Hugh Wilson - An Ongoing Investigative Journey

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom,

I thought the line that stated Wilson went abroad to study the great courses "before anything was done to the course originally" is pretty indicative that it happened prior to 1912.

[Mike_Cirba]

For Jeff Brauer,

Jeff....Please consider that this was from a few months ago, so some of this might need to be revised based on our recent discussions, but I think it's a pretty good primer and might be a good thread to add or revise as we learn more.

Thanks...I think he's a pretty important figure.

[Mike_Cirba]

I also would add that in the early 20s he was again on a committee seeking new sites for golf courses for the city of PHiladelphia (they selected both Juniata and FDR Park), and it was mentioned in 1924 that  he and Ab Smith and Frank Meehan would likely be designing them again.   He was also working with William Flynn on Marble Hall (today's Green Valley CC) when he sadly died early in 1925.

His birth name was Hugh Irvin Wilson, in November of 1879.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

Thanks. I had forgotten this one, including the fact that Wilson was in insurance according to one post.  It would still be interesting to get more of the back story on him, again, just for historical purposes. It looks like some of the Philly guys have done a lot of work on it, but it seems to have gotten lost in the other threads in favor of debating just what he did at MCC.

[Peter Pallotta]

I know this has been mentioned already but I think it's worth repeating, i.e. Hugh Wilson was not designing golf courses in order to make a living.  And he lived in a time before the mania for official degrees and accreditations took hold, and before economic demands and the marketplace turned everything worth doing into a profession.  (I think a few years before Merion, Albert Einstein was still working as a junior clerk in a patent office when he first introduced the theory of special relativity.)  That seems to me to be an important fact; and if we miss what that means and might have meant to the creation of Merion East (and I'm not sure what it means or might've meant) I think we're probably missing a lot.

Peter     

[Joe Bausch]

HIW also appeared to be a fairly avid squash player.  There are many instances of an "H I Wilson" appearing in the winter months of the Philadelphia Inquirer's listings of squash tournaments results (1910 and before).

[Mike_Cirba]

Hugh Wilson was something of a golfing prodigy in other ways, as well.

The Golf Association of Philadelphia was formed in 1896 with four member clubs, which included Belmont which later became Aronimink.  The others included Philly Country Club, Philly Cricket Club, Merion Cricket Club.

Dr. Henry Toulmin of the same Belmont club was elected Vice-President of GAP.   Remember him?  He later served on Hugh Wilson's construction committee.

In the first Golf Association of Philadelphia club tournament ever held, which was the Belmont Club Championship in 1897....was won by 18 year old Hugh Wilson!

Later that year, he also competed in the first Philadelphia Amateur Championship, in October 1897.

After the medal rounds, he was in second place of the 8 men who qualified for the championship.

However, in the first round of match-play, he lost to the eventual winnder, Ab Smith!   Funny how all this stuff ties together. 

He played competitively at Princeton, and played in the Intercollegiate Championship in 1901, where he unfortunately lost in the second round.

I can find him records of him playing golf competitively almost every year...except 1910.


To suggest that he knew next to nothing about golf and golf courses when he was appointed chairman of the committee at Merion in 1911 is not accurate, no matter how modest, self-effacing, unassuming, and humble a man he might have been in his public statements.

[TEPaul]

Im wondering what kind of wording from, say, board minutes would it take for you sentence-structuring, word-parsing, logic fixated discussants to be convinced that Wilson and his committee routed and designed Merion East? Or are words useless to you all? Would you need to see a video and audio recording?

[Phil_the_Author]

Based upon Joe's observation as to Wilson playing in numerous squash tournaments from 1910 on back, would it be possible to construct a tentative timeline of when he was in the Philly area during those years?

it might prove whether the possibility for earlier trips to the UK were feasible and provide tiemframes in which to look...

[Mike_Cirba]

Based upon Joe's observation as to Wilson playing in numerous squash tournaments from 1910 on back, would it be possible to construct a tentative timeline of when he was in the Philly area during those years?

it might prove whether the possibility for earlier trips to the UK were feasible and provide tiemframes in which to look...

