him for leaving so many of OTM Greens, hazards and holes intact.
I sometimes wonder if the likes of CBM, Ross, Braid, Colt or even the Dr. A Mackenzie would have played golf let alone considered designing courses if it was not for the work of the likes of Allan Robertson, Old Tom Morris, George Morris and Charlie Hunter. Once the basics have been established its easy to continue moving forwards, even if it means utilising hundreds of template holes which in itself send out an interesting message that they seem to get a lot more than just right if we still have to keep copying them.
Melvyn