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[Joe Bausch]

Oops, I missed February 8!  Here is the review of North Hills.  The two nines were built at different times, both with multiple cooks in the kitchen.

[Mike_Cirba]

Joe

I only have my blackberry today...could you kindly list the chefs??

Thanks!!

[Joe Bausch]

First nine holes:  William Ridgeway, Frank Meehan, and Frank Sheble.

Second nine holes:  Alan Corson, Hugh Wilson, Frank Meehan, and Ab Smith.

[Mike_Cirba]

Wow

What years for 2nd nine?

[Joe Bausch]

Wow

What years for 2nd nine?

I think the land was acquired 1914ish.  I think it formally opened around 1917.  I have more articles on NH to post and will do so after lunch.

[Mike_Cirba]

Cool...thanks

[Joe Bausch]

Mike, some dates here don't seem to make sense. 

Here is a October 23, 1911 Inky article talking about the course as a 9 holer:



Then this November 10, 1912 Inky article talks about North Hills' new course, with 9 more holes.  The J.E. Ford article suggests the new 9 holes was not considered until 1914:



And here I have an August 29, 1917 Public Ledger article talking about a practically new course for North Hills.  I wonder if Wilson et al redid 18 holes already present.

[Mike_Cirba]

Joe,

I'm going to have to look at this in detail...and timeline it out.   

We should try to get to North Hills this year to see the pro's Meehan collection.   I'm betting we come across some incredible stuff.

[Joe Bausch]

I'm in contact with the pro at NH, a 'Nova grad.

[TEPaul]

What a coincidence that Hugh Wilson died less than a week before that first JE Ford article on North Hills appeared.

It's pretty amazing to me that Hugh Wilson never seemed to mention so many of the golf courses that have been attributed to him. In letters and such all I can see that he mentioned were Merion, Seaview and Kittansett. Not that he wasn't involved in a number of others----it's just interesting he was so quiet about so many he seemed to have lent a hand on and which were attributed to him in some way.

I guess that must have been the modus operandi of the real "amateur/sportsman" he was. He did not leave a record of his architectural interest that was 1% as extensive as the written record he left of his interest in golf course agronomy and even architectural and maintenance economies.

I don't think it's strange really; probably more just a sign of him and his interesting times in the evolution of American golf.

I also find it very ironic that just as Hugh Wilson was ramping up his interest and influence in American agronomy bigtime in the latter half of the teens and first half of the 1920s, Macdonald seemed to be purposefully ramping down his interest and influence and participation in the same!

There was something going on there that we've never gotten our mitts on----I just know it! 

[Mike_Cirba]

What a coincidence that Hugh Wilson died less than a week before that first JE Ford article on North Hills appeared.

It's pretty amazing to me that Hugh Wilson never seemed to mention so many of the golf courses that have been attributed to him. In letters and such all I can see that he mentioned were Merion, Seaview and Kittansett. Not that he wasn't involved in a number of others----it's just interesting he was so quiet about so many he seemed to have lent a hand on and which were attributed to him in some way.

I guess that must have been the modus operandi of the real "amateur/sportsman" he was. He did not leave a record of his architectural interest that was 1% as extensive as the written record he left of his interest in golf course agronomy and even architectural and maintenance economies.

I don't think it's strange really; probably more just a sign of him and his interesting times in the evolution of American golf.

I also find it very ironic that just as Hugh Wilson was ramping up his interest and influence in American agronomy bigtime in the latter half of the teens and first half of the 1920s, Macdonald seemed to be purposefully ramping down his interest and influence and participation in the same!

There was something going on there that we've never gotten our mitts on----I just know it! 

Tom,

What we've all learned about Hugh Wilson's architectural endeavors these past few years are the reason I started that thread that attempts to chronicle most everything about him (except much about his agronomic successes) both competitively and architecturally in one place.

I find him incredibly fascinating, and before all this began I envisioned him as sort of a hands-off patrician who probably supervised stuff but who probably got more credit for Merion and Cobb's Creek than was due him.

Instead, what we've found is probably a guy who worked himself to death, and who was deeply involved in architecture, construction, and agronomy (as well as runnning his family business) from 1911 until his untimely death, at a level deeper and much, much more detailed than I think any of us imagined prior.

He also seemed to seek not a single smidgeon of credit for any of it.   In fact, articles of the time said he wanted his work to speak for itself, which it clearly does in spades.