In discussing the restoration, er, reconstruction of the Old White TPC course at The Greenbrier, the architect makes an adjustment in terminology.
"I don't even use the word 'restoration,' " Keith Foster said. "I don't think the word 'restore,' in Old White sense ... If you're going to put something back, that means you're going to put it back exactly the way it was, but I don't think that's a relevant way of doing work."
Foster was charged with redesigning holes as director of golf course maintenance Kelly Shumate and Old White superintendent Josh Pope led the course's comprehensive recovery from the June 2016 flood. The timetable was tight, no Band-Aid fix would be tolerated, and Foster was asked to take the course back to its roots.
In other words, something like what C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor created way back in 1914, adapted to the demands of a PGA tournament.
Foster, based in Middleburg, Virginia, decided in 2001 to get out of design of new courses and just work with existing clubs. "My goal is simple with each program: to produce timeless and enduring work that honors the clubs that have hired me."
His website's portfolio includes work at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Closer to home, he also has worked with the Pittsburgh Field Club.
But none of those projects carried the challenge of Old White.
"Honestly, I'm just four hours away [near Washington] D.C., and I didn't hear about the flood," Foster said. "Then I got a call and they said, 'How quick can you come in?' And I came in about three or four days after the flood subsided. It was surreal, and words couldn't describe the feeling.
"I went into White Sulphur Springs and I was stunned. It was very humbling."
Foster said he has played most Seth Raynor courses, and knows all of Raynor's inspiration from famed holes on British layouts. As he points out, Old White was one of Raynor's first projects, under direction of Macdonald, "the father of American golf course architecture." Raynor revisited in the 1920s to oversee updates.
Through the post-flood mud and debris, Foster pretty much knew which hole was which - they carry names such as "Redan," "Alps" and "Eden." They are well known by other course architects and several PGA Tour pros.
"Macdonald was specific that he believed there are 22 great holes in the world," Foster said. "And his golf courses had his best 18, and he would name the holes based on how they were set up.
"When I went around the course initially, even though the flood had just subsided, I certainly knew and understood the intent of what he was trying to do."
Lester George had redesigned the Old White in a project that finished in 2006. Some tweaks were made after the 2010 Classic, in addition to all 18 greens being redone.
While Foster did not want to critique that work, he did move away from some of its elements, and toward Raynor's plan.
The severe slope of some greens was reduced, allowing for a speedier surface and more hole locations. The back right corner of the seventh green, cordoned off by a little hump, is gone. The crab-shaped hump on the 18th has been replaced by a "thumb print" in the front, taking its cue from an old photograph.
Fifteen to 20 bunkers have been repositioned. Of the greens, Foster said, "We lowered the foreground and set the hole up, so that the greens stand up a little higher, a little prouder."
It's all about rebuilding the oldest regular PGA Tour course, and sticking to its history.
"If Raynor were there today, can we reintroduce all the features in Raynor's style, that's respectful to him, respectful to Old White, respectful to The Greenbrier, and do the work in a way that it looks like it's always been there?" Foster said. "And really, that's what we set out to do."
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.