What Changed In 1895-1900?

[Sean_A]

I am still a bit dulled by Tommy Mac's death, but I still recall perhaps the most important question ever posed on this board.  Of course, that question, "What changed in 1895-1900?" was posed by Tommy Mac and was the kick off point for his incredible Arts & Crafts piece.  The question is a way of framing an explanation for the start of the Heathland Evolution which took place from 1895-1910ish.  It would seem few on this board accepted that the A&C movement was the catalyst for design break throughs achieved by Fergusson, Park Jr, Fowler, Dr Mac and Colt.  While I can't disagree with this conclusion, I am still highly curious as to what did change.  Does anybody have insight into this particular period which may shed light on why seemingly out of the blue not only was the heathlands discovered, but the beginning of "formalized" strategic design was explored?

Ciao   

[Rich Goodale]

From what I know, Sean, there was no step change in the 1895-1900 period, other than the fact that golf was becoming more popular amongst the upper classes and they had the money and need to build decent venues within easy reach of London.  You couldn't build a course in the Heathlands by planting 36 sticks in the ground because you would quickly lose track of where the sticks were placed!  So, you used your money to hire canny Scotsmen (e.g. Willie Park, Jr.) to do the dirty work of hiring other people to clear scrub and haul dung and other muck up and down hills until you could grow some decent grass.  Once it was proved this was possible, the spread of golf to the Shires of England was inevitable, given the fact that this was where the money was (to paraphrase the famous American bank robber, Wille Sutton).

What was the step change was the invention and proof of concept of the Haskell ball, from 1898 onward.  This not only made the game easier and more accessible to the "masses" (i.e. the middle class), it also made almost every course built before then obsolete, thus creating an increased demand for the services of golf course "architects."  To me 1900-1910 was second "golden age" (the first being from 1850-1880), but that is just my humble opinion.

Rich

[Garland Bayley]

John Low developed his principles of GCA and discussed with friends culminating in their publication in 1903 in Concerning Golf?

[Bradley Anderson]

Sunningdale was the first course to be seeded wall to wall in September 1900. The significance is this was that a golf course could be built and grown in in one year and I suspect that may have encouraged the architect to be more free with shaping.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The coming of the railways and their expansion into Surrey (in particular) allowed London businessmen, lawyers, surgeons, newspaper men and so on to live outside London. These were commuters of a higher class than today - many travelled first class, and wined and dined on the trains. The railways opened up Surrey quite considerably. There were few large Surrey towns of any antiquity - villages yes, but towns few. Surrey had been quite cut off by its dense forests. So we see that most of the classy golf clubs founded in the 1880s up to the First World War were products of senior professionals working in London and living in Surrey - Woking is an obvious case in point having been founded by lawyers from the Temple.

These people were wealthy enough that they could afford to make the grand tour of Scottish golf courses and set their sights on what they encountered their. Remember the founders of Royal St George's were Scots who scoured the south coast for a site suitable to host their 'Scottish' links, something based on their former experiences north of the border.

Markes, the founder of Sandy Lodge in Hertfordshire, ensured that the newly expanding Metropolitan Line built a halt at Sandy Lodge and most members travelled out from London to play. Few lived out in the Watford area at that time. Many clubs negotiated special fares for their members and were very dependent on the railway to transport London-based members to their club. Flackwell Heath, Denham and Beaconsfield were very much clubs dependent on the railway.

Then consider the houses built for these new commuters. Arts and Crafts was very much to the fore.   

[Tony_Muldoon]

All of above as a combination effect. 

I think it was a time when the game moved from the Upper Classes to include the Upper Middle Classes and the games expansion and economic wealth created new and interesting places to play.  Of all the Architects, only Simpson was of independently means, and all the others had to work. They were the typical of the new market of professional gentlemen that the game was rapidly expanding to include.

The Arts and Crafts houses and the new golf courses were only possible because of increasing wealth and that created more leisure time. Sport for Gentlemen became a good thing.

I do believe Tom MacWood's very interesting Arts and Crafts series should have looked more at the changing social and economic scene to understand the whole picture better. Nevertheless I greatly admire his attempt to move our understanding of this most interesting period forward.




Bradley, I believe Beale was mostly associated with Carter's Seeds.  They loved to crow about Sunningdale because only a few years later it was of course regarded as 'Colts place', and he was to them Sutton's man.   I have also seen claims by ex Carter staff that Walton Heath was where it all started for Carter's.  Nonetheless it really did kick off with the start of the new century.