The early "Estate" golf course

[TEPaul]

This reality and concept was a very real one back in the day and one that needs a lot of research, in my opinion (the mention of Emmet's private course on his estate on Long Island reminded me of it).

Macdonald had a lot to say on the subject and William Flynn actually had a lot to do on the subject.

But the thing I think is most interesting of all comes from the Myopia history book writer, Edward Weeks, that the first known golf courses in the Boston area were all on private estates, including R.M Appleton's who was one of the Myopia members who first promoted golf at Myopia. He had a private course on his own estate, the app. 1,000 acre Appleton Farm in Ipswich, Mass that still exists today.

According to Myopia history writer, Weeks, those kinds of courses preceded any actual "club" courses in the area by a year or two in the early 1890s.

Is this where guys like Leeds got some of their ideas and experience and basically "cut their teeth" on design ideas that would later make them famous with a course like Myopia Hunt Club?

And now I find that R.M Appleton, The Master of the Myopia Hunt, who the record shows introduced golf to Myopia Hunt Club, apparently introduced golf to Aiken S.C. and seemingly brought Leeds down to do it. (Aiken, S.C. was and still is a well-known southern winter horse, hunting and polo center for those kinds of Northeasterners).

[Craig Disher]

I have an aerial of Eolia, the CT estate of Edward Harkness, taken in the late 40s which shows a very primitive golf course of 5 or 6 holes. Harkness bought the estate in 1907 and given to the state in the early 50s. The course is so geometric that it looks like it could have been built soon after the house was purchased. Do you know anything about this?

The photo was tossed into my unknown folder; I'll try to find it and post it.

[Phil_the_Author]

“Country Club Organized.”

This was the banner that greeted readers of the Tallahassee Democrat on May1, 1908. The article that followed gave the exciting news that a small group of dedicated golfers had decided to form their own golf club in the city of Tallahassee. No longer would they have to travel north to Georgia to enjoy this game that was even then sweeping the country and establishing itself as far more passion than game.

Not only was a club to be formed, but there was already a set of links upon which it could be played and a house offered to serve as its first clubhouse. Both were at the residence of Mrs. Reinette Hunt. Note what was written:

“Mrs. Hunt having hospitably tendered the use of her beautiful residence and grounds for the purpose. In the grounds at the front of the house there will be tennis courts and and croquet grounds, while back of the house are golf links already formed.” (We thought we had figured out the designer of this course but were wrong and are still working on it).

The name of her residence and site of the Tallahassee Country Club? The Grove. This is both significant and historical as this is now the site of the Governor's mansion for the state of Florida. The club and course moved from the site to it's newly built 9-hole course in 1915. Today, vestiges of the old course can still be seen in the new woods and small grounds area left to the estate.

Today, the name of the club has been changed and it is known as the Capital City Country Club. The course had 18 holes designed but built only 9 holes, probably due to money and then WWI.

On December 27th of 1935 the city of Tallahassee, which had purchased the property and existing 9-holes from the club earlier that summer, had A.W. Tillinghast visit the course during his Course Consultation Tour and redesign the existing nine and add an additional nine holes, with the course being built from 1936-1939.

The designer of the new 9-holer? H.H. Barker.

[Craig Sweet]

TPaul..."Estate golf courses" were a product of the first "gilded age" in America....the current gilded age has given us the Sand Hills...Rock Creeks etc.  of today.....funny how history repeats itself....gilded age...followed by economic collapse.

[TEPaul]

Craig:

In my opinion, the relatively rapid (compared to other countries and cultures) cultural and economic cycles of American history are truly amazing and well worth studying as to both what they once were and probably will be again somehow in the future. We are perhaps the most rapid culture and ethos country in history. Rapid cycling and change is basically our middle name! 

[Craig Sweet]

Tom Paul....I think we are still fighting our battles....free market vs. regulated market....wealth in the hands of a few vs. collective wealth....other countries had these battles before the USA existed ??

[Craig Disher]

Tom,
Edward Harkness must have been happy to sit on his veranda and let the changes in gca roar past him for 40 years. Actually, this course looks like it would have been fun to play - lots of wind, great views, and no slow foursomes . I like the tee box - if in fact that's what it is - immediately below the green at the bottom of the photo. Looks like you could play that fairway both directions ad infinitum.

[Jim Sweeney]

Oakhurst Links in WV would certainly qualify.

[Thomas MacWood]

Craig
That is one wild looking golf course. It looks like the home green doubles as the front yard, and down wind the approach shot may have been a little dicey. Was it Haskell or Harkness?

[Michael]

There is a short public 9 hole course in Pawling N.Y called "The Dutcher" this was a private Course owned by the Dutcher family and built in 1890, the original was a 3 hole course that the family would use on weekends. at some point the family put it in trust to the Town/Village of Pawling to be maintained as a golf course..if the course were to close, the land would revert back to the estate of the Dutcher family.

[TEPaul]

Craig:

We've talked about this lots before with other courses and other aerials but I would love to know the height and nature of what you think the rough areas were like (the lighter areas) surrounding those fairways. I can see a ton of narrow dark green walkways through them so they must have been relatively long or whatever.

What do you think about that? Do you think they were massive areas of like high fescue or maybe just fields of common hay? It's always impossible to tell on aerials where one loses the vertical dimension almost completely.

[Phil_the_Author]

In 1915 Tilly designed a six-hole course on three acres of land for Mr. Roy Rainey on his Estate in Huntington, New York. he described it in his advertising brochure titled, "Planning a Golf Course," published in 1916 as follows:

"In these six acres every club in the bag is called into play. The problem of making three greens serve for six holes was solved, although in each instance strokes of varying types find a green from different directions."

