Charles Banks

Charles Henry Banks was born in Amenia, New York, to humble beginnings. When he was nine years old, his father died, and yet despite this unfortunate beginning, Charles Banks became one of the most famous designers from the Great Design Triumvirate.

He was a graduate at Yale, and it was 15 years of teaching English at his prep school, Hotchkiss in Connecticut, which brought him to the attention of Seth Raynor. Raynor was renovating the school's golf course at that time. After finishing his teaching assignment, Banks left his position to work for Raynor's firm.

Raynor trained him before he went on to work under Charles Blair Macdonald and attempt to truly embody his style. After his mentor died abruptly in mid-1925, Banks completed 10 of his unfinished projects. He then designed and remodeled nearly 30 other courses over the next five years, before unexpectedly dying of a heart attack at age 48.

Because he frequently utilized steam shovels to move vast amounts of material to create huge, elevated greens and deep bunkers, he earned the nickname "Steam Shovel" Banks. The significant mounding is part of green complexes in Banks' surviving work is reminiscent of Macdonald rather than Raynor.

 However, Banks' ability to carve out his place while working within the limits of the Macdonald-Raynor pattern demonstrates a mastery of both strategy and craftsmanship. That style is most evident in his designs of Whippoorwill in New York, Forsgate and The Knoll in New Jersey, and Castle Harbour in Bermuda.

Website: https://www.golfcourseranking.com/architect-profile/list-of-courses-designed/charles-banks/651/