Phil,

It doesn't prove anything but Wilson played tournaments all through the first decade of last century, and was on the Merion team in the suburban cup matches in 1909, but all of a sudden, in 1910 there is virtually nothing.    Tillingast (as Hazard) in November reported that Hugh Wilson was one of several men he named as sadly absent for tournament competiton, but we also do know that Wilson played in a tournament in October of that year.   

I'm truly not sure if the 7 month trip in 1910 was legend or reality, but we have yet to find anything from that year that would prove he was in Philly prior to October.   

[Mike_Cirba]

I'm thinking this thread might be a good place to build a primer about Hugh Wilson, and given that most folks know very little about him, hopefully we can dig a bit deeper.   

This from a recent Joe Bausch finding where he beats Tillinghast in 1903.   

I'm finding myself surprised when I see that most of these relationships go back a decade or more.

It's a bit hard to read, so I'll repeat the first paragraph;

"Hugh I. Wilson has again asserted himself in the local golfing world.   His early promise as one of Philadelphia's best golfers bore fruit through his college career at Princeton, but in winning the St. David's Plate, the annual election day trophy of the St. David's Golf Club yesterday, he demonstrated his ability to hold his own in a medal play contest against the best of Philadelphia's players."

[Joe Bausch]

I had mentioned that Wilson was very active in sports in college in a previous thread.  Here is what I base that upon (from the December 19, 1900 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

[Joe Bausch]

I did not know that Hugh Wilson was a member at Philly CC before Merion (or perhaps he belonged to both).  These scores are from the May 8, 1898 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

[Joe Bausch]

Here is one from the June 1, 1898 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer:



Some of the names there are interesting.  The maid of honor is Mary Warren, with Hugh Wilson an usher.  Hugh and Mary got married about seven years later!  Perhaps this 1898 wedding is where they met?!

No need for a follow-up post Barney.  We all know what your reply would be.   

[Joe Bausch]

And from the May 18, 1901 Philadelphia Inquirer is this little snippet, buried at the very bottom of the sports page:



I'm assuming this means he was captain during his senior year.

[Mike_Cirba]

Does anyone know the home clubs of the Ivy League schools at that time?

For instance, did Harvard play at Myopia?   I know Princeton had a Willie Dunn course that was later modified and added to by Flynn.   It might be interesting to see which course he played in college. 

**EDIT** -  YES, Harvard played at Myopia Hunt Club.   Just found it.   Will search for some of the others like Yale, Columbia, et.al.

[Mike_Cirba]

Along with Myopia Hunt Club, some other courses Hugh Wilson and the Princeton team played while at University included Garden City,  Atlantic City, and Ardsley. 

That's 2 of the top 3 courses in existence in the US at the time.  So, we now know he was playing courses of this repute a full decade or more before he was asked to head the Merion committee.

**EDIT**  It also appears they played matches at Chicago, Midlothian, and Exmoor.

This scholastic golf edcuation would have been virtually the creme de la creme of US golf at the time.

[TEPaul]

"For instance, did Harvard play at Myopia?"

Mike:

Probably. Bob Crosby might know. I think Leeds was a pretty big Harvard guy. Myopia is one of my contact clubs and I have their history book around here. Their historian who's an old friend of mine from way back would probably know something like that. Herbert Leeds kept a pretty specific diary book of what all he did on the course over the decades but when the history was written on Myopia decades later that diary book of Leeds has never been seen again.

[Mike_Cirba]

"For instance, did Harvard play at Myopia?"

Mike:

Probably. Bob Crosby might know. I think Leeds was a pretty big Harvard guy. Myopia is one of my contact clubs and I have their history book around here. Their historian who's an old friend of mine from way back would probably know something like that. Herbert Leeds kept a pretty specific diary book of what all he did on the course over the decades but when the history was written on Myopia decades later that diary book of Leeds has never been seen again.

Tom,

I should probably research first and type later, but I don't know if you saw my updates.

