Early USPGA courses

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Looking back at the results of early PGA Championships I realise that I know very little about most of the early host courses.  Engineers' Club, Oakmont, Five Farms and Pinehurst are often mentioned on GCA, but what are some of the others like today?  Siwanoy, Flossmoor, Inwood, Pelham, Hillcrest, Fresh Meadow, Wannamoissett, for instance, are unknown to many of us on this side of the pond.  

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:

At least a couple of them are NLE -- the Fresh Meadow course used in 1932 became the site for the 1964 New York World's Fair, and later for the U.S. Open Tennis Center.  (The club moved further out onto Long Island.)

Inwood has a different atmosphere now since it's on the final approach to Kennedy Airport (just across the marsh), but it's still a pretty cool course.

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Mark-

  I have seen several of yours mentioned in-person, and to me, they have so, so much more charm and character, rather than the current layouts.  
  Yes, I understand they may not hold up to the modern game--too short, not enough space for galleries, etc., but there's something romantic and magical about being at one of these places.  Llanerch, down here just outside Philadelphia, is another example, and one that I have to see for the first time.  

[Chris_Blakely]

Tom,

Most of Fresh Meadow CC sat on what was is now the Fresh Meadow shopping center and apartment complex which is across the Long Island Expressway from Flushing Park where the World's Fair was held.

Mark

The Pelham CC that hosted the 1923 PGA Championship is not the same course that is played today.  Only 4 holes remain from the 1923 PGA Championship course.  The construction of I-87 New York State Thruway decimated that course.  Wexler's book has most of it right except for several errors, namely that the first hole is not an original hole.  The redesign of the course was carried out by Emmet's former partner Alfred Tull in 1954-55.

The 1926 PGA Championship was held at one of the 5 courses at Salisbury CC (all Devereux Emmet courses) in Wesbury, NY.  This course can still be played and if I remeber correctly, a Champions Tour event is still played there.  The Coruse is now called Eisenhower Park GC - The Red Course.  This is the only course of the five that remains.  There are two other courses at Eisenhower Park GC were designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and are not very good at all.  These Jones Sr. courses were built over the existing Salisbury CC courses.  Holes 1 and 18 on the red course are not original.

Pomonok CC in Flushing, NY is also another Emmet course that is NLE.  The course was sold off for housing in 1949.  See the attached link:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=12675

[Phil Benedict]

Wannamoissett is profiled in "Courses by Country."

[tlavin]

Mark,

I'm a member at Flossmoor, which is a driver/wedge from Olympia Fields.  It is an interesting golf course with fifteen terrific holes and three oddballs.  The front nine is basically flat with a little creek on one hole and a pond on another and the back is hilly with a creek in play on a number of holes.  The greensites are spectacular, some of the most challenging in Chicago.  Many of the holes maintain an old-time feel and the club is contemplating a restoration, but I'm not in the loop so I can't tell you what is coming up.  It's definitely worth a visit...

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thank you all for your informative responses.

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

Mark and Chris,

You can find very good details on Pomonok CC (host of the 1939 PGA Championship if my memory serves well) in Daniel Wexler excellent book : "Missing Links".

[Mike_Cirba]

Mark,

I've been fortunate to have played about a dozen PGA sites, including some fairly obscure ones.  I think Doug provided a very good synopsis, but I'd be happy to elaborate on any of them.  They include;

Engineers
Salisbury (NKA Eisenhower Park Red, as mentioned above)
Cedar Crest
Shawnee
Hershey
Seaview
Hermitage
Llanerch
Aronimink
Pecan Valley
Riviera
Whistling Straits
Baltusrol.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Mike, Do elaborate!  I'd love to learn more.  Mark

[michael j fay]

Siwanoy and Seavew are both small courses.

Siwanoy can't be more than 6,200 yards. The Seaview facility was a combination of nine from the Bay Course and nine from the Pines Course. No combination could have exceeded 6,200 yards.

Siwanoy is a Ross design, pleasant to play but not much of the original remains. The Bay Course at Seaview is another Ross (albeit some say that was done by Hugh Wilson). The Pines course is a Flynn.

The Bay course is short, wide open and windswept. Good greens, great angles and plays much longer than the yardage.

When Snead won at Seaview he had to leave immediately to enlist the next day.

[Chris_Blakely]

Sébastien,

I assumed Mark was aware that Wexler's original book "Missing Links" having a layout and hole by hole description of Pomonok CC.  I only tried to give information that for the most part was not provided by Wexler.  

Wexler's followup book "Lost Links" has the Layout of Salisbury CC's #3 course (this is not the course that hosted the PGA).  I believe Eisenhower Park - Red was the #4 course.  Lost Links has a the layout of the present Pelham course and which holes are original and which ones are altered.  I do not remeber if they have the layout of the original course that hosted the PGA.