Breaking Down the Bendelow List

[Chris_Blakely]

1920

Bloomingdale GC (Glendale GC) (Bloomingdale, IL) - The List has 1924.
Ingersol Park GC (Rockford, IL) - The List has 1922.
Connersville CC (Connersville, IN)
Ellis Park Municipal (Cedar Rapids, IA)
Clinton CC (Clinton, IA)
Coldwater CC (Coldwater, MI)
Ludington GC (Lincoln Hill GC) (Ludington, MI)
Defiance GC (Defiance, OH)
Lorain CC (Lorain, OH)
Old Hickory GC (Beaver Dam, WI)
Nakoma CC (Madison, WI)
Tripoli CC (Milwaukee, WI)
Beulah Lake GC (Mukwonago, WI)
Oskaloosa GC (Oskaloosa, WI)

Additions:

Longwood GC (Crete, IL) - Looking for sources for this attribution.

Longwood is Harry Collis.   Everything on the current course is similar to the othe Collis courses I have played and not Bendelow.

[Chris_Blakely]

1918

La Cumbra CC (Santa Barbara, CA) - Jan. 24, 1919 El Paso Herald article notes Bendelow revising and expanding the course.

Boulder CC (Boulder, CO)
Orlando CC (Orlando, FL) - Other sources have Ross in 1918.
Lincoln Elks GC (Lincoln, IL)
Grand Hotel GC (Mackinac Island, MI)
Biloxi GC (Biloxi, MS) - Did Bendelow do the 18 hole course here as well?
Broadview GC (Carthage, MO) - The List has this as date Unknown.
Monongahela Valley CC (Monongahela, PA) - Is this the course laid out by Bendelow in Greensboro, PA as described in the June 1910 The American Golfer.

Town and Country Club (Fond Du Lac, WI) - The List has this as date Unknown.

I don't think Monongahela Valley is the course you want because it's an Emil Loefler design.  The greens resemble the othe courses of EL I have played.

[Anthony Gholz]

Sven:

I'm a couple years behind you.  Bloomington CC (IL) 1912.  Their web site doesn't admit to much.  But they did have 9-holes with 9 more later.

My (current) confusion has to do with Highland Park GC, a municipal course also in Bloomington, that the local McLean County history museum calls Bendelow 1922.  Stuart's book lists Bloomington, Illinois City Parks with no dates.  Didn't see you list that/them (yet?).  For a little more confusion Whitten lists Highland Park GC (was CC now HPGC municipal course as Alison R.1924.  The HPCC dates don't jive, neither does all the water.  Is there a possibiity of 9-holes by Bendelow in Bloomington in 1920 +/- and then Alison expands to 18 in 1924?  There are many Alison connections near HP, IL, but its not that far to Bloomington.

I'm hoping our Bendelow/Alison experts out there have a rabbit up their sleeves.
Anthony

[Tim_Cronin]

1920

Bloomingdale GC (Glendale GC) (Bloomingdale, IL) - The List has 1924.
Ingersol Park GC (Rockford, IL) - The List has 1922.
Connersville CC (Connersville, IN)
Ellis Park Municipal (Cedar Rapids, IA)
Clinton CC (Clinton, IA)
Coldwater CC (Coldwater, MI)
Ludington GC (Lincoln Hill GC) (Ludington, MI)
Defiance GC (Defiance, OH)
Lorain CC (Lorain, OH)
Old Hickory GC (Beaver Dam, WI)
Nakoma CC (Madison, WI)
Tripoli CC (Milwaukee, WI)
Beulah Lake GC (Mukwonago, WI)
Oskaloosa GC (Oskaloosa, WI)

Additions:

Longwood GC (Crete, IL) - Looking for sources for this attribution.

Longwood is Harry Collis.   Everything on the current course is similar to the othe Collis courses I have played and not Bendelow.

Dan Moore to the white courtesy phone, please. In an old thread, Dan also pointed to Collis as Longwood's designer. Longwood isn't mentioned in the Chicago Tribune obit of Collis (10/25/1937), but that proves nothing.

