Floridale Country Club -- Did it ever exist?

[Chris Parker]

In his book, Missing Links, as well as in his second feature interview on golfclubatlas.com, author Daniel Wexler mentions a mysterious golf course designed by William Flynn:

My favorite example is a layout referred to as the Floridale Country Club, which Cornish & Whitten list as having been built by William Flynn in a town called Milford, Florida.  Flynn certainly worked regularly in Florida (Boca Raton, Indian Creek, Cleveland Heights) but no source that I've located makes any mention of a Floridale.  Similarly, the Florida State Library checked their ledger of incorporated or platted towns since 1900 and could find no record of a Milford.  So while it certainly seems believable, did Floridale ever really exist?

Similarly, Cornish & Whitten, in The Architects of Golf, refer to Floridale has having been designed by Flynn and renovated by Stanley Thompson.  Following Cornish & Whitten, historian James Barclay records Thompson's involvement at Floridale in The Toronto Terror.

So Wexler's question remains to be answered.  Did Floridale Country Club ever really exist?  Or is this yet another misleading error originating from The Architects of Golf?
Anyone?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

There is a town of Floridale in Santa Rosa County. Have you tried there or nearby?

[wsmorrison]

Chris, I am curious as to why you are interested in this.  Tom Paul and I. in researching our book on William Flynn never found any evidence of a golf course named Floridale as referred to in Cornish and Whitten and also mentioned by Dan Wexler.  We did discover a course that was previously unknown in Florida by Flynn that was called Floranada.  Maybe this is the course mistakenly named in C and W.  It was part of a planned community to rival Palm Beach in 1925 with a lot of European royalty in the pool of investors.  The land bust in 1926 as a result of rampant speculation and the hurricane caused this and other projects to fail.  Craig Disher found a 1942 aerial of this area that shows the remnants of the golf course that matches Flynn's drawings precisely.  The land is now incorporated as Oakland Park in Broward County.

[Chris Parker]

Wayne,

I'm interested in this mystery because of the Stanley Thompson angle.  I read about Floridale in Barclay's Thompson biography before I knew about the link to Flynn.  To have a phantom course accredited to one architect is one thing, but when two major designers are architects of record, then you have to wonder!  Then again, we still don't know where Cornish & Whitten got their information.  

[wsmorrison]

Chris,

I had not known of the Thompson side of the story.  Did Thompson do any other work in Florida?  Cornish and Whitten say he did a design of 27 holes called Nealhurst GC  an NLE possibly in Clay County but I couldn't find any info on the web.  Besides the alleged Floridale, Thompson is attributed with a redesign of Hyde Park GC in Jacksonville, supposedly a Donald Ross.

Given the timeframe of 1926 for Flynn's Floranada, when might Thompson have come in to work on the redesign?  After the land bust and hurricane, there probably wasn't anything going on around that part of Florida.  Then with the stock crash, I doubt much money was going into a golf course on a land deal that went bankrupt.  

I could ask Whitten where he got the information on Floridale.  Much of the info on Flynn came from a letter from Connie Lagerman (Flynn's daughter) and Bill Kittleman.  Floridale and Floranada are not listed in the letter.  It seems worthwhile to give Whitten a call.  He is very helpful in these matters.

What does the Barclay biography have to say about Floridale and Thompson?

[T_MacWood]

Thompson and Co. had a construction arm, and I believe most of their activity in Florida was construction. From what I understand Ross is attributed to Hyde Park and Thompson built it. Thompson & Jones listed Floridale in their advertising pamphlet as a course they designed or redesigned.

[wsmorrison]

Tom,

Can you send me a photocopy of the advertising pamphlet?

[Jimbo]

FLORanada is a street in Oakland Park which is adjacent to, and basically a part, of Fort  LauderDALE.  

Floranada intersects US1 which was built in the 1920's, so getting there was possible.

The housing in Oakland Park is 1950's and 1960's.  There are man-made canals through Oakland Park.

Thompson and Jones??   Coral Ridge Country Club (Robert Trent Jones developed and owned 1955) is within 1/4 mile of Floranada.  In fact, if Floranada continued any further east it would bisect Coral Ridge Country Club.

[wsmorrison]

Jimbo,

That's where the golf course was.  The man-made canals were part of the planned community design.  Streets were circular from a central core. The golf course was along the main thoroughfare into the community and had a lot of triangulation.

[T_MacWood]

Wayne
I just sent it to you. Floridale was/is in Milford, Florida...where ever that is.

[wsmorrison]

Tom,

Thanks, but I couldn't read the scan you sent.  Does it say Floridale in Milford or Floranada?  

Tyler Kerns posted this in 2002 on GCA about Floridale from the Toronto Terror:

 "BCrosby,
      After thumbing through "The Toronto Terror", I have to concure with Jeff Mingay, Barclay (the author) shows no record of the nature of the renovation to Hyde Park. However, he notes that a 1926 advertisement, Stanley Thompson indicates that he remodeled the course. Hyde Park has no record of these renovations, but it is noted, they have few records at all.
      Interestingly, Thompson had expanded his operations into the United States by this time, and had opened a branch office in Jacksonville, Florida by 1925. Thompson was busy in this area at the time, making renovations at Floridale GC in Milford, Fl. (NLE) in 1925 and the design of a 27-hole layout in Jacksonville, Fl., the Neilhurst G & CC (NLE) from 1924-25. Therefore, it is not unlikely that he did work at Hyde Park, unfortunately the quantity of work done is unavailable. "

[T_MacWood]

Wayne
The course in the pamphlet is Floridale....I suspect Milford was near Jacksonville, it appears all there activity was in that area. It was reported that Hyde Park was built by Thompson & Co. They also built another course for Ross called Venetia (not sure what became of it or if it was ever completed). Thompson & Co also designed and constructed a municipal course in Jacksonville. I'm not certain what is was called.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Floridale is in Santa Rosa County west of Jacksonville in the Panhandle. There is a town of MILTON nearby. I could not find a town of MILFORD in FL.

[Jimbo]

Found Floridale, FL in  Santa Rosa County on map.  It is about 45 miles from me.  It is and always has been in the middle of Nowhere.  Hard to believe any community would have been planned there.  Good sandy rolling land though.

[Chris Parker]

What does the Barclay biography have to say about Floridale and Thompson?

Wayne,

Unfortunately, The Toronto Terror doesn't have much too much to say about Thompson's work at Floridale, or any other course in Florida for that matter.  It is only mentioned in the list of Thompson courses in one of the appendices of the book.  I suspect that Barclay got much of this information from The Architects of Golf and expanded on it.  Maybe Whitten could help us out on this, unless his source was the same advertising pamphlet that Tom has a copy of...

Tom,

I too, would be interested in seeing a scan of that advertising pamphlet if possible!

Thanks for everyone's interest in this thread so far.  You've all been really helpful.