[Continued from Above]
So Willie Dunn and the club secretary at the time, Samuel L. Parrish, both recalled that Willie Dunn created the original course at Shinnecock. Mystery solved? Not quite. Perhaps a few of you might have already noticed a yellow flag or two in Parrish’s summary recollection. And upon reading a more complete version of Parrish’s account those familiar with Whitten’s version of Shinnecock’s history will notice what else seems amiss. Here again are Parrish’s recollections, including the above quote, but with also the description of events surrounding the creation of the original golf course:
It was then, while traveling in Italy in the Spring of 1891,
that I received a letter from Biarritz, France, from my friend,
the late Duncan Cryder, a summer resident of Southampton, in
which he stated that he and our mutual friend, the late Edward
S. Mead, were passing the winter at Biarritz and that they had
both become greatly interested in a game called "golf," (my first introduction to the word) which they thought might be successfully introduced at Southampton, and played, possibly, on the Shinnecock Hills.
I replied that I was very sorry, but that all my plans had been made to pass the spring in travel with friends in Italy, but
that as Mr. Mead and I were both about to return home we could
talk the matter over at Southampton. Upon meeting there in
the early summer of 1891, Mr. Mead so successfully communicated his enthusiasm for the game to the late General Thomas H.
Barber and myself that we asked the late Charles L. Atterbury, who was about to visit Montreal on a business trip, if he would
interview the authorities of the Royal Montreal Golf Club (organized in 1873, the oldest golf club in Canada, and therefore in the western hemisphere), and arrange with them to have their professional come to Southampton and look the ground over. As the result of this interview, the Scotch Canadian professional, Willie Dunn by name, arrived at Southampton with clubs and balls in the early part of July, 1891, consigned to me.
Immediately upon his arrival we drove out to the Shinnecock
Hills, but had proceeded only a few hundred yards beyond the
site of the present Art Village, where the brush then was and
still is very thick, when Dunn turned to me and remarked in a somewhat crestfallen manner that he was sorry that we had been
put to so much trouble and expense, but that no golf course could
be made on land of that character. We had already turned our faces homeward toward Southampton when I said to Dunn:
"Well, Dunn, what do you want?" thinking perhaps that trees or other natural obstacles were needed for the ground, my knowledge of the requirements of a golf course being at that time
exceedingly hazy. He then explained that ground capable of
being turned into some sort of turf was necessary, whereat my face brightened into a smile, for I knew every section of the 4,000
acres of the Hills, having often ridden over them, riding, bicycling, and lawn tennis having been at that time almost the only active outdoor exercises in our community. I then drove him to a spot
in the valley lying between the low hills now occupied by the houses of James C. Parrish and Arthur B. Claflin, the valley then, as now, being composed of a sandy soil comparatively free from brush, and capable of some sort of treatment appropriate for golf
at a reasonable outlay of time and money.
Dunn then teed up a ball (one of the old-fashioned gutta-
percha kind) and handed me a driver. By some fortunate dispensation of Providence, I happened to make a drive (all but too
frequently failing since of repetition in my thirty-two years of
golf), and the ball went sailing over the embankment of the
railroad track at what used to be the old seventh hole, while we
still played on the south side of the railroad, this then having been
the first golf ball ever struck on the Shinnecock Hills.
It is needless to recall here the experience of thousands, and
perhaps hundreds of thousands, of American golfers since July,
1891, when I say that I at once became a convert to, and devoted ollower of, the game. Upon Mead's return to Southampton at
the end of that week (he was a very busy man) I related to him my
experience, and that of others who had taken advantage of Dunn's
presence in Southampton to try their hands at the drive, with a
result similar in each case to my own, and, with General Barber
and George R. Schieffelin as driving forces in seconding Mead's
enthusiastic interest, it was decided that we should start in to
raise at least the sum of three thousand dollars for the purpose
of clearing the land, making simple putting greens and constructing such primitive accommodations for the players, including a
horse shed, as our means would permit. . .
At a meeting of the Trustees held on September 5, 1891,
the officers of the Club were authorized to accept the offer of the
Long Island Improvement Co. to sell from 75 to 80 acres of land,
on the Shinnecock Hills for the sum of $2500, the golf course having been already laid out on the land.
At a meeting of the Trustees held on September 7, 1891, the
House Committee was authorized to proceed with the erection of the Club House in accordance with the plans submitted by
Stanford White. The original course, as laid out by Willie Dunn in the summer
of 1891, consisted of 12 holes, the object of selecting that number
instead of eighteen having been, as I remember, for the purpose
of conserving our resources in the interest of improving both the
fair green and the putting greens. Shortly thereafter, the links
having become somewhat congested, an additional nine-hole
course was constructed for the exclusive use of the women players.
