Resurrecting Tillie (Course renovation)

When George Crump and Harry Colt designed Pine Valley golf course in the sandy hills of New Jersey, they asked for the input of golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast. Tillinghast’s contribution was a masterpiece within a masterpiece: the now-famous 7th hole, where Hell’s Half Acre is a 1.2-acre bunker that bisects the fairway and provides a challenging second shot, eye-catching aesthetics and a dash of fear.

From Hell’s Half Acre, Tillinghast began to implement his trademark – massive hazards at courses throughout the country. Bob Trebus, Tillinghast Association president and Baltusrol Golf Club member, says Tillinghast designed Great Hazards in about half of his approximately 60 original layouts, mostly created during the 1920s.

Tillinghast’s hazards earned him the nickname Tillie the Terror. He once described the logic behind his design: “In my humble opinion, the green to the three-shot hole must be beyond the range of any player who misses either his drive or second stroke. The most effectual method, and I believe the only satisfactory one, is the location of a truly formidable hazard across the fairway. This must be carried with the second shot if the green is to be gained with the third.”

Architect Stephen Kay has worked on 11 of Tillinghast’s layouts.

“With Tillie, everything was about the second shot and getting over the hazard,” Kay says. “More often than not, the clubs eliminated a Great Hazard because it was too difficult for women or the maintenance budget was cut.”
Now, clubs throughout the country who’ve lost theirs are resurrecting them.

Bringing back the Hazard has-been

Perhaps the most famous Great Hazard resurrection was at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, which Rees Jones Golf Course Design restored for the 102nd U.S. Open in 2002. Jones’ lead architect, Greg Muirhead, says the giant cross-hazard, once in use at the 4th hole, was so deteriorated there was little in terms of noses and fingers.

“The edging was lost, and there was no real form or definition,” Muirhead says.

Using aerial photographs from the 1930s, the team recreated Tillinghast’s design so well that it’s now one of the most-photographed holes in golf. The fairway has two elevations, with the tee shot landing at a lower elevation so a menacing wall of elevation looks you in the face, Muirhead says.

More recently, in 2006, architect Keith Foster rebuilt the East Course at Five Farms’ version of Hell’s Half Acre on the 14th hole before the club hosted the Senior Players Championship in 2007.

“It went from a wild and wooly look to something formal and very maintained,” Foster says. “Using old aerial photos, we reshaped it to what Tillie had designed originally, then regrassed it in a more rugged, old-school look.”

Preserving and protecting Tillinghast’s design is part of the club’s mission, says superintendent Tim Kennelly, whose Five Farms course is part of Baltimore Country Club. “Our members insisted that whatever we did, it shouldn’t look like we did anything to it,” Kennelly says.

Legacy in Lakewood

In the mid-1990s, members of Lakewood Country Club in Westlake, Ohio, became aware of the origins of the gem on which they played when now-deceased member Ken Stofer, a founding member of the Tillinghast Society, first stirred the pot, says Brian Pizzimenti, general manager of Lakewood.

Since then, Lakewood has created a lounge and a library in Tillinghast’s name.
“This golf course is a piece of history,” says Jim Noel, superintendent at Lakewood. “I look at maintaining this course as maintaining a piece of artwork. If Tillinghast came back and saw this course, he’d say, ‘This is what I wanted.’ It’s that good.”

On its Web site, Lakewood states, “Our outstanding, 18-hole, A.W. Tillinghast-designed golf course is the cornerstone of our existence. The golf course is our legacy.”

That legacy includes Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.; Quaker Ridge in Scarsdale, N.Y.; San Francisco Golf Club; Chicago Golf Club; Ridgewood Country Club in Moultonborough, N.H.; Southward Ho! Country Club in Bayshore, N.Y.; and Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown, Pa., according to Trebus.

True to the architect’s design, Lakewood recently brought Tillinghast’s 6th hole Great Hazard back to life with the help of Stephen Kay.
“On several Tillinghast courses, you go out to where the Great Hazard was in the drawings and all you see across the fairway are mounds and undulations,” Kay says. “Sometimes courses intended to install the sand when finances improved, but it never happened.”

Lakewood had mounds shaped where the Great Hazard was supposed to be and seeded it  to save money.

“The grass was mowed as rough, and then women complained the grass was too thick, so it was mowed at an intermediate height,” Kay says.
Members thought they would put sand in a few years later, but the Great Hazard lacked the sand Tillinghast wanted until Kay’s arrival 80 years later. Kay and partner Doug Smith drafted a master plan and convinced members to install sand. They also shifted the hazard 20 yards closer to the green to make it more challenging for today’s game.

“We changed it drastically,” Noel says. “Beforehand, we just had mounds, and we would mow the middle of it down to step-cut heights. It wasn’t difficult at all. Long hitters could get over it with a 7-iron and be 110 yards away from the green. Now, you barely make it over, and you’re 80 yards away from the green.”

At first, the membership was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Great Hazard.

“Now, when anybody who brings guests out, the first thing they talk about is what a great hole that is,” Pizzimenti says. “It has really turned around for us.”
The Great Hazard moves diagonally from left to right. The par-5 6th hole measures 527 yards; the bunker is 302 yards from the back tee, 285 yards from the second tee, 267 from the third tee and 187 from the forward tee.
“It puts a premium on your drive,” Noel says. “If you hit a drive 250 yards from the back tee, you can get home because you only have 260 to go.”

Kay plans to add a new back tee another 45 yards behind the existing one.
“Some people love it, and some hate it,” says Tom Watrovich, head golf professional. “The positives are fabulous. It’s a very talked-about hole by golfers in the area. It’s our No.1 handicap hole, and as such, it should be difficult.”

Reconstruction of Lakewood’s Great Hazard cost about $50,000, and the ongoing cost of maintenance is negligible, Kay says.

People who have Great Hazards yet aren’t using them are making a mistake, Noel says.

“It’s a great visual,” he says. “You see all this sand and the mounds and you can see the green, so it almost looks like the green is right over it. From a nothing hole, it’s now our No. 1 handicap hole. Stephen Kay really got into Tillinghast’s mind and did a fabulous job.”

Watrovich agrees: “Tillie’s smirking up there every time he sees someone hack around in that hazard. It’s a great thing.”