Tamarack Country Club a Great Charles Banks Course in Connecticut

By: John Torsiello

Charles Banks is not one of the more well-known or acclaimed course architects of the early 20th century's "Golden Age" of golf. Nonetheless, he created several fine layouts on his own and finished the work on a number started by his colleague Seth Raynor after the latter passed away at a relatively young age.

I recently had the opportunity to play one of Bank's most notable creations, Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, Conn., and it's indeed a treat. All of Banks' trademark design elements are on display, including raised or "pushed-up" greens that have steep falloffs on most sides, as well as some severe undulations on the putting surfaces themselves.

Banks had a brief career, lasting 15 years from 1924 - when he joined the crew building courses for Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and a nine-hole beauty at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. - up to 1939, when he died at age 47. I talked to Anthony Pioppi, one of the nation's foremost experts on golf course architecture and the executive director of the Seth Raynor Society, about Banks.

Pioppi said, "Astonishingly, by February of 1925, Banks, who knew nothing of golf course design just months before, is part of Raynor's firm as shown by an ad that appeared that month in Golf Illustrated magazine."

Banks and Raynor hooked up when Raynor was commissioned to design the course at Hotchkiss in the 1920s. Banks, then a math teacher at the school, was chosen to oversee the project. He quickly became friends with Raynor and grew enamored with golf architecture, so much so that he left teaching and jumped into the course design world that was growing steadily at a time when America thirsted for more courses to meet a rising interest in the game fueled by the high-profile success of Bobby Jones.

When Raynor died in January 1926 at age 51, Banks, who had been working with him for less than two years, was chosen to finish Raynor's work. "Raynor was at the peak of his career when he passed and Banks, it appears, astonishingly completed Fishers Island Club off the coast of Connecticut, Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh, and Blue Mound in Wisconsin, although how often he visited the sites and how much input local contractors had is currently unknown," said Pioppi.

"Undoubtedly, Raynor saw in Banks, just like Charles Blair Macdonald saw in him during the construction of National Golf Links of America, a talent for golf course architecture."

Once on his own, Banks adhered to the style he learned from Raynor, although he developed his own signature.

"If you look at Tamarack, wonderfully restored by Brian Silva, and Whippoorwill, undergoing a restoration by Tripp Davis, the talent of Banks comes through. To my eye, he's very bold, building monstrous green complexes and wasn't afraid to put swales and undulations and humps into the putting surfaces."

Pioppi added, "Banks' courses also feature challenging, short par-4s, strong par-5s and always a good set of par-3s. Banks, though, does not copy Raynor. His 'Redan' hole at Tamarack is monstrous and plays downhill with movement in the green that, to my eye, is not reminiscent of anything Raynor did."

Besides Tamarack and Whippoorwill, Banks designed Castle Harbor in Bermuda (his last work), courses in Venezuela and one in Colombia along with Annapolis Roads (Maryland) and, in New Jersey, one of the courses at Essex County Club, The Knoll, and the original course at Forsgate Country Club, among others. He also oversaw significant redesigns of Westhampton (N.Y.) and Mountain Lake (Florida), both Raynor originals.

"Banks also had a quality that he shared with Macdonald that Raynor did not possess," noted Pioppi. "Like Macdonald, Banks wrote about golf course architecture in national magazines and was quoted in a Yale publication about the building of that school's course. Like I do with Raynor, I just wonder what Banks would have gone on to produce. He was 47 when he passed away."

I loved Tamarack when I and several other writers played it. The course was in splendid condition and has a pleasingly eclectic mix of holes, including those very good par-3s that are a Banks' trademark.

The second hole is a classic, mid-length par-4 with no fewer than 12 bunkers scattered about, including a number in the fairway landing area that really complicate the tee shot. The third is the first of a series of great short holes, measuring 184 from the tips.

The fifth is a strong par-5, playing 572 yards from the back tees and that takes three solid strikes to reach the putting surface, which lies somewhat below the fairway where your lay-up will hopefully land. The 10th hole, where members are fined if they somehow hit their drives over a fence and into the pool area located far down and to the right of the fairway, is a very nice and short par-4, measuring 358 yards.

The 12th is one of the wildest par-3s I've ever played. The green must measure close to 70 yards in length and has a massive swale in its center. From the tips it stretches 228 yards. The 14th may be the toughest par-4 on the course. The 448-yarder has wetlands along the right flank as you approach the green.

The 15th, which plays a mere 147 yards from the back, is as tricky and well-crafted a par-3 as you'll find anywhere. The first shot is from a slightly elevated tee to a green protected by a bunker that runs from the front around its left side. A steep drop-off looms at the rear.

A deft short-game is mandatory at Tamarack as there are some chips that must get up in the air quickly to arc over grassy greenside slopes.

Banks was nicknamed "Steam Shovel." Pioppi noted legend has it that he somehow lost a steam shovel in a pond on a course that he designed. But Banks said that when the pond was drained no machine was found. It's likely the moniker came from his inclination to move a lot of dirt around during the building of his courses, which was somewhat novel in his day but became much more commonplace in modern times as earthmoving machinery technology improved.

If you get a chance to play a Banks - or Raynor - course, do so. They're fun, tricky, imaginative, challenging and unique, just like Tamarack Country Club.

For more information, visit www.tamarackcountryclub.com.

John Torsiello is an editor/writer living in Connecticut. He has written extensively about all aspects of the golf industry for a number of national and regional publications. He is a regular contributor to "Golf Course Industry," "Lawn and Landscape," "Golfing" and "Fairway Living" magazines as well as various online publications. He has strong, ongoing relationships with industry professionals and has worked closely with course owners, architects, developers, course superintendents and general managers around the country. He has won a number of awards for his writing, including first place from the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association for a piece that appeared in "Golf Course Industry" magazine.

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