What a crumy day in Baltimore. I was to play Five Farms East with brother Stu and we chickened out with the weather -- cold, wind, & rain. Where is the Spring?
Since there are many posts interpreting the initial purpose of Tilly's PGA Consulting Tour I thought it would be beneficial to reprint the following article from the last book in the Tillinghast Trilogy, Gleanings from the Wayside.
I think it is a correct interpretation that one of the primary and "very public" reasons for Tilly's service was to advise on ways to save money in maintaining golf courses. I would conclude that this was was certainly the very "public face" of the service and the way "to get in the door" at the host clubs and courses.
I can certainly speculate that Tilly MAY have sold this to George Jacobus as the primary reason or benefit of the service. HOWEVER, I can also speculate that the primary purpose in Jacobus's mind was to provide a benefit to PGA professionals, which would keep them current on the payment of their membership dues, and also keep them in good stead with their employers.
I would also suspect that there was a fair amount of "MEDIA HYPE" on "DH" removal -- the large number of bunkers Tilly condemned. I would think most would agree that this is what a news reporter would highlight or headline in a story. I would also conclude from my read of the Tilly letters, that the a small percentage of the courses Tilly visited had the largest percentage of the DH bunkers removed.
All this being said, when you read all the letters, Tilly went far beyond the stated purpose of just advising on ways to save money. As was already posted and proven, the bulk of Tilly's advice was on the re-design and design of greens, tees, bunkers, fairways, trees, etc. etc. The DH removal was just one of many many types of recommendations that Tilly made.
Ironically, the vast majority of Tilly's design recommendations had significant costs to implement. Heck, even the removal of the so-called DH's cost money to remove!
Perhaps Tilly couldn't help himself. And I have concluded that HE REFUSED TO SELL OUT AND DID WHAT HE KNEW BEST -- WHAT A GOLF COURSE ARCHITECT DOES -- DESIGNING AND RECOMMENDING!
What follows is the "public face" of the PGA tour, which was published two months after the start of Tilly's tour.
34. WHAT THE P.G.A. COURSE SERVICE REALLY MEANS
Professional Golfer of America, October 1935
LET us briefly regard the newly instituted service of the Professional Golfers' Association, extended without fees to golf courses throughout the United States wherever a P.G.A. member is affiliated.
It is a sincere gesture from the professionals to do something more for the game from which they derive a livelihood -- something which will gradually improve courses generally by making them more pleasurable for more people. Obviously this is a far-sighted policy for as more players are attracted to the game, naturally the field of the professional is broadened.
Expert advice, which emphasizes a concentration on vitally important details and the elimination of obsolete and unnecessary features, must direct budgets to doing the most good.
When I was selected and retained by the P.G.A. to visit courses throughout the country, solely to advise them and help them with their various course problems, I was little prepared for the spontaneous reaction to the plan. It is amazing. In the middle of August of 1935 I started through New York State, apart from the Metropolitan district, in response to requests from P.G.A. members, and within fifteen days I had been called on to visit no less than twenty-six courses to help solve their problems. These examinations extended from Schenectady as far west as Buffalo. In every instance I was accompanied in the examinations by the club's pro and greenkeeper, and in most cases by green committeemen and officials. On two occasions I was contacted by local golf architects and course builders, who expressed their pleasure and satisfaction.
Let it be thoroughly understood that the P.G.A. does not propose to make plans and construct courses. Where any considerable work in this direction may be involved our policy will be to recommend reliable local experts and in everyway help them with advice and suggestions, a fact that stimulates their activities and which evidently is being appreciated.
In three districts of the P.G.A. I addressed meetings of member professionals with greenkeepers and green committeemen from their clubs and afterwards animated and informally, general discussions of many interesting points, which were mingled with various questions and my opinions.
The following incident may be indicative of the early success of the service. The secretary of a P.G.A. district advised me of the requests for my presence (and may it be borne in mind that the service is rendered only on request) and stated that a certain pro had remarked that it would scarcely be worth while for me to travel forty miles to his course, – “for my club has no money.”
His course is not included in the twenty-six already noted but I did travel the forty miles just to explain to him that our intention was not to devise plans for the spending of money but rather to save it. Finally he asked me to visit three of his greens that needed recontouring. I was able to show him how one of them could be changed at little cost, how another needed only the introduction of one guarding pit, and in the other instance an entirely new green in a perfectly natural location would improve the hole and cost no more than the fixing up of the old green, which was wrongly placed.
“Why I can do all that this fall!” he exclaimed and not have to ask the committee for any money at all. That detour seemed very worth while to me.
Certainly one of the greatest benefits to the average golfer to be accomplished under the new service is the elimination of what I term "Duffers' Headaches," the many traps placed only to catch the poor shots of poor players. These add aggravation and are of no value, for modern planning seeks only to make the par shooters mind their P's and Q's. Yet these ancient relics (and unfortunately some of later vintage) are scattered about many courses serving to add to the up-keep to a marked degree for usually they demand an unholy amount of handwork. At one place these "Chocolate drops" and sand pits ran about in a perfect riot and utterly destroyed the natural beauty of an otherwise beautiful course. But above all else they brought dismay to poor golfers and were very expensive to maintain. After only a rather brief discussion with the chairman of the green committee, who accompanied the professional and the greenkeeper, his notations sealed the doom of no less than twenty-five of these monstrosities and I believe that more will follow as a natural consequence. The course was built in 1915, which of course was nearer the period when hazards said to the humble golfer, "You must" rather than "You may." One must surely understand by this what the P.G.A. service really means when it is declared that it will make golf more pleasurable for more players.
The service was extended to all parts of the United States and as rapidly as possible routes were established. To reach as many clubs as request the service, applications were made by P.G.A. members, either through the sectional association or to the national headquarters.