This distinction between men and women players having
created a certain amount of dissatisfaction, the new nine-hole
course was soon abandoned in favor of a single eighteen-hole
course. Later on, still further changes were made when all the
kind south of the railroad track was abandoned in favor of the
present links, situated exclusively north of the railroad.Those familiar with the story about how Davis created the original course at Shinnecock have surely caught on. Parrish recalled that club member Charles L. Atterbury traveled to Montreal on business and brought back “a Scotch Canadian Professional, Willie Dunn by name.” Willie Dunn, the professional at Royal Montreal in 1891? I don’t think so and have found no record of it. W.D. Davis was the professional at Royal Montreal in 1891. It seems that the professional described by Parish was
not Willie Dunn, but rather he the Scottish (not “Scotch Canadian”) professional at Royal Montreal
named William D. Davis. Did Parrish get his Scottish professionals confused, and credit the wrong Willie with introducing golf to Shinnecock?
It seems quite possible. After all, both Dunn and Davis were reportedly there early on. And surely many of us have been similarly confused when trying to keep track of these early Scottish professionals, many of whom shared the same first name, usually “Willie,” and had relatives in the industry. (Consider just the Dunn family, with Old Willie, his twin Jamie, Tom, Young Willie, Seymour, and John.) I know I have mixed up the various early Scottish professionals from time to time, so surely it is understandable if Parrish did, especially because his recollection was written over thirty years after the fact, when Mr. Parrish was in his seventies.
But I find it odd that, throughout his reminiscence, Parrish provided many precise details, such as the exact dates and details from various 1891 meetings, as if he was relying on the club records, records that as Secretary he most likely would have created. Yet he has the name wrong? Is it possible that Shinnecock never recorded the name of the person who created their original golf course in their records? Perhaps. given the original course was reportedly laid out in the
summer of 1891 and the club was not incorporated until that September. Also, if Dunn and Davis each were there early on, and if they each did something to the golf courses, then why does Parrish only mention one early professional? Perhaps he just did not see fit to mention that there were others, or perhaps he had combined them in his mind into sort of a composite character with a Scottish brogue. Or maybe either he or the club records (or both) did not concern themselves with such things as recording the names of the hired help at Shinnecock. Regardless, Parrish seems to have been confused as to the name. And so it looks as if W.D. Davis must have designed he original course of twelve holes.
So we seem to have come full circle, and we are back to Whitten’s version, with Davis designing the original twelve hole course, and then Dunn expanding it to eighteen a few years later. Yet what of Dunn’s description of designing the twelve hole course? Was he embellishing? Was he confused, and really describing the eighteen hole course? Or is the mystery still not yet resolved?
As an aside, I hope you are starting to get a sense of just how confusing and ambiguous these histories can become, and how what would seem to be
the most reliable sources might not be, especially when interests are reputations might be involved, or when the source is trying to make a coherent story out of facts that he or she may not quite know or remember. We all like a good narrative story, especially one that makes sense and makes us or ours look good. And those writing these narratives usually go into it with some idea of what they think happened and how the story should come out. Apparently, sometimes in the process putting the puzzle together, the facts get bent, confused, mixed up, and changed for the sake of creating a compelling and coherent narrative. I don’t think this is done intentionally, but rather subconsciously, a product of our deep desire to make sense of things even though we might not have all the information. First we figure out what makes sense to us in the big picture, and then we see the facts through that lens, unintentionally nudging them here and there so that it all fits in the end.
As for what
really happened at Shinnecock, if you want to know well then you should develop a relationship with the club and then go there and read their records. Just kidding. Before I get to what really happened, I want to point out the one consistency throughout these accounts and of many more not discussed. All agree that whoever designed Shinnecock’s original course, it was a twelve hole course, and that twelve hole course was eventually replaced with a course of eighteen holes. Dunn said so. So did Parrish, and Whitten agrees, and while I haven’t seen it presumably the club history noted the original course was twelve holes as well. So at least we know that the original course must have been twelve holes, right?
Below is what I generally
think happened, based upon various contemporaneous newspaper articles including a terrific article from the August 30, 1891 New York Herald. As should be expected by now, even this begins with a bit of confusion.
- In the spring or summer of 1891, golf apparently became a hot topic of conversation around Southampton, but there are two different stories about how this came to be. Mrs. Johnson, the keeper of the Shinnecock Inn, reportedly insisted that golf was brought to Southampton by her sister, who had traveled to Scotland to visit relatives and came back with eloquent descriptions of the game, and that she somehow convinced some of the founders, Charles Atterbury in particular, to bring the game to Southamption. The other story is the one about Duncan Cryder and Edward Mead (the publisher) traveling to Biarritz and witnessing the game (reportedly as played by Willie Dunn) and falling for it instantly, then convincing others back home that they should try to bring the game to Southampton. While the latter story is the one that seems to have survived, it could be that both Mrs. Johnson’s sister and the Biarritz trip both played a part.
