August 26, 1935:
Every day brings its own share of surprises as wise person, my mother, once told me. And so this day did for Tilly.
"Evidently rain prevented the club at Dunkirk from meeting their engagement with me...
(the first case of the kind that has turned up since I left) however the day has been one of the most satisfactory of all, for our service reached out to a struggling club that was sadly in need of guidance and unable to secure it had it been necessary to pay for it. One of the most urgent requests for service came to me from PGA member Howard Swanson of the Tri-County Country Club at Silver Creek... about 40 miles out from Buffalo..."
There are those who have expressed opinions as to what they believed the purpose of the PGA Tour was, but that single paragraph reveals it all. A club needs help & has nowhere to turn. Their PGA pro is their only answer and he can actually turn to his Association to get it, and at no cost! Is Tilly's visit going to take work away from other architects? Not at all as the club hadn't money to hire anyone anyway...
For us today, especially if one drives like those in Georgia where I live, a 40 mile drive only takes about 23 minutes including the stop at the Quik-Trip for the 6-pack of beer and corn dog needed to quench the thirst and hunger. Back then, along unknown small roads it took MUCH longer!
"There I found a nine holes course that is supported by seventy-five members, with dues at $22 each per annum. With additional guest privileges the income of the club is something in excess of $3,000 each year from which sum is paid the professional's salary and two groundkeepers. All work hard to keep the course decent and succeed surprisingly well, although obviously the greens are far from right because of lack of funds. Four of the nine holes are quite blind and the entire lay-out exceedingly home-made...
Now I don't know about you, but after reading that I want to jump in my car with my clubs and go p-lay it and enjoy what must be basic golf from the beginnings!
"I determined at once that it would be cheaper to seed new greens than to rehabilitate the old ones, which are a mass of chickweed and clover. I completely rearranged the plan of the course, keeping most of the fairway but selecting new green sites in natural locations, which will entirely eliminate blindness and which may be developed gradually at comparatively small cost. In other words, all work will be to a definite program and altogether permanent in character, although it may take five years or more to complete it. The complete plan presented something of a problem and it took some time to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion but eventually everything worked out well and a complete arrangement of new holes was definitely fixed. I regard this work for Swanson's club as peculiarly significant of the value of the PGA Service..."
After reading that it makes one wonder whatever happened to the course. Did they do as Tilly suggested? Is it still in existence? Well I can answer one of those questions as it now is an 18-hole course that measures 5,510 yards in length. If you visit the website at
www.tricountycountryclub.com and take a tour of the course, you'll see some interesting looking holes and land that certainly would have lent itself to many a "blind" shot if most of us designed it for our community.
It is obvious that they take great pride in it, as they should. By the way, the green fees are $27 for a weekend round...
Total courses visited: 29