Posted on behalf of Mike Cirba
David,
Thank you very much for posting the link to that terrific article. It's a great find and I appreciate you posting it here.
The man in question, Garrett Renn, who was superintendent of the Philadelphia city golf courses for a number of years until his untimely death in 1968 in an automobile accident, was a golf course architect in his own right.
He, along with George Fazio in 1953, were responsible for the clever re-routing of the holes at Cobb's Creek after the US Army was allowed to use approximately 15% of the total course acreage for an Air Defense base during the height of the Cold War. Oddly, the base itself only seems to have been there for 5 years...I suspect that the low ground along the creek didn't provide adequate radar coverage, and it was shortly after a General visited the site that it closed. For some reason, I suspect cost, the holes were never put back to the original configuration after the Army left, and a driving range was built on that spot.
While we all certainly all believe that restoring the original routing of Cobb's Creek is highly desirable and that the 5-6 lost/compromised holes were some of the very best and most renowned on the golf course, the re-routing job Renn and Fazio did was extremely clever and used/maintained all the original greens, thus allowing a full restoration to be still possible today. Interestingly, one could still play today's routing after a full restoration if anyone chose, or for special occassions.
Garrett Renn was also responsible for designing a number of other golf courses in the Philadelphia area in the 50s and 60s including Little Mill (NJ), Spring Mill (Ivyland, PA), Cranbury (NJ), Latona (NJ), Limekiln (9) (PA), Mountain View (NJ), Wedgwood (NJ), and a few others NLE. All of his courses are very playable and soundly constructed.
One of his first jobs was the complete restoration of Brigantine GC (NJ) from the original plans of Stiles and Van Kleek. The course which opened in 1927 closed just a few years later during the depression. Two decades later Renn unearthed Brigantine from an overgrown, lost golf course to a very enjoyable course that is still a wonderful place to visit today. I have many great memories of playing there in my youth during family vacations.
I have had communications with his son and granddaughter in the past, and I plan to share this article with them, letting them know you found it.
From a prior note from his granddaughter, talking about her dad (Garrett Renn's son).
He remembers fondly visiting and helping with the courses but was too young to remember which ones or all their names. He believes his father was appointed to Superintendent of the Philly public courses in 1952. He was also very close with George Fazio and from what my dad said he said, taught Mr. Fazio “the business of moving dirt” as they called it. He remembers Mr. Fazio calling every morning at 6am for years, as he consulted with my grandfather on many of his projects. My dad also said that Brigantine was one of my grandfathers first projects. It was originally built in 20’s but had become completely overgrown after the depression. He obtained the original plans and restored it to its original layout.
Some additional information: Garrett Renn was a member of the PGA. He did his apprenticeship at Philmont Country Club, under Leo Diegle (we think). He grew up in Frankford and as a boy, played Ashbourne, Frankford-Toresdale, and Melrose . With his brother, who was also a golfer on Frankfords golf team, was invited to play Merion and Pine Valley which he loved and inspired him to build courses himself. He was married to Ann and had 7 children, who he moved to the old mansion on Juniata golf course where they lived.
Have a nice holiday,
Mike