[Sven Nilsen]

1923

Dubsdread GC (Orlando, FL)
Hickory Hills CC (Chicago, IL) - Looking for source information for this attribution.
Kishwaukee CC (DeKalb, IL)
Maywood CC (Hillside, IL)
Spring Lake (Libertyville, IL) - Feb. 7, 1924 Chicago Tribune notes construction progressing under the direction of Bendelow.

Dubuque G&CC (Dubuque, IA)
University of Iowa GC (Iowa City, IA) - Aug. 18, 1923 Waterloo Evening Courier notes Bendelow as architect.  Aug. 20, 1923 Iowa City Press notes Bendelow engaged to lay out the course.

Michicago CC (Benton Harbor, MI) - Michicago became Twin City Golf Club, which the List has a separate entry for with a date of 1929.  Bendelow's involvement noted in Aug. 15 and Aug. 18, 1923 Benton Harbor News Palladium articles (see below).  Oct. 20, 1923 Benton Harbor News Palladium notes Bendelow overseeing construction.  June 13, 1930 Southtown Economist article notes course as Twin City having been laid out by Bendelow.

Plymouth Park GC (Niles, MI)
Owosso GC (Owosso, MI
Edina CC (Edina, MN)
Alexandria G&CC (Alexandria, MS)
Northmoor Golf on the Lake (Cekina, OH) - Also known as North Shore GC and location should be "Celina" and is the same course as St. Marys CC in St. Marys, OH  which is also on the list.  See Feb. 27, 1923 Chicago Tribune article below and the Ad below from the June 66, 1926 Piqua Daily Call which notes course was laid out by Bendelow.
Standard Club (lka Woodmont CC) (Nashville, TN) - The List has the date as Unknown.
-It is possible Bendelow was also involved with the original Standard Club course which was built in 1909.

Hickory Hills CC (Chilton, WI)
Quit-Qui-Oc GC (Elkhart Lake, WI) - List has 1922.  Feb. 27, 1923 Chicago Tribune notes Bendelow putting in a new public course at Elkhart Lake.


Additions:

Midwick CC (Los Angeles, CA) - Bendelow designed new greens.
Sunmer GC (Sunmer, IA) - Noted in an Aug. 20, 1923 Berkely Daily Gazette article with Bendelow as architect.

Michicago -







Northwood -

[RJ_Daley]

Do we know what tract of land the Michicago Club occupied?  Is it near or part of the Lost Dunes current location?

[Sven Nilsen]

Do we know what tract of land the Michicago Club occupied?  Is it near or part of the Lost Dunes current location?

Michicago was located just outside of Benton Harbor.  My best guess is that it was in the area of where the airport sits today.

[Sven Nilsen]

An interesting find from 1906, which has Bendelow supervising a Mixed Foursome tournament which was won by a "Willie Langford" and his Mom.

Oak Park Oak Leaves - July 28, 1906

[Sven Nilsen]

1924

Medinah CC #1 (Medinah, IL)
Pine Hills GC (Ottawa, IL)
Escanaba CC (Escanaba, MI) - The List has 1915.
Sharp Park GC (Jackson, MI) - The List has a duplicate entry for Ella Sharp GC in Jackson.
Juniata Valley CC (Huntingdon, PA) - The List also has an entry for Juniata CC (aka Mount Union CC) in Mount Union, PA, which is the same course.  Sept. 23, 1924 Huntingdon Daily News notes Bendelow laid out the course and includes a letter from him to the club.

Big Foot CC (Fontana, WI) - July 26, 1925 Chicago Tribune notes Bendelow designed the course.


