Recently, I went through the thread on North Shore CC Long Island Tillie-Raynor, and was especially interested in the discussion surrounding the Tillinghast 1925 Advertising Brochure and the Tillie courses that may not have been listed. However, I am more interested in the Tillinghast golf courses that HE DID LIST – and more specifically two listed under “Nine Hole Courses” as – Kingston GC, Kingston, N.Y. and Harmon CC, Harmon, N.Y.
I’ve been working with the listing in the brochure for over a year in reference to the Kingston GC, so I too played around with trying to make the list “whole. The listing of BOTH Tillinghast AND Raynor/MacDonald on separate pages of the North Shore website led me to call that Club recently. They in turn, were nice enough to refer me to the Wall St. Journal article that listed this discussion group.
In a list that appears to be intended to be comprehensive (and as a minimum, substantially complete), it was confusing why two courses so prominent as North Shore and Mountain View Farm [AKA Dellwood] were not there. I have information that the 2nd nine at Mt. View Farms was opened in 1922. Now North Shore is resolved.
The Kingston Golf Club was restructured under the name Twaalfskill Golf Club, while their new course was being planned/designed. The “Kingston Golf Club” name continued to some extent during the transition. Tillie lists it as a nine hole course, which it remains today with apparently minimal alteration from the original layout (over 107 years!).
The story of Worthington grabbing a totally inexperienced Tillie to create Shawnee has become legendary--- but Kingston/Twaalfskill was constructed during 1902 and opened in the Spring of 1903.[/u] Frank Hannigan has written concerning Tillie during the early 1900s: “It’s not clear what he did between 1900 and 1907 – except play golf and live high – but we can surmise that he talked golf and argued golf courses with his friends,…..” [Golf’s Forgotten Genius, Golf Journal, May 1974] I believe that Kingston was on his learning curve during this period along with possibly other work leading up to and concluding with his work at Shawnee. In Kingston, nine holes totaling about 2,900 yards are squeezed into only 34 acres of extreme rolling rocky terrain utilizing turn-of-the-century golf course construction. The layout of the holes is as random as can be expected. [Each hole is distinct. The tees and [steep greens are well placed. There are a few elements that would be considered unusual for today’s layouts, but not necessarily for that time. Almost all the greens were originally rectangular. The 9 holes include three par-3's of varying length, two par-5's -- one very long (580 yds.over extreme rolling terain) and one very short – and four par-4’s.
Another nine hole course listed is the Harmon Country Club, with a location of Harmon, N. Y. The brochure also lists Croton Point, Harmon, N. Y. as a site examination and report location. There is no indication that a nine hole course was ever built on Croton Point or Harmon, NY. Cornish and Whitten (1993) list it as Harmon CC, Lebanon , New York, A. W. Tillinghast. But Lebanon is a very rural town in upstate New York about 5 miles southwest of Colgate University in Hamilton. There is no indication that a nine hole course was ever constructed in Lebanon, NY either. A search of the web leads one to the Harmon Golf Club, Lebanon, Ohio.
The Harmon course initially consisted of a single loop of five holes constructed in 1912 as part of the 88 acre Harmon Park, in Lebanon on land donated by the philanthropist William E. Harmon. Later, around the year 1919, four holes were added. Mr. Harmon, born in Lebanon, was a noted real estate developer in New York City (his work including Forest Hills Gardens). Stay away from the Wikipedia on Harmon GC – its wacked out. I’m asking the Club to correct it.
The overall length today measures about 2,900 yards with #9 as a 130 yd. par-3, and 3,040 yards with #9 as a 267 yd. par-4. The greens are generally small and steeply sloped. The four holes of the later (1919) loop are for the most part, slightly shorter, tighter, and with smaller greens than the loop of five. Overall, one par-5, 2 par-3’s (including #9), and six par-4’s
I believe both of these courses to be Tillinghast. Not a full presentation of materials here; just intending to get the ball rolling.