Bendelow's Instruction Letter - Marsatawa CC (1907)

[Sven Nilsen]

Copied below is an article from the May 17, 1907 edition of The Ottawa Free Trader discussing the Marsatawa CC in Marseilles, IL.  

I found the inclusion of Bendelow's letter of instruction to be highly interesting, and it provided a good deal of insight into how he was able to reach the prolific numbers of designs that are attributed to him.  It's not quite 18 stakes on a Sunday afternoon, but its close.

[Bill_McBride]

The open drainage ditches are reminiscent of Oakmont, where a number still exist. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Bendelow's activity was nothing short of amazing.

A Mar. 19, 1898 Boston Evening Transcript article notes that Bendelow had designed 60 courses in the last year.

By Nov. 14, 1905, in an article in The Montreal Gazette, the claim was he had designed 395 courses.  The same article noted that the U.S. had 1,600 courses at that time, making him accountable for about a quarter of them.

The various lists of his work don't come close to matching up with those early numbers. 

[BCrosby]

His reference to the dreaded "leveller" hole is interesting. A Victorian design throw-back.

Bob   

[DMoriarty]

The terminology is interesting as well.  He visited the grounds for the purpose of "laying out thereupon a nine hole course."