[Chip Gaskins]

What were the effects of the Great Depression on many of the great courses that had just been completed or were in the middle of construction.

Did some close and reopen later?

Did some close forever?

I know Augusta National was caught and MacKenzie didn't get paid (supposedly) but are there any other stories out there about these troubled times.

Cypress was finished 1928
Riviera 1926
Augusta 1932
Shinnecock 1931
Crystal Downs 1929

A lot of the favorites were open very near the stock market crash of 1929.

[Craig Van Egmond]

Southern Hills - 1936

From what I've read Perry Maxwell was able to stay busy during the depression.

[Michael Dugger]

Seems, in general, new course construction slowed to a crawl.

It's well known Tillinghast served as a "special advisor" of sorts visiting many courses and helping them decrease maintenance by filling in bunkers.

Maxwell seems to be the most prolific of depression architects, Southern Hills was built from the hands of hundreds of men and was a WPA project, if I recall correctly.

[Doug Wright]

Chip,

Here in Denver, Wellshire GC, a private country club with a Donald Ross-designed course that opened in 1927, succumbed to the Depression and was purchased out of bankruptcy by the City of Denver in 1935 for $60,000. Over $250,000 had been invested in the club--$75,000 in the tudor style clubhouse alone. Wellshire remains a city owned public course today.

I wonder if we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing in the coming months/years.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Wasn't the C nine at Huntingdon Valley closed in the 1930s? It opened for play in 1928.

[Jim Sweeney]

The trend toward the closing of marginal private clubs started a few years ago and was picking up steam before the current economic turmoil. It should pick up steam.

It is unlikely that municipalities will buy up manyif the distressed golf properties. They are having a hard enough time making what they have work. The greater likelyhood is that shuttered clubs will either 1) be purchased by value hunting golf management companies to be run as annual membership or daily fee  courses or 2) sold for development, especially in highly populated or industrial areas.

[Tom_Doak]

Pasatiempo was purchased by private investors in the 1930's and changed operations to a semi-private course at that time ... it was originally private.

Lots of other private courses converted to munis in the 1930's also ... Timber Point and Lido are the first that leap to mind, but I'm sure there are similar examples in most major cities.

And a young Robert Trent Jones somehow convinced the state of New York to spend some of its WPA money building public golf courses.

[Mike_Young]

Chip,
I don't really know the effect of the depression on the GREAT courses of that era but I do think the current times will affect our courses in a little different manner than the average course during that depression time.
1.  I think so many of the courses that were built during the 80's and 90's were built mainly for housing lot and the maintenance of the course was more to aid in selling RE than golf.  As tis "style of double loaded golf holes evolves people think they are stuck with it because the homeowners need a back yard.  I think some of these will throw in the towel ad maintenance will go way down.  I don't know what all these fairway homeowners will do.....the architect that figures how to replace the golf course in these backyards with something that is not as maintenance dependent will make a lot of money.
2.  I think we are about to see a lot of courses with really good greens mowed with triplexes and a lower maintnenace standard thru out the rest of the course....
all of this is for our average coursesNOT OUR GREAT ONES...

[Ian Andrew]

I bet this is a common story...

Minaki Inn NLE (9 holes)

The golf course was officially opened on July 4, 1925, after a fire destroyed the clubhoused, delaying festivities one month. The course played only a par-33 and measured 2,665 yards. The golf course closed due to the Depression from the Fall of 1932, and reopened in June of 1935. World War II led to the closure of the course between 1943-1946.

[BCrosby]

There weren't many "great" courses that closed during the GD. The Lido and a few others being the obvious exceptions. Maybe the nle Foulpointe too?

But there were thousands of other courses that closed. The number of courses in the US peaked about 1930 and then began a precipitous annual decline until about 1950.

Courses in the US didn't recover to the 1930 number until about 1960, iirc.

Hold on to your hats. We may be heading into a similar rough patch.

Bob

[Cliff Hamm]

There was a previous thread on WPA courses.  While private courses may have been hurt it seems that public courses benefited.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35954.0.html

[BCrosby]

It would be interesting to know what percentage of public courses today started life with WPA funding.

Bob

[mike_beene]

Cedar Crest was a newer country club that went under around the depression.Are there other muny's that started life as country clubs?

[Thomas MacWood]

Tillinghast's cross-country tour for the PGA where he recommended the removal of thousands of bunkers also had an effect, although its difficult to document how often these clubs followed his recommendation.

How many great courses were on the drawing board at this time that were never built?

[TEPaul]

This does not necessarily include courses that were on the drawing board or close to opening near or during the depression but for many other pretty good courses and clubs it is pretty hard to generalize about the effects the GD had on them---and then followed by WW11 which may've been just as detrimental.

One thing that Ron Prichard once said though about the depression years sort of fascinates me----and that is there was a whole lot more redesign going on during the depression years than most might suspect given the disasterous economic ramifications of the depression years. The reason Ron gave was that not all clubs were hurting as much as many today might suspect and the people who ran some of those clubs realized that they could do projects for pennies on the dollar compared to before the depression (or probably after it). The reason was the employment rolls were so high there was a work force out there who might work for 10 cents on the dollar.

Interesting, and clearly the case with some clubs. One of the best examples is my own, GMGC, who had Perry Maxwell come in on three separate occassions through the 1930s.

[BCrosby]

How many great courses were on the drawing board at this time that were never built?

An example is Phil Young's discovery of a Tillie design for a course (Colonial GC) in Atlanta near my house. It was never built due to the Great Depression. I'm sure there were many other examples. My recollection is that Flynn drew several courses that were never built.

Another change brought about by the GD was the conversion of insolvent private clubs to public, municipal facilities.  My guess is that a combination of private-to-public and new WPA courses comprises a majority of public courses in the SE today. The history might be different in other regions.

Bob

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