The Cascades Golf Course, VA, USA
The Cascades presents an intriguing challenge, balanced between the sloping terrain on the
front nine (pictured is a view back down the 2nd fairway) and...
...the natural water hazards found thoughout the back nine (pictured is the
stream along the right of the 17th hole).
As noted in other course profiles on this site, William Flynn seems the least appreciated of the great American architects. For forty years after his death in 1945 (which coincided with the end of World War II), not too much was made of Flynn or his body of work consisting of approximately 45 courses. The U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1986 was certainly a major step in correcting this overview. Until then, many did not realize that Flynn deserved full and complete credit for Shinnecock's design, hailed by all as one of the country's handful of best.
In more recent times, authors like Daniel Wexler have shed light on the excellence of some of Flynn's lost courses, in particular the South Course at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida and Mill Road Farm Golf Club in Illinois.
And when the U.S. Open returns for a third time to Flynn's Shinnecock Hills in 2005, one can expect a renewed interest in Flynn. Apart from Shinnecock, the two Flynn courses which never slipped from the public's eye are Cherry Hills in Denver (which was a much more interesting course when Flynn was alive than the course of today whose trees have overwhelmed Flynn's architectural features) and the Cascades Course, which is tied to the world famous Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia. Interestingly enough, both Cherry Hills and the Cascades Course were done early in Flynn's career.
Though The Cascades has always remained one of Flynn's most notable works, it was not an easy piece of property upon which to work. According to Flynn historian Wayne Morrison (email:wsmorrison@hotmail.com), Peter W. Lees was brought in by The Homestead in 1919 to determine the suitability of the Rubino property as a golf course. Mr. Lees determined that it was not proper ground for golf. Then, in 1920, A.W. Tillinghast was retained by The Homestead to review Mr. Lee�s designs for an expanded Goat Course and evaluate the Rubino property for golf. Likewise, Tillinghast said that the Rubino land could not provide what is needed for a golf course.
Flynn was then invited to see the property and walked it along with Fay Ingalls through brier, weeds, bushes, cornfields, the cress lake, and along limestone ridges. By dusk, Flynn, announced that if a � acre site with a tenant�s shack could be obtained (the site of today's 4th green), an outstanding course could be constructed. Thus, The Homestead went ahead and acquired the Rubino property and Flynn agreed to design the golf course. Flynn was chosen in part because he had already established a reputation early on for working with the terrain, making the most of the landscape that nature provided.
It took 13 months to design and build the golf course. Contour maps with 5 foot and 1 foot intervals were made. The design was made on the maps and transferred to a field map. Trees were cut, cleared, and hauled to a mill for use on the construction of the course. Dynamite crews worked carefully so as not to disturb the mineral springs. Boulders as large as 20 tons were removed. A 300-yard ridge of limestone was reduced. Tractors plowed, disc-harrowed and did finish grade work along with horses and mules. An irrigation system was put in. A steam shovel (a novelty back then in that area) filled in the watercress lake using 38,000 cubic yards of fill. Swift Run (a stream with a catchment area of 20 square miles) was redirected westward to the foot of Little Mountain and in some areas and sent underground in others through 76-inch reinforced concrete pipes cast on the property.
Morrison notes that the materials used included: 20 tons of dynamite, 1204 tons of manure, 16 tons of fertilizer, 1287 tons of sand, 6 tons of seed, 208 tons of horse and mule feed, 83 tons of cement, 330 tons of crushed stone, 76 tons of building supplies, 32,000 linear feet of water pipe, 11,400 linear feet of rubber hose, 10,000 linear feet of drain tile, 20,000 linear feet of conduit and cable, 181,000 square feet of creeping bent stolons, 23,000 square feet of steel reinforcing, 38,000 square feet of lumber, 8,000 square feet of roofing, 12,000 gallons of gasoline and oil, and 400 gallons of paint.
Yet, the end result of this large engineering effort is that the land looks like man has done little to it. This is indeed a rare gift for an architect to possess and few other architects have ever matched Flynn in this regard.
