West Seattle GC Continues Restoration Project
What started out in 2002 as some crazy idea a young Head Professional had to restore West Seattle G.C. back to its golden era is approaching completion.
Our course was first thrust upon a national pedestal in 1953 when it was selected as the site for the National Public Links Championship. Here, many believe, the course was in its prime. The USGA had several requirements that transformed the course into what you would expect: a course built and modified to challenge the best players in the world.
Over the years the design set forth by the USGA was altered. Some of these alterations were intentional and some were simply evolution. A course naturally takes new shape over decades of course maintenance and mowing patterns. Our goal in 2002 was to restore the course back to the 1953 design.
The local government took aerial photographs of the Seattle area every 10 years. We had access to the 1936, 1946 and 1956 overheads of the course but none from 1953. We needed visual evidence from that specific year because rumor had it that Seattle Parks and Recreation changed the course substantially in 1954 with a goal in mind of improving pace of play and generally simplifying the course for everyday play. Their concern was the USGA’s modifications simply made the course too difficult for the common player.
We still needed to find an aerial photo of the course from 1953 so we turned to the Federal Government. Through continued research, we found a military photograph that was taken during the Korean War of the Seattle area. This 1953 aerial photo provided all of the visual evidence we were looking for in our quest to restore the course.
This photo provided the groundwork that we needed to reshape the fairways in 2003. It also gave us a great starting point for the bunker renovation project in 2005. And, most currently, it supplied the proof that we needed to support our belief that West Seattle’s greens shape and dimensions had changed substantially over the last 50 years. We found the difficulty and character of our greens had all but disappeared.
In 1953 the course possessed some traditional architectural styling that was the norm in the golden age of golf. The distinctive qualities in and around the greens were our focus this year. Through green expansion, False Fronts were revealed on holes 3, 6, 8, 9, 12 and 18. We have enlarged the greens on 2, 4, 5 and 7 to more mimic the shape in 1953. A chipping area and collection area has been cut on holes 4, 7, 10 and 17. And finally, one of my favorite architectural qualities that has all but disappeared in golf today is called a Punch Bowl Green. By enlarging the greens on holes 12 and 16 the Punch Bowl has been restored. The greens have been enlarged in such that balls that are hit in these new portions of the greens will actually funnel back toward the hole. All of these changes will certainly give our course a new look with unique character while providing the golfer more options around the greens.
These areas that have been cut to fairway or rough length for the last 50 years has been slow to get comfortable with their new ‘putting green’ classification. We knew going into the project that the greens needed a full season to get comfortable with being cut to putting green height so you should see the greens grow seamlessly into the old greens this year.
There are three people who were instrumental in this project. Then Superintendent of Parks and Rec. Ken Bounds and current Seattle Golf Director Andy Soden both shared a passion for West Seattle GC and had the foresight to complete the restoration vision. Also John Price, our Course Superintendent has been eager to take on the project and has been nothing but supportive in his endeavors to shape the course. John is the one who has taken the ideas and made them reality. Thank you all for saying ‘yes’ to this proposal. Without all three of you this project would have simply been some crazy idea from a golf pro and would have never gotten off the ground.
Look for the next step in restoration to be started in 2010 or 2011. Research is currently being done to explore the possibility of rebuilding the Driving Range in the same location as it was in 1953.
If you would like to see the 1953 photograph, it now hangs in the clubhouse. We hope you love watching the course you call ‘home’ slowly restored back to its historical significance. With a provenance like ours the course certainly deserves it. I like to think H. Chandler Egan is looking down smiling upon our efforts.
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