Below is an additonal message from Mike Cirba to clarify a few things:All,
I went back to see what all the fuss is about in our 344 page book, and to see exactly what travesty of historical justice I’ve been accused of committing that has David and Tom MacWood in such a tizzy.
As such, I searched the document for the words “best”, and “finest”. Here’s what I found;
In the introduction, I wrote the following;
“Although the course didn’t open for play until three years later in 1916, once opened, Cobb’s Creek Golf Course instantly became acknowledged as the best and most challenging public course in the country.”
Later in the intro, comparing the state of the course today to what it was when it opened, I wrote;
“However, it wasn’t always that way. In fact, there was a time when public golf in Philadelphia, particularly at Cobb’s Creek, was renowned nationally, and when people lined up overnight to play and major amateur and professional tournaments were held there. There was a time when Cobb’s Creek was acknowledged as the best public golf course in the country. There was a time when great players of all races and ethnic backgrounds were fostered and developed on our local public links.”
Later, in the chronological section, under the year 1916, I wrote;
“In May, Cobb’s Creek opens for play to both critical and popular success. It is hailed as the finest public course in the country and it proves extremely challenging.”
I based those statement not only on the many local reviews from Philadelphia newspapers, but also from rival cities, such as this article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on August 28th, 1916;
Only one other time did I find mention where I referred to the course’s reputation in that regard. After mentioning that we had discovered through photographic evidence and contemporaneous knowledge that all of the original land and greensites were still recoverable I wrote;
“This recent research happily led to the realization that if targeted resources and efforts were directed towards a full “restoration” of what was once renowned as the best public golf course in the country up until the Depression years, designed by Philadelphia and golf architectural legends, there is absolutely nothing known at present that would make that infeasible.”
Now, balky grammar aside, I would concede that the phrase “up until the Depression years” could be debated by some. With the start of the Depression generally acknowledged as occurring in October 1929 with the Stock market crash, I was basing my assessment on 1) articles like the following by some credible sources who had seen and played multiple public courses during that time, 2) my own research and understanding of the public courses of the time period, 3) my having actually seen and played many historic municipal courses across the country, and 4) the selection of Cobb’s Creek to host the US Publinks in 1928, the experience of the difficulties and challenges of the men who played in that tournament, and the laudatory plaudits the course received from every corner during that period.
As mentioned yesterday, after the Depression started a lot of public monies at city and federal levels got poured into public golf. Some great public courses were built, but some others were left fallow. Cobb’s fared ok, having a second 18 completed on the property through WPA labor, and as the book details, it wasn’t until after WWII and the ensuring Cold War that the property took a turn for the worse with the loss of 15% of the total acreage of the original course and the subsequent re-routing, and slow decline as city funding dried up over the decades.
Hope that helps…if anyone else besides Tom and David feels I should change the book in the interest of historical accuracy, please let me know at the following address, and I’ll be happy to consider your thoughts. Thanks!
Mike
Mik4cj@yahoo.com