Golf Course Architecture - Issue 66, October 2021

71 The hiring of Hanse also marked a departure for Baltusrol, where the architectural legacy of the Jones family on the Lower course is both lengthy and involved, beginning in 1948 when Robert Trent Jones Sr was hired to modernise Tillinghast’s original layout [his son Rees later worked on both courses]. “Trent Jones knew Tillinghast, he knew Donald Ross,” says Hanse. “They were not deities to him. They were guys he was competing with for jobs. So, there wasn’t this level of reverence given to these designs by him back then. There now tends to be a corrective action to try and restore the original designs.” Hanse is glad to take up that mantle. “We believe those original designs are the best examples of golf course architecture and I think that bears out over a long period of time. Yes, we have to make alterations to keep them playable for the modern game, yet the work still remains rooted in those classic principles.” A new Rain Bird IC irrigation system has also been installed as part of the project. “It is much more efficient than what we had,” says Shawn Haverdink, the Lower course’s superintendent. “The IC system is easy to use, precise, expandable and uses at least 90 per cent less wire than what we had.” With a restoration of Tillinghast’s design of Baltusrol’s Upper course set to take place in 2024, Hanse will get another chance to step back in time while adding his own modern mark. “The greatest satisfaction and compliment we get out of these kinds of projects is that this generation of members will be the first in almost 80 years to see the picture as Tillinghast painted it,” says Hanse. “If we can get the features and scale plugged into the landscape right, and trust that Tillinghast got the playability and strategy right, then the result should turn out to be pretty good.” GCA Photos: Evan Schiller Hanse expanded the fourth green to the right, close to how Tillinghast originally designed it