Renovation (1995)

During this winter, I undertook the process of re-configuring my office. It looked exactly the same as it had when I started my tenure with the city more than 9 years ago. Part of this process was cleaning out some old files. When I first began the job, I spent a week looking through the many files that I inherited and deciding  which I needed, which I didn't and which I was not sure about. After nearly a decade, I figured that anything in the last category that I had not looked at since 2009, probably was in the "not needed" category.

A bunch of these file folders were filled with pictures from 1994 and 1995, when Arthur Hills redesigned Leslie Park. This involved enlarging tee boxes, reducing the number of blind shots, enhancing drainage and constructing five greens. These pictures were unlabeled and haphazardly thrown in to the folders. Sometimes the pictures location was not at all obvious.

Although I had not needed these pictures, they are a valuable part of the history of Leslie Park, so we started sorting the pictures into hole numbers. When this happened, the pictures started telling a story, which we then turned into a picture album. Technology has progressed quite a bit in the last 20 plus years, so I scanned a lot of the pictures into digital copies. I will probably share some of these on this blog over a couple of posts.

The view from #1 Tee at Leslie Park in 1994

#1 Tee in 2009 (Notice the fairway bunker on the left. The silver maples between #1 and #3 are gone.)

Looking at #1 tee

This is where the current green for #1 is. You can see the old green and a bunker to the right of the picture.

Constructing the green and approach (1995)

#1 green complex in 2012.

Here is the old green complex. #2 tee sits behind the pine trees.

#1 fairway looking back toward the tee. This was taken about 100 yards from the green.

#1 fairway from about 150 yards from the green in 2012.

The construction of the first fairway bunker on #1.