Urbina finishes Paramount project
Architect Jim Urbina is coming towards the end of an eighteen month project to restore AW Tillinghast's design at the Paramount Country Club in New York.
Tillinghast originally laid the Paramount course, formerly known as Dellwood CC, in 1920. Urbina's project, which began in spring 2011, has involved tweaks to every hole, including the reintroduction of bunkers, shifting of fairways and alteration of angles of approach.
The final phase of work will start in October, and Urbina expects it to be complete by the time the US celebrates the Thanksgiving holiday on 22 November.
Among the holes still needing are the short par four eleventh, called the 'Oblique', and the long fifteenth, which Tillinghast designed with many different lines of attack. Original Tillinghast bunkers, which disappeared over the years, are being reinstated, while fairway lines will be shifted slightly.
“What remains are some of the most interesting holes Tillinghast did,” said Urbina. “I’m also putting back bunkers on the 250 yard par three thirteenth. When the hole was 240 yards, Tillie talked about a one-shot hole where you had to use a wood driver that required the player to execute a long shot. He said that was a true test of golf, and that was way back in 1921! A hole with that length was unheard of but Tillinghast knew the game was changing and even in that era, the ball and clubs were traveling farther.”
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