1927: Flynn's Philly Country Club is introduced

[TEPaul]

Those descriptions of the third and fourth holes on the Spring Mill course sure are confusing. Either the sequencing was very quickly reconfigured (although I can's see how in line with that article) or else one of those reporters sort of screwed up his hole descriptions in his article.

By the way, as to the mention of a course plan called Scheme A (Colt and Alison) and Scheme B (by Flynn?), and for what it's worth, this all happened right around that time that Alison came within a whisker of going into business with Toomey and Flynn!

[Joe Bausch]

Those descriptions of the third and fourth holes on the Spring Mill course sure are confusing. Either the sequencing was very quickly reconfigured (although I can's see how in line with that article) or else one of those reporters sort of screwed up his hole descriptions in his article.

By the way, as to the mention of a course plan called Scheme A (Colt and Alison) and Scheme B (by Flynn?), and for what it's worth, this all happened right around that time that Alison came within a whisker of going into business with Toomey and Flynn!

Is there any chance at all Tom, in your opinion, that some part of Alison's plan were used by Flynn?

[TEPaul]

"Is there any chance at all Tom, in your opinion, that some part of Alison's plan were used by Flynn?"

Joe:

I have zero idea about that since I've never seen an Alison plan (reported as Scheme A) for Philly CC. Since neither one of them seem to want to talk to me any longer why don't you contact those two Philadelphia architectural speculators who've hardly ever been here, Moriarty and MacWood, to write an in-depth In My Opinion piece on the fact that Philadelphia CC must be a Colt and Alison design somehow? You know what the refrain of those two guys has always been----eg we Philadelphians only glorify our own local architects and try to disrespect, diminish and trash any architects who didn't come from around here.
 

But I can tell you this, Joe, from some suplemental research recently----eg a number of those from around here back then including Hugh and Alan Wilson and perhaps Flynn too did think very highly of Hugh Alison. I'm not sure it was only about his architecture but they did consider him to be a very attractive guy to know and work with.
 
 

[Willie_Dow]

Mike:

Number four is now the seventeenth, and I totally agree with you that the present routing
has greatly diminished the greatness of the course.

[Mike_Cirba]

Does anyone know if the club had a soft opening for members in 1926?

Something sees a bit off with the timelines, where the course was done with construction and seeded in September 1925, yet not opened until May 1927.   Perhaps some bad weather and/or agronomic problems?

[Rory Connaughton]

It would certainly be interesting to play the course as originally routed.  That said, I am a big fan.  The bunkering is absolutely terrific and present 3 and 17 are absolutely spectacular golf holes.

[Peter Pallotta]

Mike -

well, it does seem that golf was being played there in 1926. This from the November '26 American Golfer:

"In  these stirring days of record-breaking achievement it is well to record for all time the performance of the Philadelphia golfer who scored "a fire alarm in one." Standing on the second tee of the Philadelphia Country Club this intrepid player connected for a long tee shot that never wavered from its course until it broke the glass of a fire alarm box at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Monument Road, summoning on the double three West Philadelphia fire companies."

Thought you might get a kick of out this, if only because you probably know the corner of Belmont and Monument well

Peter

[Joe Bausch]

Mike, at least according to this photo caption from the August 22, 1926 edition of the Public Ledger, the course is still not ready for play:

[Joe Bausch]

Mike -

well, it does seem that golf was being played there in 1926. This from the November '26 American Golfer:

"In  these stirring days of record-breaking achievement it is well to record for all time the performance of the Philadelphia golfer who scored "a fire alarm in one." Standing on the second tee of the Philadelphia Country Club this intrepid player connected for a long tee shot that never wavered from its course until it broke the glass of a fire alarm box at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Monument Road, summoning on the double three West Philadelphia fire companies."

Thought you might get a kick of out this, if only because you probably know the corner of Belmont and Monument well

Peter

Peter, I think that article is referring to their Bala layout, not the course at Spring Mill.

[Peter Pallotta]

These two guys would fit right in at the card room at LACC.  Every time I go there I make a point of visiting the boys in the card room where average age has got to be 100.  You should see the fights about cheating!  My favorite dirty trick is to walk in and say "hi boys!", they all look up and nod and then nobody can remember whose turn it is.  It's really fun.

Mr. Brown on the left would be referred to as a whipper-snapper at Thunderbird CC where the average age is 89.  Wonder how long the member-member takes?

Best,
Peter

Peter - thanks, you paint a neat picture of LACC and Thunderbird.  And, to any freelance writers out there on the coast, I think there's a wonderful story there waiting to be told. I really. really wish I was out there myself. Granted, I wouldn't know a 'commercial' idea if it hit me in the face, but I'd love to do a long essay/article about the world of the older members at these old clubs, a day in the life sort of thing -- and branching off into more in-depth profiles of the lives of a few of them, who they are, how they got here, what they have loved and lost etc.  If I can't be the one writing a piece like that, I'd at least like to read one.

Peter  

[mike_malone]

Any course that thinks the location of the clubhouse is more important than an existing hole is diminished in my mind.

[Willie_Dow]

Yeah Mayday !  Especially when you take away a great par five
hole, like number five.

[Tom MacWood]

Just to touch more on this point, in the early to mid 1920's, Joe Bausch has also uncovered articles that make it clear that Wilson, Flynn, and Alison were seemingly working together on some things, which seems a natural outgrowth of their work finishing Pine Valley.

I'm thinking some of the recent confusion over who did what at the original Huntingdon Valley course at Noble that later became a public course called Baederwood may be related to this loose professional/amateur relationship.

Mike
What articles are you referring to? This thread contains an article from 1925 that claimed Philadlephia CC was considering a plan submitted by Alison, but I don't recall reading anything about him collaborating with Flynn.

[Bill Shotzbarger]

I played Philly Country yesterday for the first time in years. It is definitely in my top 3 courses I've ever played. I might find it more enjoyable to play than Merion even though it lacks the aura that Merion's history and baskets bring. It's definitely my favorite Flynn course and I've played Huntingdon Valley, Rolling Green and Mannies numerous times. There's nothing like swinging out of your shoes on the 17th tee, walking by the Byron Nelson plaque and then having to thread a long iron off a sidehill lie to a skinny but deep green with bogey awaiting you on both sides. Undoubtedly my favorite hole in all of the GAP.

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