The Cascades was an early harbinger of what Flynn had to offer: draping the holes over the land, creating varied stances and lies and small pitched greens. Nothing jaw dropping but highly effective nonetheless at providing an engaging test as witnessed by the championships that it has hosted including the 1928 US Women�s Amateur won by Glenna Collett, the 1966 Curtis Cup, the 1967 US Women�s Open, the 1980 US Sr. Amateur won by William C. Campbell, the 1988 US Men�s Amateur, the 1994 US Women�s Amateur and 2000 US Mid-Amateur.
The more one plays golf, the more one appreciates the lack of clutter at Flynn's best designs and that is particularly evident here. There no mounds anywhere and Flynn's features hug the ground. Green complexes like the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 11th seem to be perfect extensions of the sloping terrain but in fact Flynn moved a fair amount of dirt to prop up these greens and give the holes good golfing qualities.
Flynn's earth moving also taxes the player's perceptions on how a particular shot or putt will play. On the 2nd, where the fairway slopes hard left to right, Flynn propped up the right side of the green such that it actually slopes right to left. Such a tact makes the green more receptive to the approach, but it can also leave the player scratching his head as to which way his putt will break � should he look at the overall slope of the land or the specific pitch of the green? The 4th green is an actual illusion. The one-shotter drops sharply from the tee to the green below, which looks like it is pitched toward the tee as an inviting target. However, the green actually follows the slope down the hill, away from the tee. Many players have stood perplexed on the tee as their tee ball continues to drift well past the hole. The 8th green is a combination of the themes of the 2nd and 4th: from the tee of this 155 yarder, the green appears pitched back to front toward the tee. However, the front half follows the sidehill, left-to-right slope of the site as it runs away from the player while Flynn built up the back-right portion of the green, sloping it from right to left.
According again to Flynn historian Wayne Morrison, Flynn and his wife fell in love with the area and the Homestead resort on their first visit. They returned on an almost annual basis over the next dozen years and so Flynn had ample opportunity to refine this design. His hole by hole drawings which hang in the Cascades clubhouse indicate interesting discrepancies with the holes as they play today. For instance, the 6th green was initially drawn left of the stream and both the 16th and 17th holes featured greens prior to the water hazards and were two shot holes. When Flynn moved these three green complexes to where they play today is unclear but he definitely did it. The only green complex which isn't original to Flynn's handiwork is the 14th, which Robert Trent Jones Sr. moved twenty yards back in the late 1950s.
The constant throughout the round is Flynn's requirement on the golfer to think. For instance, stand on the 3rd tee, a short par four of 280 yards up a slight incline. In front of the shallow green is a ten foot gully and behind it is the steep rise of a hill. The fairway narrows as you get closer to the gully. Beyond that, Flynn provides no indication at all of what to do from the tee. Does one try and drive the green? Hope for a good lie in the gully and an up and down for a birdie? Hit a three iron and leave an 80 yard pitch? Hit less and leave a full wedge? Who knows?
After thirty rounds here, the author still cannot figure it out. Once one lays back off the tee, one certainly doesn't want to dump the pitch into the gully. Therefore, at the last second of the down swing, a little extra is given and one now finds himself above the hole with a quick putt. Not exactly a birdie putt. The first putt nudges past the hole three/four feet and then�.
The course is full of many do-I-or-don't-I decisions. Do I go with the driver on the 2nd or hang back to make sure I hit the severe sloping left to right fairway with a more lofted wood? Do I go after the back hole locations on the downhill par three 4th, with death over the green? How aggressive do I want to be on the severe dogleg 10th? Can I go for the green in two on the 16th and 17th holes, with a stream and pond to contend with on the second shots?
The Cascades is certainly a placement course. Distance isn't the big concern, as only four of the two shotters are over 430 yards. The greens don't appear to be frightenly contoured. The bunkers aren't particularly deep, and yet...the score mounts. Hit the sloping fairway and keep the ball beneath the hole. Sounds easy, but consistent with design work carried out in the 1920's, if the land had pitch, so did the fairways. At The Cascades, the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 9th fairways continually serve up different stances and lies. The golfer then descends down into the river bed bottom of the valley for the second nine, which features a flowing stream of mountain water on five of the holes. The stances are flatter but the penalty for mistakes escalates. Overall, the challenge is balanced between the two nines, and when combined, the golfer appreciates why Sam Snead, the course's first Head Professional, said if you can play here, you can play anywhere.