Earlier in this section which he titled "Private Courses" he wrote this, "The nunmbers of private golf courses which are being built prove the unrelaxing hold which the game has everywhere... Owners of estates, desirous of providing for the undisturbed pleasure of themselves and their friends, are building courses which in many respects are no less notable than those of the country clubs..."

So evidently there were a greater number of private courses built early on than most are unaware of and they also were of a much higher quality than many have appreciated until now.

By the way, this "Lilliputt Links" (copyrighted by Tilly) course is now somewhere on the property of the Huntington Crescent Club. The Rainey Estate was purchased by the Brooklyn Crescent Club and the 18-hole HCC course was built on its grounds. If anything was used of Tilly's private course there is no record...

Tilly built a number of other private courses as well. For example, he designed and built one for Zucker, the Hollywood Mogul. It is still enjoyed with the routing and green sites very much intact and minimally changed. It is located in New City, new York and is now the course of the Dellwood Country Club.

[Phil McDade]

Tom:

Bendelow's very first design was a six-hole course on the Pratt family estate (of Standard Oil fame) on Long Island. He had been hired by the family to teach them golf lessons, and the family took such an interest to the game they commissioned Bendelow to build a course on the family grounds, around 1895.

[Joe Bausch]

Tom, in the Shenley-Pines thread I started a few weeks back with the 1922 Public Ledger article claiming that the 9-hole course in the Falls of Schuylkill was Philly's first nine hole course (opening perhaps a few years before the nine at Philly Country Club) was a quote from T. Harvey Dougherty, a member at Philadelphia Country Club:

"But before the entrance of Shenley-Pines as a full-fledged course I had three holes laid out on my property on School lane known as Lynwood"

[ChipOat]

The original Deepdale course (Long Island for the newcomers), now the Lake Success town golf course, was William K. Vanderbilt's private layout on his estate named, guess what??, Deepdale.

Even before it was finished (by Raynor, I think?), WKV's wealthy friends convinced him to make it a (very) private club, instead.

Robert Moses and his Long Island Expressway changed all that in the mid-1950's.

[Craig Disher]

TEP,
I can't see any shadows on the edges of the two cuts which suggests that there's not much difference between the two. The photo was taken in February so it's not good evidence on how the course was maintained - and it was taken in 1949 which makes the intended maintenance even less obvious.

I found a document that said the course was laid out by Brett and Hall, a Boston-based landscape architecture firm that did a lot of work at large estates throughout North America in the early part of the 20th century. That helps to explain the geometric features on the course which mirror the designs in the formal gardens surrounding the house.

[Thomas MacWood]

Craig
Wayne Stiles worked for Brett & Hall. I believe there is quite a bit of info on this course in the Stiles biography by Mendik and Labbance.

[Michael Mimran]

Pocantico Hills in Tarrytown, NY is built on the Rockefellar estate...A 9 hole reversible course. 

Here's a pic of the grounds with what looks like a practice green in the backround.  Couldn' find any pics of the course online.



Course was designed by William Flynn

Heres some arieals...

[Thomas MacWood]

Craig
Wayne Stiles worked for Brett & Hall. I believe there is quite a bit of info on this course in the Stiles biography by Mendik and Labbance.

The Stiles book claims WS was in charge of designing the West garden for B&H in 1909. The information on the golf course is a little sketchy. They were not able to determine who designed it, and they date it to the mid-20s. Based on the look of the features I would have thought it was older than that.

[wsmorrison]

Pocantico Hills is an 18-hole course with 13 greens, including one double green.  It reverses on itself on several holes.  There are 8 fairways not including the 4 par 3 holes.  The course was open for play in 1938, one year after JD Rockefeller, Sr. passed away.  His son, JD Rockefeller, Jr. and the five grandsons hired Flynn to build a new course on the family estate to replace the existing outmoded 9-hole course.  It is a fine course on perhaps the most magnificent estate in America.  Today there are no fairway lines as everything is mowed at the same height, about the height of a typical step cut.  The greens have shrunken quite a bit, but it retains its interest and beauty as the course winds about the property and takes the golfer to some magnificent overlooks and through theme gardens, rare specimen trees, sculptures and various views of Mr. Rockefeller, Sr.'s home, Kykuit.

Flynn designed another famous estate course for Albert Lasker in Lake Forest, IL known as Mill Road Farm GC.  It was one of the longest and most difficult courses in its day (1926) at 7000 yards and played for some time as a par 70.

Flynn redesigned (1924) the Friendship estate course in Washington, DC for newspaper publisher Edward McLean.

Flynn designed a fascinating 3-green, 9-hole golf course for the estate of Robert Cassatt, nephew of painter Mary Cassatt and President of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Flynn designed a 9-hole course (1930) for Dr. George Woodward, married to Gertrude Houston, daughter of real estate developer and railroad entrepreneur Henry Houston.  Houston and Woodward developed Chestnut Hill outside of Philadelphia, near the Woodward estate.  I don't think the course was ever built, perhaps due to the Depression.

[Tom Buggy]

There is a short public 9 hole course in Pawling N.Y called "The Dutcher" this was a private Course owned by the Dutcher family and built in 1890, the original was a 3 hole course that the family would use on weekends. at some point the family put it in trust to the Town/Village of Pawling to be maintained as a golf course..if the course were to close, the land would revert back to the estate of the Dutcher family.

The 3-hole "family course" at Dutcher has not been verified. Recent research (2020-2021) has established that there was not a Dutcher course until 1901.