News:

Welcome to the Golf Club Atlas Discussion Group!

Each user is approved by the Golf Club Atlas editorial staff. For any new inquiries, please contact us.


Joe Bausch

  • Karma: +0/-0
I just love this Donald Ross course located north of Philadelphia.

@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Mike_Cirba

Awesome find as usual, Joe.

Just to keep this info all in one place, it should be noted that the first nine holes of the course (which the article states Ross retained some of as today's 2nd and 17th (later changed from a 4 to a par 3 to the same green)) were designed by Merion pro George Sayers and opened in 1915.

Phil_the_Author

Mike & Joe,

The land that they sold to build the new golf course on may have had an extremely important historical aspect in the game of golf that was unappreciated at the time.

In 1908, Tilly wrote about his very first attempt at golf course design when in the eummer of 1989, after returning from Scotland and spending a good deal of time with Old Tom Morris, he said that, "I was invited to run out to Frankford, a suburb of Philadelphia where at that time golf had yet to be introduced. Selecting the most available ground (which, by the way, is almost on the links of the present Frankford Country Club), I laid out a rather crude course, using for holes, tin cans which had once contained French peas. With a group of curious, skeptical citizens around me I next proceeded to demonstrate the various strokes to the best of my ability until one of the spectators expressed a desire to try his hand at it…"

I have been searching for the exact site where this took place for quite a while now and it could very well be that the on the property of the old Frankford Country Club, which today is the site of Frankford High Scholl and homes, is where Tilly built this first course. 

The key clue is that Tilly "was invited" to do this. By whom & why? He had a very good name in golf circles as a player & burgeoning writer already and his trips to Scotland and meetings with the important figures of the game on the other side of the pond would have also elevated his status in the eyes of some. The original 9 hole course of the Belfield CC was also in this neighborhood & both Tilly & his father were members. Yet it also seems likely that he knew a number of the members of the Frankford CC who founded their club just shortly before.

In either case, it seems highly likely that Tilly's first course was right there.

Joe Bausch

  • Karma: +0/-0
Phil, I have a 1908 review of Belfield CC (also from the North American).  It is not easy to read the entire article as the microfilm version isn't so good, but I'll massage it a bit later today and post it.  No mention of Tilly in it, but maybe that means he did the course.   ;) ;D
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Phil_the_Author

Joe,

The Belfield Club was founded in 1890 by a "bunch of tennis enthusiasts" and golf came later. The golf course was opened for play on December 11th, 1899. It was "Laid out by E.K. Tryon Jr. & Co. The holes were given the following names: "Bellfield View" "Cross Creek" "Bennett's" "The Poplars" "Hickory Grove" "The Homestead" "Crystal Spring's" "The Crossroads" & "Harper's Dan."

It was 2,666 yards in length and Tilly held the course record for 18 holes (two trips around) with an 80 in 1903.

Joe Bausch

  • Karma: +0/-0
Here's the Belfield write-up (Tilly's father was still a member):


@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Tags:
Tags:

An Error Has Occurred!

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()
Back