- Despite the stories about Vanderbilt having been involved, I have found no contemporaneous reports of his involvement.
- Anyway whatever his impetus, when Charles Atterbury traveled to Montreal for business that summer, he convinced Royal Montreal’s golf professional, W.D. Davis, to come down to Southampton to lay out a golf course and to and teach those interested how to play golf.
- W.D. Davis came to Southampton in July 1891 and apparently stayed about a month. While in Southampton he gave lessons and laid out two golf courses. The men’s course was
nine holes, with lengths of 258, 187, 395, 275, 412, 297, 265, 228, and 242 yards. Following is a map of the golf course from before mid-August 1891.
- At around the same time (before mid-August 1891) W.D. Davis also designed a shorter women’s course, reportedly located across the Railroad tracks from the future location of the clubhouse. The course was reportedly easier and about a mile in length total. Presumably the course was also nine holes, although I have yet to confirm this presumption. If it was nine holes, then this would mean that Shinnecock was the first club in the United States to have eighteen holes, although the two courses were apparently not played as a single round.
- On August 22, 1891, the organizers met to form the club, adopt the club’s Constitution, and elect the Trustees. By mid-September, the club had reportedly purchased eighty acres of land on which the golf course had already been laid out. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was incorporated on September 22, 1894, and work began on the clubhouse soon thereafter, and the clubhouse was open by July of 1892. (Mr. Parrish’s account provides many more details and is worth a read for those interested.)
- For the summer of 1892, Shinnecock reportedly hired a Scottish professional of their own, John Cuthbert of St. Andrews. I don’t know much about Cuthbert, except that he appears to have become a professional shortly before coming to Southampton. He played as an amateur in the 1891 Open, and apparently did not play in the Open again until 1894, when was no longer listed as an amateur. I don’t know where Cuthbert was in 1894. In fact, I had never heard of Cuthbert, even though was apparently one of the earliest Scottish professionals working in the United States. Does anyone know anything about him?
- It seems unlikely that Cuthbert made any major changes to the layout. As of July of 1892, the yardages on the nine-hole long course were reportedly the same as laid out by Davis the year before.
- Sometime in the spring of 1893 Willie Dunn came to Southhampton. It was then that he must have created the
twelve hole course. As one can see by comparing the map below to the 1891 map above, Willie Dunn’s course apparently kept holes approximating four of the previous holes. Something like the original 1st hole remained Dunn’s first hole, something like the original 2nd hole became Dunn’s 5th hole, something like the original 6th hole became Dunn’s 9th, and something like the original 7th hole became Dunn’s 10th hole. (Note that this 1893 map contains contour lines.)
- Additionally, Dunn apparently designed a new nine hole women’s course, as the previous Women’s course was reportedly located on the other side of the railroad tracks.
The history continues on from there, with Dunn expanding the twelve hole course to eighteen holes in the spring of 1895, and at this time Shinnecock had both an 18 hole men’s course, and a 9 hole women’s course. By summer of 1895 Dunn was reportedly so busy playing money matches and designing courses that Shinnecock sent for Andrew Kirkaldy to split Dunn's duties at Shinnecock. Below is a map of the two Shinnecock courses in 1895. And surely that is more than enough of the early history for now.
And what of the various versions of the history? It seems that most of them were partially correct, but also seriously flawed. Club Secretary Samuel Parrish’s version apparently confused Dunn and Davis, or somehow combined them into one man. Parrish also apparently forgot that there had been a nine-hole course for two seasons before the twelve hole course was laid out. And if the newspaper account of the location of the women’s course is correct, then Parrish also forgot that there were at least two different women’s courses, including one laid out in 1891. Willie Dunn’s version of the history was apparently correct to the extent that Dunn recalled laying out the twelve-hole course, but Dunn neglected to mention that there was already a nine-hole course and a Women’s course already in existence. Also he inexplicably included a Vanderbilt in the mix, and apparently has his years off by a few. I haven’t seen the Shinnecock Club history, but apparently it correctly credits Dunn with laying out twelve-hole course, but incorrectly portrays this as the original course. Whitten correctly noted that Davis was the first to design a course at Shinnecock, but mistakenly thought it was the twelve hole course that was designed a few years later. All these accounts pretty much treat the women’s course as an after thought, as does my version, to a degree.
Is my version correct? Who knows, but it is the best I could come up with based upon what I could find.