This morning I spoke on the phone with Ron Richardson, who is in the insurance business in Old Fort, NC, and to whom I was directed for information about the history of the Old Fort Golf Course.
Ron said that he was 63 years old, which would place his birth around 1949. He told me that his father and some other men in Old Fort conceived of the idea of building a golf course in the 1950s, and began buying land in 1958. The course was completed in 1961. Ron would have been 12 years old then. The course was organized as a small, local corporation, with some men investing money, and others receiving stock for services rendered in building the course. Ron said a lot of volunteer labor and goods went into the course. The corporation is still owned by Ron and others in the community.
I asked Ron who the architect was, if any. He said that it was John R. Van Kleek, who had been living in Tryon, NC, in retirement, and who his father and others knew of and got him to come to Old Fort to design the course. Ron remembered Van Kleek as being in his 70s at the time. Tryon is about 45 miles south of Old Fort, and has always been a popular retirement community. On the other hand, Cornish & Whitten, in The Architects of Golf, report that Van Kleek died in 1957 in Tryon, but they do not have a date of birth for him. They also credit the Old Fort course to Alfred Tull (as noted by Tom MacWood in the post above). Then, on the web I found a death listing for a "John VanKleek" in Tryon on Feb. 1, 1967, at age 78. [Corrected to Feb. 18, 1967 - see post below.] He is listed as having been born on Oct. 22, 1888. Although I have no documentary evidence, at this point I'd go with Van Kleek, myself, after speaking with Mr. Richardson, and considering the Tryon link.
In my conversation Mr. Richardson I learned a lot of other interesting things about the history of the Old Fort course, one of which was that Rev. Billy Graham played there frequently (not now, of course, but in his golf playing days). Although originally from Charlotte, Graham has lived in Montreat, NC, most of his life, which is about 10 miles west of Old Fort. Ron said that Graham could play at Old Fort in relative anonymity, and liked it for that reason. (In the small world department, a number of years ago my wife put together a history museum exhibit on the life of Billy Graham, and among the artifacts she had on display were a Graham golf bag and set of clubs.)
As noted in posts above, the Old Fort course has lots of slope and bumps. You must hit the ball in the right place. If it's dry, you'll get lots of run out (and if not, still some good run out). For architecture aficionados, I'd recommend a play if you are in the area – just about 25 miles east of Asheville, NC, several miles south from Exit 73 (Old Fort), I-40, at 101 [or, maybe, 1001] Golf Course Rd. In any case, keep going on down Golf Course Rd. and you cannot miss it.