Princeton played at Myopia, Garden City, Chicago, Atlantic City, Princeton, Exmoor, Midlothian, Misquamicut, and Ardsley during the Hugh Wilson years and I'm still digging.

However, given that we've now covered 3 of the top 3 courses at the time, I'm not sure what more there is to find. 

[Mike_Cirba]

I've just changed the heading to this thread to reflect some new findings.

In Hugh Wilson's 1916 letter, he claims to have only complete novice knowledge of golf course construction and design "of the average club member" at the time he was put in Chair of the Merion Committee in 1911.

On the various Merion threads, I felt that he simply said this due to his humble, unassuming nature, and it turns out that was correct.

I've just spent some time going through Wilson's competitive record at Princeton, where he was between 1898 and 1902.   During his career he played at;

Myopia Hunt
Garden City
Chicago
Lakewood
Baltusrol
St. Andrews
Essex County
Philadelphia Cricket
Philadelphia Country Club
Richmond County
Morris County
Midlothian
Exmoor
Atlantic City
Ardsley
Misquamicut


That playing experience alone would have put his knowledge far, far, FAR beyond the average club member, even if he didn't play another single course for the next decade until 1911, which we know he did.

However, where he was really fibbing us was in this latest bit;

As mentioned, Wilson went to Princeton in 1898 and played golf through all four years.

In 1898, it was reported that the University was looking at land to build a new course, one which they hoped would be 18 holes.   Later that year land was aquired, and work began on the course.

I've seen accounts of this first course that suggest it was designed by Willie Dunn, and I came across an account today that suggested that it was done by one James Swan.

In either case, work was slow, and funding was scarce but nine holes of the course opened by 1901.

On March 16th, 1901, the Trenton Times reported that,

"The governors are making every effort to have the course open by June 1st.   A professional has been engaged to take charge of the new course and will arrive here in a few days. The work will be pushed as rapidly as the funds will permit."

"H.I. Wilson, (class of) 1902, was elected a member of the greens committee."

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

That both establishes a long held interest in architecture and the reason he was put on the committee. It does sound a little like how JN got interested in gca, though, doesn't it?

[BCrosby]

Mike -

It's remarkable how many architects crossed paths at the Ivies just after the turn of the century. Wilson would have crossed paths with Chandler Egan who graduated from Harvard in '04. Egan won the '02 collegiate title. I would assume Wilson played in that tournament too. Myopia was the Harvard home course, though they played other courses in the area. Sometime in the '40's, the team started playing more at The Country Club. I suspect because it was so much closer to campus.

It's interesting to consider the golf architects who would have known each other from their college golf.  Wilson and Egan have been noted. But there was also Langford, Behr, and Hunter who came along a little later.  (Should Brademus be included?)

But the larger point is that all good amateur players with a little family money traveled widely to play in tournaments, pre and post college. Just like today.

Bob

[Jeff_Brauer]

Bob,

I could be wrong, but in the Bredemus history I read by Francis Trimble, there is a missing period of time where he was thought to perhaps have worked construction or at least peeked in on a few CBM courses. 

[Mike_Cirba]

Bob,

It is absolutely amazing.   I have the matches where he and Chandler Egan both competed, both in the midwest and at Garden City.   

There are another bunch of prominent names there, as well.

One thing that I don't think most people know is that the Ivy League school teams didn't just compete against each other, but against other formal golf clubs.

CB Macdonald is mentioned as taking part in some of the matches, as well as his future son-in-law, that toady, HJ Whigham.     (sorry...cant' help myself) 


Jeff,

He was a bit of a wunderkind.

The Princeton Golf Club wasn't just for the school golf team, but for all those associated with the University, as well as alumni.   They were a member of the USGA very early.

To have selected a 20 year old kid to the Green Committee had to have been absolutely remarkable!! 

Consider that their competition was playing at places like Myopia and it's pretty certain it was not a light undertaking.

[BCrosby]

Mike -

Wilson had seen and played the best courses in the US for about 10 years. Which is why I never thought the fuss over exactly when Wilson traveled to the UK to be very relevant.

Bob