Holes to Note
4th hole, 200 yards, Carry On; The elevated tee gives the golfer a clear few of the small 3,400 square foot green below, as well as the deepest bunkers on the course on the left and behind. Short right offers a tricky pitch from a tight lie or rough to a green that runs away. Throw in the thinner mountain air at this 2500 foot elevation, and club selection remains a perpetual mystery. The setting's beauty is the only consolation.
The beauty of the downhill 4th can lull the golfer into a false sense of comfort.
In fact, trouble lurks all around the 4th green complex: long or left is certain
death and short is no bargain as the green runs away.
5th hole, 575 yards, Marathon; Throughout his design career and in his writings, Flynn frequently warned that technology was reducing the challenge of the game as the player was no longer asked to hit controlled long shots. He wrote often about the need for distance and backed it up with his 7,000 yard Mill Road Farm Golf Course which opened in 1926 (!). The Philadelphia based Flynn was a definite fan of the genuine three shot hole, no doubt influenced by such holes as the 4th at Merion and the pair at Pine Valley. And to this day, the 5th at The Cascades plays as a three shotter, thanks to Flynn's use of landforms to create separate and distinct island fairways.
The long 5th features two 'island' fairways. The first island as seen here from the tee ends 300
yards from the back markers. The hill's shoulder must be carried on one's second shot
to reach the second island fairway and it is much easier to do so
from the fairway than the rough.
6th hole, 365 yards; The 6th captures Flynn's ability to create a hole that is natural/simple in appearance and yet highly strategic. As Flynn walked the property, he found a section of stream that ran in a straight line for approximately 360 yards. He placed the tee on the left side of the stream and eventually settled on placing a long oval green on its right, parallel to the stream. In this manner, the closer one flirts with the stream off the tee, the better his angle into the green. The more he shys away from the stream, the more oblique his angle becomes into the oval green on his second. Unfortunately, at some point in the 1980s, the section of stream from 150 yards to 260 yards from the tee was run underground, thus robbing the hole of some of Flynn's strategic intent.
The perfect approach angle into the long oval 6th green is from near the stream.
7th hole, 425 yards, Seventh Heaven; The elevated tee soaks up the view down the length of the valley. The hole plays across the slope of the valley hill with everything falling toward the right. A draw is the perfect tee ball as it offers both distance and the hope to hold the sloping fairway. The approach shot is invariably with the ball below one's feet; hitting a controlled mid-iron from this position is a shot of great skill (and satisfaction), but alas few 'flat landers' possess the ability.
A draw off the tee is ideal to hold the severe left to right sloping 7th fairway. The hanging
lie with the ball below one's feet on one's second is likely to produce a fade.
8th hole, 155 yards, Cemetery Ridge; Like the 4th, the initial prospect of playing the 8th is one of pleasure rather than apprehension. However, after just a few rounds, one learns to treat the 8th with great caution. Miss left and the left to right pitched green becomes difficult to hold on one's recovery shot. Miss the right greenside bunker and the ball is kicked twenty plus yards away. A sharp fall off is behind.
The 8th green is a great one to hit in regulation as a big score can result otherwise.
9th hole, 450 yards, The Take Off; The rugged nature of the property is highlighted with this tee ball out of a chute of trees across a ravine to a rolling fairway. The approach is blind unless the golfer can fly the ball onto a plateau some 270 yards from the tee. Some don't like a long or mid-iron aimed at the target board in a tree behind the green, but the green is open in front, giving the player enough margin for error. Such a blind shot actually represents natural golf. Though the 9th fits the land that it is situated on as well as any hole on the course, too many modern architects would have made a cut in the land to give the golfer a better view, thus ruining this natural hole's uniqueness.
To reach the plateau at the top of the far hill is 270 yards from the back marker. A drive
just short will likely roll back down the fairway and leave a blind approach.
Looking back up at the 9th tee, the golfer appreciates the mountainous
property with which Flynn had to work.
Note the white bull's eye target well up in the pine tree as well as how Flynn left the green entrance open.
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