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David Cronheim

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Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« on: August 29, 2011, 11:28:04 AM »
Fellow GCA-ers,

I figured this would be a perfect place to ask for help. My family has owned Twin Brooks Country Club in Watchung, NJ since the 1940's. It's a beautiful and picturesque course nestled in the Watchung Mountains. For those of you who haven't played it, it is (in my biased opinion) a demanding and interesting test of golf with characteristics similar to the upper at Baltusrol. It's built on the side of a mountain - the greens are devilish and sidehill lies are the rule. However, much to my chagrin, no one knows who designed the course and that's where I'd like your help. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I might look?

I spent the better part of a month poking around in newspaper archives (both online and in print), but to no avail. I could find no reference to the designer. Not all was lost, however, because I was able to trace the club's roots back 31 years earlier than anyone else had to two different 9-hole layouts that eventually closed before the club moved to its current location. However, it has always vexed me that I cannot find any information about the architect. We were even able to speak to someone who was a shaper back in 1925/6, but he didn't know the name of the designer.

Some websites mistakenly list Alex Ternyei (with various spellings) as the architect, but we have ruled him out based on other research I've conducted. It was built at about the same time as Plainfield (some 4 miles away) and there has been much speculation that one of Ross' assistants may have moonlighted on the job. I haven't been able to find any proof of this, however, and have reached a very unsatisfying dead end.

Any helpful suggestions (particularly online resources) would be greatly appreciated! Also, if any of you live near or will be in Somerset County at any point in the future, let me know and I'd be happy to have you as my guest and show you around. Thanks in advance for your help.

-David
« Last Edit: August 29, 2011, 11:33:07 AM by David Cronheim »
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

Mike Cirba

Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2011, 11:38:11 AM »
David,

Was the club always known as Twin Brooks?   Thanks.

David Cronheim

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2011, 11:44:25 AM »
David,

Was the club always known as Twin Brooks?   Thanks.

That's an excellent point. The name of the club changed repeatedly, roughly as follows:

c. 1895-1915 "Park Golf Club" (Plainfield, NJ)
1915-1925/6 "Hydewood Golf Club" (N. Plainfield, NJ)
1926-1930/40's "Watchung Valley Country Club"
1930's to present "Twin Brooks Country Club"

The current course, now known as Twin Brooks, was built in roughly 1926. I should mention, we have an article from 1898 discussing the construction of the golf course at Park Golf Club, but an article from 3 years earlier mentioning the founding of the Club itself, sans course.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2011, 11:52:32 AM by David Cronheim »
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

Mike Cirba

Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2011, 12:41:41 PM »
David,

Is it possible that the present course existed prior to the Hydewood Club moving there, or do we know for certain that today's course was originally constructed in the 1925/26 timeframe?

David Cronheim

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2011, 01:11:10 PM »
David,

Is it possible that the present course existed prior to the Hydewood Club moving there, or do we know for certain that today's course was originally constructed in the 1925/26 timeframe?

We know that the course moved 2x. Originally it was in Plainfield and known as Park Golf Club. Then upon moving to North Plainfield (at the base of the Watchung Mountains) in 1915, it was immediately known as Hydewood. Then it moved over the hills to its current location in Watchung. Upon moving to Watchung, it kept the name Hydewood for a year or two it looks like (or news outlets kept referring to it as such for that period of time). It briefly changed its name to Watchung Valley CC, then became Twin Brooks.

Here's an article discussing that move:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F4091EFB3A5D17738DDDA90B94DF405B878EF1D3&scp=4&sq=%22Hydewood+golf+club%22&st=p

Again, you'll note the differing date of founding (1897, but other dates of 1894, 1895, and 1898). Much of the confusion seems to have stemmed from the fact the club moved three times and had four different names. All of this made searching for the architect more difficult. Golf Illustrated (accessible from the USGA site) has some nice articles and even mentions who was to design the gothic style clubhouse that was never built, but alas nothing about the architect of the course.
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

David Cronheim

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2011, 01:15:07 PM »
For context, here's an excerpt newsletter I wrote to the membership:

Beyond merely new faces, the most obvious change will be the incorporation of a new logo which features our correct date of establishment: 1895. Last summer, I conducted archival research aimed at discovering who had designed the course. While I was unable discover the architect (though I can conclusively say it was not Alex Ternyei who is often credited), I stumbled across a missing link which confirmed that our club has been in continuous existence since 1895.
   