1925

Wide Acres GC (Denver, CO) - Looking for source information for this attribution.  The List used to have this as "Golden Acres," neither name appears in any of the Annual Guides.
Chevy Chase CC (fka Columbian CC) (Tradiitions) (Wheeling, IL) - The List has 1923.
Jacksonville CC (Jacksonville, IL)
Scovill GC (Decatur, IL)
Elmhurst CC (Oskaloosa, IA)
Baton Rouge G&CC (Baton Rouge, LA) - Was this the Baton Rouge Municipal GC?
Rochester GC (Rochester, MI)

[Jason Topp]

What is Bendelow's best course? 

I thought the University of Iowa was Robert Bruce Harris.  Was it re-done in the 50's or 60's or was a new course built?

[Dan Moore]

In my opinion from the handful of his courses I have seen would be Olympia Fields South although it's now a compilation course with holes 8 & 9 cribbed from William Watson's course #2 and the new Steve Smyers hole #3.  Also hard to say the extent to which the greens and bunkers are Bendelow's work or the work of James Foulis the first greenskeeper and Jack Daray a later greenskeeper.  I know of at least one green that redone some time ago.  But the essential routing is intact and its quite a good one that takes good advantage of the stream and hills.  Hole #6 was then and is now world class. 

Medinah #3 would be next but the list of changes are too numerous to call it a Bendelow design.  You would have to also credit several other architects with substantial changes. 

Tim Cronin wrote the book on Medinah and will write the book on Olympia Fields for next year's 100th so I'm sure he'll sort it all out there. 

A cool one that is appears mostly original (I haven't studied it in detail) is Big Foot CC in Lake Geneva. 

I'm not familiar with his courses outside Wisconsin ( I grew up playing a Bendelow 9 holer in Wisconsin) and Illinois so I am very curious if there are standout courses around the rest of the country. 

[RJ_Daley]

Of the Bendelow courses I have seen and played, I would have to say the most untouched and good / sporty design would be the Bendelow 9s at Old Hickory in Beaver Dam WI,  and Quic Qui Oc in Elkhart Lake, WI.  I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy a go around those two.  I didn't play the women's course at Medinah,  but toured it with the super, and found it appeared quite unremodelled and probably a good representation of Bende's design concepts.  There really isn't much or anything left of Bende at an otherwise pretty nice city club at Nakoma CC  in Madison, WI.  Tillie made extensive recommendations there on his PGA tour, and a number of archies have had their way with her since. 

[Sven Nilsen]

There are a number of courses where the level of Bendelow's involvement is hard to ascertain.  As mentioned earlier in the thread, it is believed that all he did at Beverly was proclaim the site suitable for golf.  Another example of this type of visit is at Davenport CC.  I apologize for the blurriness of this article (from the Jan. 14, 1924 edition of the Davenport Democrat and Leader), but you can a make out that Bendelow viewed the site (on the Iowa shore above Pleasant Valley) for the course that was eventually built by Alison.

[Sven Nilsen]

In my opinion from the handful of his courses I have seen would be Olympia Fields South although it's now a compilation course with holes 8 & 9 cribbed from William Watson's course #2 and the new Steve Smyers hole #3.  Also hard to say the extent to which the greens and bunkers are Bendelow's work or the work of James Foulis the first greenskeeper and Jack Daray a later greenskeeper.  I know of at least one green that redone some time ago.  But the essential routing is intact and its quite a good one that takes good advantage of the stream and hills.  Hole #6 was then and is now world class.  

Medinah #3 would be next but the list of changes are too numerous to call it a Bendelow design.  You would have to also credit several other architects with substantial changes.  

Tim Cronin wrote the book on Medinah and will write the book on Olympia Fields for next year's 100th so I'm sure he'll sort it all out there.  

A cool one that is appears mostly original (I haven't studied it in detail) is Big Foot CC in Lake Geneva.  

I'm not familiar with his courses outside Wisconsin ( I grew up playing a Bendelow 9 holer in Wisconsin) and Illinois so I am very curious if there are standout courses around the rest of the country.  

My thought would be OFCC (South) as well (http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,57281.0.html).  There's enough left of Bendelow there to get a very good feel for what he was doing back then.  The 16th hole by itself is a wonderful example of how golf used to be played.  Today, the hole plays driver/wedge to a green with a massive false front that begs for a running shot.  Ninety years ago, you would have needed to play that shot.

