The Tillinghast Association is most pleased to announce...

[Phil_the_Author]

The publishing of a monthly on-line journal quite appropriately titled, Tillinghast Illustrated.

The primary purpose of this journal is to provide a forum for all who are interested in learning about Tilly’s work and philosophies of design in line with today’s game. It will also act as a chronicle to record the evolution of and events held upon his historic courses. Through its pages we hope to record the insights of many who have been influenced by his work and ideas and how they have put these into practice.

The journal will contain reports of news and notes of current and ongoing events involving his creations. From discoveries of courses that have been lost to time and are being searched for to findings of others that no one today had previously known were the work of his hands; the reporting of these will interest many. A good example of this is found in the very first issue in the article titled, “Newly Discovered Tilly Design.” This will both delight and greatly surprise many, especially those 40,000+ who play this municipal course annually unknowing that it was Tilly’s hands who designed the putting surfaces they enjoy.

There will be a regular section titled “News and Notes” that will contain brief reports of interest about both Tilly courses and members of the Tillinghast Association.

Just as Tilly himself was interested in discussing design, courses and the game, and did so regularly in his own writings, most issues will also contain an interview with a luminary of the game. Because of his love of golf’s history, record as a major championship winner, recognition as one of the truly great golf course designers practicing today and fan of Tilly’s work, we are most pleased to announce that our next issue will contain a moving “Conversation with Ben Crenshaw” as the first of these.

As exciting as the above is, this is just the beginning of what we hope this journal will become.

It is completely free of both charge and advertising and can be accessed by all by visiting the Tillinghast Association website at www.tillinghast.net.

Please let us know what you think and feel very free to pass along ideas, suggestions and questions, as they will all be appreciated.

[wsmorrison]

I was surprised to see the chain of bunkers on the left of 15 and 17 and between the 5th and 7th holes at Brook Hollow.  The square/geometric shaped greens on holes 2,11,14,16 and 18 seemed unusual as well for Tillinghast.  Did he use these features on other courses?

[Phil_the_Author]

Actually, this is probably the most sand, not just bunkers, that Tilly used on any of his designs. If you take another look at the aerial (Wayne is refering to the question box in the first issue of Tillinghast Illustrated available to all on the Tillinghast Association website www.tillinghast.net), there are substantial stretches of both bunker and waste sand areas alongside 1,2,5,7,11,14, 16 & even 18.

The reason for this may be Cameron Buxton's request that he designa "Pine Valley" in Texas. Unfortunately, because of a clubhouse fire many years back, almost all of the archives, records, drawings and correspondence were destroyed. Very little is left.

This aerial, along with a few other photographs, were used by Crenshaw and Coore in 1991 to restore the course.

The square and geometric putting surfaces were used by tilly fairly often, but especially in the early years. Tilly first lokked at the property in 1919 when he was busy doing Cedar Crest and working in Tulsa.

A good example of this style of green shape can be seen in the Winged Foot aerials of 1929 in Golf Illustrated. More than half the greens have a rectangular back end as well as a few that are completely rectangular.

[wsmorrison]

Thanks, Phil.  Continued success with the Tillinghast Association and the Tillinghast Illustrated project.

[Bill_McBride]

You really have to wonder what would have taken Tillie to Texas in 1919.  That is quite a stretch from Philadelphia.  When did he go to San Antonio?

[Phil_the_Author]

Bill,

Tilly traveled to Texas in 1915 and laid out the Municipal Course for San Antonio, otherwise known as Brackenridge Park, which opened for play the following year in 1916.

He also designed the La Oma course at nearby Ft. Sam houston at the same time.

Yes, it is a surprisingly long way for a brand new architect to go for work (Shawnee having opened in 1911), but it was probably what tilly brought about at Shawnee that allowed him to explode upon the golf design scene at it were.

In 1912, one year after Shawnee opened, they played the first Shawnee Open tournaments for men and women. It was immensely popular from the start with the best professionals and amareurs making it a regular "tour" stop. In fact they scheduled it to take advantage of when the Scottish professionals would be visiting from overseas and so it became a very early near-major championship that would change its name to the Eastern open several years later.

