Hole #6: In the Style of Harry S. Colt (1869-1951) & C.H. Alison (1883-1952)

After Harry S. Colt revised his home course - Sunningdale, outside London - in 1905, he abandoned his law practice in favor of a career as a course architect. By the start of World War I, he was considered one of Britain’s top designers. He had completed Stoke Poges, Swinley Forest and St. George’s Hill, all near London, the Eden Course at St. Andrews, and, in America, had routed Pine Valley Golf Club for George Crump. Hugh Alison quit his job as a journalist to help Colt build Stoke Poges and other layouts. After service in World War I, Alison became Colt’s design partner in a firm that would last the remainder of their lives. H.S. Colt was the first architect to truly prepare blueprints for a course. C.H. Alison was the first global golf course architect. He traveled to America, Japan, Australia and South Africa to lay out courses. Their American designs included the Country Club of Detroit, Milwaukee Country Club, Bob O’Link and North Shore near Chicago, and Burning Tree outside Washington, D.C.

“A hollow or ravine will add interest to the play,” Colt and Alison wrote in their famous book, Essays on Golf Course Architecture. So we positioned our 6th green, dedicated to the two men, in a hollow formed from a ravine. As Colt and Alison approved of tightly bunkered greens on shore holes, our sixth is bunkered all around with deep pits. The rolling contours of this green are consistent with their joint belief that flat putting surfaces offered neither challenge nor pleasure.