It had widely been believed that the club we now know as Twin Brooks had originally been founded as the 9-hole “Park Golf Club” in Plainfield in 1895. However, at the end of 1915, the bustling Park Golf Club inexplicably vanished from the records.  It appeared history had forgotten what had happened to the club. It was known that many of the members of Park Golf Club comprised the core of Twin Brooks’ original membership, but no one knew what happened in the interim between Park’s 1915 closing and Twin Brooks’ 1926 “founding.”

My research discovered that Park Golf Club did not fold in 1915, but instead merely relocated. The club moved from its original location in Plainfield to a new 9-hole course near what is today the intersection of Watchung Ave. and Rt. 22 in North Plainfield. Not coincidentally, the course opened in 1916 (one year after Park Golf Club’s disappearance), but renamed itself “Hydewood Golf Club,” a key discovery. Hydewood was the missing link.

By comparing contemporary newspaper articles which contained lists of officers and published results from weekly tournaments, it soon became clear that Park Golf Club had become Hydewood. This was confirmed by at July 30, 1927 New York Times article about the opening of our current golf course which stated that, “Although Hydewood has been in operation since 1897 (in actuality, 1895) it is virtually a new country club as it has moved from within the (Plainfield) city limits to about three miles out.” The same officers, the same members, the same club. Confusion regularly stemmed from newspapers’ struggles to keep track of the frequent name changes and relocations. Stories often mistook what was one club for multiple.

In 1926, the membership of Hydewood moved to our current facility here in Watchung. Although beginning existence as Hydewood, the members yet again changed the club’s name, this time to “Watchung Valley Country Club.” A lengthy article in the February 1929 edition of Golf Illustrated showed plans for a new clubhouse, which was to be built in the style of a medieval castle. The Great Depression intervened later that year and the plans for a moat and drawbridge were scrapped.  The Watchung Valley name would be used for most of the 1930’s, with a gradual transition to “Twin Brooks Country Club” complete by 1945.

We are proud to be able to trace our heritage back without interruption to 1895 and through four names, we’re still one club.


                   
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

Mike Cirba

Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2011, 01:17:01 PM »
David,

What's the date of that article?   Thanks.

David Cronheim

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2011, 01:21:14 PM »
July 30, 1927
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

David Cronheim

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2011, 09:51:54 AM »
ok - forgive me for the one "bump," but this is a site full of devotees of golf course architecture. Surely, someone has a suggestion for a book, a website, or approach I might be able to take. A book of American golf course architects? Anything...any help would be appreciated.
Check out my golf law blog - Tee, Esq.

MCirba

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2019, 02:28:46 PM »
Hi David,

I'm not sure if this mystery has been uncovered since you first posted in 2011.   But it should be now as this 1927 Plainfield Courier news account details;



***EDIT*** - I just went to the "Watchung Valley Country Club" website and their history does indicate that O'Loughlin took over but using a plan that had been devised by Seth Raynor prior to his death.   I was also able to determine that the former Hydewood Golf Club did acquire the land of the new course a month or two prior to Raynor's death, so that's possible.
I may have missed something here in a prior thread but am wondering what additional information indicates the provenance of Seth Raynor?   Thanks for any help.

« Last Edit: April 03, 2019, 02:54:45 PM by MCirba »
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge

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Sven Nilsen

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Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2019, 03:39:53 PM »
We know that the course moved 2x. Originally it was in Plainfield and known as Park Golf Club. Then upon moving to North Plainfield (at the base of the Watchung Mountains) in 1915, it was immediately known as Hydewood.