[Sven Nilsen]

1926

Villa Olivia CC (Bartlett, IL)
Medinah CC Course #2 (Medinah, IL)
Big Ten CC (McHenry, IL) - Same as University GC in 1928 (see 1928 listing below).
Rock Island CC (Rock Island, IL)
Forest Park GC (Noblesville, IN)
Three Lakes GC (Three Lakes, WI) - Noted in an Aug. 8, 1926 The Milwaukee Journal article as 9 holes laid out by Bendelow.


1927

Lincolnshire CC (Course #1) (Crete, IL) - The List also has an entry for Lincoln Oaks, which is on the same property as the Lincolnshire courses.
Lincolnshire CC (Course #2) (Crete, IL)
North Shore CC (Peoria, IL) - The List has date Unknown.
Wicker Park GC (Highland, IN)
Day Forest GC (Glen Haven, MI) - Looking for source information for this attribution.
Country Club Estates (Fontana, WI)

Addition -

Lincolnshire CC (Course #3) (Crete, IL) - July 12, 1929 Southtown Economist notes opening of #3 course designed by Bendelow.

[Sven Nilsen]

This one is for Bob.

A June 3, 1906 Atlanta Constitution article on the Atlanta Athletic Club (East Lake).

[BCrosby]

Goodness gracious, Sven. Great find. A couple of things:

- references to Fred Pickering confirm he constructed the course. Pickering built hundreds of courses early on for TB and others. An under-researched figure in early American golf.

- George Adair headed up the project of building the TB course and the EL clubhouse and amenities. (It seems he also developed land lots around the course, one of which was purchased (or perhaps rented) by a certain Colonel Jones.)

- Adair, with input from H.H. Barker and with (less?) from W. Travis and CBM (they visited EL about 1910 or so), completely rerouted the TB course in 1911/12 to what is basically its current routing. Adair was the father of golf in the south, a CBM figure for the region. Adair traveled widely, playing tournies up and down the east coast, helping other cities set up clubs and design their golf courses, often accompanied by Stewart Maiden and H H Barker.

- The Atlanta Athletic Club was quite 'athletic'. They (together with other clubs in ATL) fielded teams in all sorts of sports, including basketball, baseball, boxing, shooting and tennis circa 1900.  Golf was taken up by ATL clubs a little later, about ten years behind clubs in the NE. I suspect part of the reason was money. ATL was still hurting from the Civil War. But another reason was the problem of finding a turf grass that would survive summers in the SE. Coarse, ropey common Bermuda was a godsend at the time.

- 6600 yards was long. Note that there was a 600 yard hole on the card after the full 18 were built, so I'd guess the completed course was a little longer than the yardages in the newspaper account. Just a guess.

- For those who are curious, the first hole on the TB course ran from the side of the clubhouse (the side across the lake from the current 17th green) to what is now the 10th tee.

Bob

[Sven Nilsen]

1928

St. Charles CC (St. Charles, IL) - Nov. 26, 1924 True Republican notes Bendelow building the course.

Medinah CC Course #3 (Medinah, IL) - Bendelow transformed the "ladies course" into a bigger layout based on plans drawn up pre-1930.  Possible mistaken citations have this work as being done by H. Collis.
University GC f/k/a Big Ten CC l/k/a Northbrook GC (Northbrook, IL) - Course was built by American Park Builders and Bendelow was present at the opening.
City Park Course (Baton Rouge, LA)
Lake Lawn GC (Delavan, WI)

1929

Charlotte CC (Charlotte, MI)
Highland Park GC (Grand Rapids, MI)
Cascades GC (Cascades Eighteen) (Jackson, MI)
Cascades GC (Executive Nine) (Jackson, MI)
Lake Shore CC (Erie, PA)

Addition:

Lake Forest CC (Hudson, OH) - See Richard Mandell's post in this thread.
-Akron Beacon Journal Sept. 10, 1929


1930

Valley Brook CC (Crete, IL) - July 25, 1930 Southtown Economist notes plans for the club made by Bendelow.