Very little is known of how Tilly received his design commissions in those early years, but I am convinced that between his own reputation as an amateur player, being a nationally-known golf writer and how well received Shawnee was as a course, that he was sought out by those wanting a national name to design their courses.

In addition, being from Philadelphia was abig aid to him for many "Philadelphians relocated throughout the country during these years and would end up recommending him as well. So when Cameron Buxton would settle in Dallas, he was able to convince a group of local businessmen that Tilly could create for them what they most desired, a "Pine Valley" in Texas.

[Dan Moore]

Philip,

Are there any plans to add more letters from Tillie's 1930's PGA Tours to the website?  

[Phil_the_Author]

Yes, Dan. We have a goal of year's end for that and the rest of Tilly's magazine articles as well.

We are no working on course design evolution and club history reports for every one of his original designs, including those that no longer exist. That will take a bit longer.

The journal will be a permanent part of the site with a new issue every month and each issue kept as part of the archive.

Just now I was finishing up the article that goea along with the interview I recently conducted with Ben Crenshaw. He revealed a number of wonderful thoughts about his view of Tilly, his partnership with Bill Coore and his philosophy of golf course design.

One point I got a great kick out of what getting from him what the hardest golf course he ever played was. he called it the most "difficult course on the planet." I guarantee that NO ONE will be able to guess it!

[wsmorrison]

Glad to hear you're assembling the complete written works of AWT as well as design evolution reports.  We have done the same for William Flynn.  He wrote well but not nearly as much as Tillinghast.  He also designed well but not as much as Tillinghast.  Even though Flynn only designed 52 courses and did some measure of redesign on 21 other courses, the evolution reports are well over 1000 pages.  It is a lot of work but worth doing.  

We are not interested in forming a Flynn Society since we don't see the need to fund an effort to do so.  I'm not sure what more we could do.  We have digitized the entire collection of drawings, old aerial photographs and writings.  We intend that the information will be available for dissemination through the USGA Golf Architecture Archive and Research Center.

[ed_getka]

Philip,
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[Phil_the_Author]

Wayne,

A society of this type is quite time-consuming and requires a lot of commitment. As I've expressed to you privately in the past, very few can appreciate the effort that you & Tom have put into assembling, cataloguing and writing what we know will be a wonderful biography of Flynn.

I am hopeful that someone will take from your efforts and bring a Flynn Society into being. I believe that he is greatly underappreciated and that his works are among the greats of golf course architecture.

The Tillinghast Association has also let the USGA know on several occasions that they are welcome to copies of our archives and documents within them for the museum and would be very willing to provide links to our site for the use of the USGA and its members.

We believe that there needs to be access to works such as this because it is important for both growing the game and protecting its heritage. Students, scholars, architects and those who simply enjoy learning about golf need an ability to have a place, whether in physical or virtual reality, that they can go to and explore...

[wsmorrison]

Phil,

What would a Flynn Society do that has not already been done?  Computer access to our collection of information will be through a link from the USGA.  If downloads, digital copies or high resolution images are requested, there may be a fee depending upon the source and ownership.  The evolution reports and historical information will be available through our set of books.  We may find out tomorrow the status of publication by a family office.

[Phil_the_Author]

Wayne,

You asked, "What would a Flynn Society do that has not already been done?"

Why, if nothing else and this is most important in my opinion, provide a continuous ongoing encouragement and appreciation of a genius and his work.

Musueum's and libraries are wonderful places, but unless someone is motivated to walk in and see what they contain they are just unused repositories. A Flynn Society could turn it into a palace of learning and appreciation of his art and work.

A Flynn Society is not a necessity as a Tillinghast Association also isn't, but as we have come to appreciate, there are many out there who value an organiztion such as ours to help them, as they in turn help us, grow in their appreciation of a great artist and his creations.

If there was a Flynn Society, the members would come to that appreciation also.

By the way, I'm hoping tomorrow's news is positive!

[wsmorrison]

Thanks, Phil.  We have a Plan B just in case.

[David Stamm]

Philip, this is great! Thanks for letting us know about this.

Come on Wayne, you know you're chomping at the bit to start a Flynn society, complete with secret handshake.