Old 9 Hole course in NJ

[Bill Rocco]

Just curious if anybody has played one of my favorite golf courses in NJ. Moorestown Field Club.  It was built in 1892 designed by Samuel Allen.  Playing it throughout my High School and College golf career I feel it is one of the most under rated courses in NJ.  I would put it in my top 10 in NJ.

[Rick Sides]

Bill,
I have played the course.  It is a nice little 9 hole course.  Kelly Blake Moran did a nice job restoring the course.  The architect Sam Allen, was a very interesting inventor. 

[Bill Rocco]

Its a pretty interesting club, not many know how old it is in the Moorestown area.  I am trying to find out what number course it is, as far as original courses built in America.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bill,
If you search through some old threads I think you'll find that the golf course was built (at least the one you know) in 1911, not 1892.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Sam Allen must not have done a very good job though, because in 1916 E.B. Leaming of Moorestown contacted George Crump, and asked who could assist them in restoring their greens.  Crump recommended James Govan, his "Golf Professional", and gave him permission to leave and go help Moorestown.

[Mike Cirba]

Jim Kennedy is right that the existing course didn't open until 1911.

On the other hand, Crump was having his own problems with turfgrass around that time, as were many of the courses in America, as they sought to understand the correct mixtures.   I'm not sure I'd blame that one on poor old Sam Allen, Jim. 

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mike,
I wasn't, really.   

[Mike Cirba]

Jim,

Samuel Allen was pretty cool...I'll post more shortly.

It's also very highly likely that Samuel Allen, who invented tons of time-saving farming implements, as well as the Fiexible Flyer sled, also designed the original nine hole courses at Pocono Manor and Buck Hill Falls in the Poconos.

[Mike Cirba]

I've never played Moorestown, but hope to in the future.

From the recent thread I posted about Pocono Manor's history, here's a few snippets;

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mike,

The Quakers at Moorestown were a frugal bunch, they offered Govan a whopping $25.00 to come and fix 'em up.   (smiley added so as not to upset any religious sect)

He gave them a 5 page typewritten report that details ".....such things as putting a mixture of 12 cart loads of peat moss, 10 cart loads of alphano humus, 1 cart load of powdered limestone, 2 bags of fine ground bone meal and 4 bags sterilized and pulverized cow manure on all the greens."
and he goes on to "....explain methods of ridding the course of worms, building bunkers and traps, etc. Included, as well is a soil chemical analysis of the course from Carters Tested Seeds Co.

Not bad for 25 bucks.

[Mike Cirba]

Quakers? 

Frugal???

Cheap is the word, Jim.

They make the Amish look like Vegas high-rollers. 

The only thing they'll spend money on is golf trips to Ireland and perhaps another smidgeon of coal put to the stove on a winter's night. 

[Bill Rocco]

So the club was established in 1892? But the course in 1911?  The only info I could come across was that it was built in 1892.  Coming from Pemberton the Quakers where always are rivals.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Bill
MFC incorporation papers state in part:

"Be it remembered, that on the seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two at a regular meeting of the Moorestown Field Club of the township of Chester, county of Burlington, an association of less than one thousand members for the encouragement and practice of ball playing, lawn tennis playing, cricket playing and other moral and healthful physical exercises.

No mention of golf, just other moral and heatlhful exercises, and that can't be golf.    Maybe they had a rudimentary course of a few holes, I don't know, but maybe Joe or Mike will come up with that info.

[archie_struthers]

 

Played it more than a few times ....a nice little golf course with subtle greens and fairly tight corridors ...lots of fun for golfers ...nicely maintained ...well managed ..but technology has made it very short by modern standards ...I'd rate it at least a notch below it's neighbor nine holer Merchantville CC   .......  

[Mike Cirba]

In 1898, the club built a nine-hole course near an apple orchard on the west side of Chester Avenue.

Golf was slow to catch on, but a Dr. Joseph Stokes seemed to be one of the proponents and over time it started to grow.

The club grew dissatisifed with thei original nine, which was pretty rudimentary and apparently never in very good condition, and the members decided to build today's course, which opened in 1911.

[Mike Cirba]

Archie,

Architecturally, in terms of historical attribution, Merchantville is one of the most baffling courses we've come across.  The first nine holes opened in 1898, but were exceptionally short, and not lengthened til a few years later.

We simply don't know who did anything there, and it's the Jersey version of perplexing Phoenixville on this side of the river.

[Bill Rocco]

Thank for the history guys I could not find much,  I would say that the field club has some of the smallest greens in NJ which reflects the time period it was built.

[Rick Sides]

Bill,
You're right about the greens; it is like  trying throwing darts at them.  You better have a good iron game if you play there.