Fremont CC (Fremont, NE)
Casper CC (Casper, WY)

Addition:

South Bluff CC (Peru, IL)

1931

Cherry Hill CC (Flossmoor, IL) - Looking for source information for this attribution.
Culbertson Hills Golf Resort (Edinboro, PA)

1932

Dempster Street GC (Evanston, IL)

1936

Carthage Municipal (Carthage, MO)

[RJ_Daley]

City Park sounds like a common name for some of these community golf-recreation projects.  Not surprsing their are multiples by that name.  C&W have Bende listed for  City Park in Pueblo CO, 1915,  Sven has no mention of that, but has a 1914 City Park for Denver.  Then in 1920s Sven lists City Park in NOLA but C&W no mention. 

I played City Park during a GCSAA convo in 1992, and remember the green sites as large and uncharacteristic of any Bende I ever saw.  C&W name Koch as a first designer, with Ralph Plummer and Bill Amick as remodellers, which makes more sense. 

[Sven Nilsen]

City Park sounds like a common name for some of these community golf-recreation projects.  Not surprsing their are multiples by that name.  C&W have Bende listed for  City Park in Pueblo CO, 1915,  Sven has no mention of that, but has a 1914 City Park for Denver.  Then in 1920s Sven lists City Park in NOLA but C&W no mention. 

I played City Park during a GCSAA convo in 1992, and remember the green sites as large and uncharacteristic of any Bende I ever saw.  C&W name Koch as a first designer, with Ralph Plummer and Bill Amick as remodellers, which makes more sense. 

RJ-

Both the Denver and NOLA City Park attributions and dates come from the ASGCA list, which has no mention of a course in Pueblo.

As for C&W, that would be my last resort in looking for information on TB.  They only list around 290 of his courses, and there are a ton of mistakes in the dates and locations they note.

As an aside, I still have a bunch of courses to add into the individual year by year listings, and a number of courses with date unknown to fit in somewhere.  In each case, I'm going to try to note the dates these courses opened and any records that indicate when work might have been  done (going from 9 to 18, changes in yardage, etc.).

Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Here are the various courses for which the ASGCA List has date Unknown and I have not yet been able to verify when Bendelow was involved:

Magnolia GC (Magnolia Springs, AL) - July 1913 The American Golfer notes Bendelow leaving for Alabama to look over more courses.
Ridgefield CC (Ridgefield, CT) - Course was NLE by 1932.  Club organized in 1895.  Yardages - 1901/2,270 yds., 1916/2,400 yds., 1917/2,700 yds., 1922/2,733 yds., 1923/2635 yds.
City Parks (Bloomington, IL) - No course by this name in the Annual Guides.  The only public (park) course I have a listing for in Bloomington is Highland Park Municipal GC, which has a date of organization of 1922 and for which no architect is listed.
Blue Island GC (Blue Island, IL) - No course by this name in the Annual Guides.
Libertyville CC (Libertyville, IL) - The List has two entries for this course.  Course is attributed to Larry Macomber with a date of 1928.  There is a listing for a Toppington GC in Libertyville in the 1922 Annual Guide.
Oakville CC (Mount Carroll, IL) - Is this the same as Mt. Carroll GC?
Sportsman G&CC (Northbrook, IL)
Automobile Club of Peoria (Peoria, IL)
Polo GC (Polo, IL) - Is this the same as Edgewood GC?
Boonville GC (Boonville, IN)
Tolliston GC (Gary, IN) - Is this the same as Gary CC?
Clear Creek GC (Huntington, IN) - Is this the same as Huntington CC?
Kentland GC (Kentland, IN)
City Park Club (Cedar Rapids, IA) - Is this the same as Ellis Park Municipal?
Aurora CC (New Orleans, LA)
Mosanic CC (Grand Rapids, MI)
Park System (Grand Rapids, MI) - Is this the same as Highland Park?
Ishpeming GC (Ishpeming, MI) - Is this the same as Wawowonin GC?
Blees Military Academy (Macon, MO)
Spring Lake CC (Omaha, NE)
Mahwah GC (Mahwah, NY)
Montour Heights CC (Coraopolis, PA)
The Country Club (Meadville, PA)
City Park GC (Nashville, TN)
Beaver Lake GC (Beaver Lake, WI)
Burlington GC (Burlington, WI)
Meadow Links GC (Manitowoc, WI) - Is this the same as Manitowac GC?
Northernaire CC (Three Lakes, WI) - Is this the same as Three Lakes GC?
Cheyenne CC (Cheyenne, WY) - The course dates from around 1915 (Jan. 1916, The American Golfer).  It is possible that Bendelow did this work in 1930 at the same time he was working at Casper.