Are you sure the club moved in 1915?  There's a May 17, 1926 Courier-News article noting that the present 9 hole course of Hydewood was built for the Park GC about 30 years ago. 
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Steve Lapper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2019, 08:17:46 PM »
Hi David,


***EDIT*** - I just went to the "Watchung Valley Country Club" website and their history does indicate that O'Loughlin took over but using a plan that had been devised by Seth Raynor prior to his death.   I was also able to determine that the former Hydewood Golf Club did acquire the land of the new course a month or two prior to Raynor's death, so that's possible.
I may have missed something here in a prior thread but am wondering what additional information indicates the provenance of Seth Raynor?   Thanks for any help.


Having played there a number of times, it's an undeniable stretch of the imagination (and very slim odds) that Seth Raynor ever stepped foot on the property. I suspect if anyone were to look at the last 60-90 days preceding his premature passing, they'd find no record of him being anywhere near Warren, NJ.


This said, George Waters did do a very nice job of re-presenting the golf course and deserves plenty of credit for coaxing any decent golf holes out of the previous layout.


It's historical heresy to attribute any part of this to Raynor. Furthermore the tale of our late, great, friend George Bahto ascribing any Raynor to this is a fallacy. We talked about it when working on another project and he decidely mentioned it wasn't likely Raynor ever visited or worked there.
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."--John Kenneth Galbraith

Nigel Islam

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2019, 12:22:58 AM »
Hi David,


***EDIT*** - I just went to the "Watchung Valley Country Club" website and their history does indicate that O'Loughlin took over but using a plan that had been devised by Seth Raynor prior to his death.   I was also able to determine that the former Hydewood Golf Club did acquire the land of the new course a month or two prior to Raynor's death, so that's possible.
I may have missed something here in a prior thread but am wondering what additional information indicates the provenance of Seth Raynor?   Thanks for any help.


Having played there a number of times, it's an undeniable stretch of the imagination (and very slim odds) that Seth Raynor ever stepped foot on the property. I suspect if anyone were to look at the last 60-90 days preceding his premature passing, they'd find no record of him being anywhere near Warren, NJ.


This said, George Waters did do a very nice job of re-presenting the golf course and deserves plenty of credit for coaxing any decent golf holes out of the previous layout.


It's historical heresy to attribute any part of this to Raynor. Furthermore the tale of our late, great, friend George Bahto ascribing any Raynor to this is a fallacy. We talked about it when working on another project and he decidely mentioned it wasn't likely Raynor ever visited or worked there.


Steve,

   We actually do have a fairly solid timeline regarding Raynor's last sixth months. He was at Essex County Country Club in July and at Knollwood and Southampton around that time as well. By November he went to Chattanooga then onto to Cincy and Milwaukee. He then went to SF & Monterey. A couple weeks in Hawaii in December and back to SF and Monterey. From there he went back to New York for Christmas prior to his fateful trip to Palm Beach. He was busy to say the least, although compared to his Bermuda trips this was nothing!
   
Nigel
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 12:38:37 AM by Nigel Islam »

Steve Lapper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2019, 07:13:56 AM »
Nigel,


 Thank you for the quality information. Much appreciated! Conceivably then, Raynor could have seen the property shortly before his untimely death. If so, it would've been late that fall or early winter, although I still strongly doubt it.


 The critical questions then become.... What's the possibility and/or probability that Raynor did walk the property?; Come up with any routing or plan?; Why wouldn't that have been documented or reported?; And, why wasn't his style effected or developed whatsoever?


  Like I'd previously mentioned, no part of any Raynor (if involved) has been documented nor survived in any form prior to George Waters work.
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."--John Kenneth Galbraith

Nigel Islam

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Twin Brooks CC - architect unknown
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2019, 09:19:01 AM »
Steve,


I tend to agree with what your saying. Of course I'd dearly love to be wrong. The story of the family owned club that has survived the economic downturns of time would be bolstered by definitive proof Seth Raynor (or Banks) had a hand in the course. Raynor also was involved at Rock Spring too during this time as well  which also was less than a high budget affair.
    Regardless I suspect by my emails with David he just wants to know as much of the real story as he can. He is very generous with his time and resources, and while I haven't made it to Watchung, I suspect anyone going there would be quite pleased they did.


Nigel