[RJ_Daley]

Meadow Links is not the same as Manitowoc Golf Club.  In fact I believe the course referred to for this discussion as Manitowoc is now the 9 hole Elks Club. 

I always suspected the Elks course was a Bendelow.  When the course was laid out, it could have been a stunning site for a big project.  It is on low but rolling sandy area, not quite beach, but adjacent to it and on a typical links sandy loam in the Manitowoc River estuary area.  Imagining how undeveloped the area was 90-100 years ago, this would have been a location to drool over.

Meadow Links is about a quarter to half mile from Elks and is a 18 hole course.  It also has rudimentary routing and typical small greens and diminutive bunkers that suggest it could be Bendelow.  But I think it was likely laid out after Bende left the scene. 

I played Elks and Meadow links around 1988-90 before I got that interested in GCA.  I was aware of Bendelow but did not seek any possible documentation or photos around the clubhouses at that time to suggest who laid them out.   

Northernaire is most definitely the Three Lakes course referred to.  The resort kept fairly modern upgraded facilities but seems to have left behind the old 9 holer laid out in the rudimentary style of the times.

[Anthony Gholz]

Sven:

Regarding Bloomington, Il. Highland Park GC 1922.  (See also my prior post a couple days back)  The McLean County Museum of History Librarian Bill Kemp sent to me two articles from the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper of May 19 and July 1, 1922.  They confirm not only TB's design of the new 9-hole "regular" course, but the construction of a "Temporary Course" of 1,900 yards to be put immediately into play while the regular course took longer to build.  "The new courses were laid out by Thomas Bendelow, of Chicago, one of the oldest and greatest of golf course experts in the United States." The articles also notes of "Golf Instructor E.T. Biggs" that "This is the fourth course laid out by him (TB) which has been built by Mr. Biggs". The regular course card totaled 3,130 yards and "when completed will be the best municipal course in the state".

Tony

[Jason Topp]

There is some good information on Bendelow's involvement with Des Moines Country Club in this slide show:

http://dmgcc.blogspot.com/2013/04/dmgcc-history-presentation-revised-413.html

I am pretty sure I had my first beer in a house within the confines of the course.

[Tim_Cronin]

Sven:

Regarding Bloomington, Il. Highland Park GC 1922.  (See also my prior post a couple days back)  The McLean County Museum of History Librarian Bill Kemp sent to me two articles from the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper of May 19 and July 1, 1922.  They confirm not only TB's design of the new 9-hole "regular" course, but the construction of a "Temporary Course" of 1,900 yards to be put immediately into play while the regular course took longer to build.  "The new courses were laid out by Thomas Bendelow, of Chicago, one of the oldest and greatest of golf course experts in the United States." The articles also notes of "Golf Instructor E.T. Biggs" that "This is the fourth course laid out by him (TB) which has been built by Mr. Biggs". The regular course card totaled 3,130 yards and "when completed will be the best municipal course in the state".

Tony

The mention of a temporary course isn't unusual in that era. I wonder of Bendelow (or Spalding) counted those in his grand total. Since they weren't meant to last, those would inflate the total considerably.